Mexico Travel News

12/02/2009
St. Johns Auditorium: Sat., February 20, 2010 – Manzanillo, Colima

08/17/2009
Mexico City Provides Health Insurance to Tourists
By Joe Pike

   Mexico City’s Ministry of Tourism has announced a program that will provide its national and international visitors with medical aid and assistance in case of emergency. According to Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico City’s mayor, this is the first time that such an important service is offered in the world.
   The medical assistance program, which actually launched in late July, is free and will be provided by MAPFRE, a private insurance company. The program works through a medical care and assistance card and includes different services such as medical assistance in case of infection with H1N1 virus or any other illness. Accidents are also covered with ambulance service and hospital accommodations. Drug prescriptions through authorized physicians and repatriation in case of illness are also included. There is no limit on the amount that is insured so visitors can get all the services they need during an emergency. Visit www.mexicocity.gob.mx.

From Travel Agent Central
http://www.travelagentcentral.com/mexico-city-central-mexico/mexico-city-provides-health-insurance-tourists-16900

08/17/2009
Cancun's Hotel Occupancy Highest in Months
By Joe Pike

Travel Agent sat down with Erandeni Abundis, public relations manager for the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau, Saturday and learned that the average hotel occupancy in Cancun for July was 81 percent.

This was the highest average hotel occupancy the destination has seen since Mexico was hit with violence near U.S. bordering states and the swine flu scare within months of each other. However, it should be noted that the numbers may be a bit skewed since several hotels in Cancun have closed off sections of their properties due to lack of business. So, whereas the occupancy is higher, the amount of rooms available may be lower. But the news is still something of which the destination can be proud.

Cancun, in the last two months, has seen nearly half of its beaches return after being plagued by erosion for the last year and now it has seen at least a moderate spike in hotel occupancy— an indicator that the worst may be over for the country. Travel Agent conducted the interview during the Ritz-Carlton, Cancun’s Mayan Acquaintance Experience, a volunteer tourism trip in which media members were invited to take part in the property’s many facilities and also get their hands dirty, helping the Mayan community build a playground in its school.

From Travel Agent Central
http://www.travelagentcentral.com/cancun/cancuns-hotel-occupancy-highest-months-16887

08/01/2009
Mexico: The Real Deal — Playa del Carmen through new eyes
Look beyond the touristy glitz to find the charm of old Mexico
By Maribeth Mellin, SDNN

   “I don’t get it,” a friend wrote, referring to her recent trip to Playa del Carmen. “It was all junked up. T-shirts everywhere. Have no idea why you like it there.”
   She’s right. Haagen Dazs, Starbucks and McDonald’s have gobbled up chunks of Playa’s Avenida Quinta, more popularly referred to as “Fifth Avenue.”
   The pedestrian promenade where visitors migrate for meals, music and souvenirs has lost its post-hippie appeal. Junky souvenir stands have replaced classy folk art shops.
   I visited Playa del Carmen shortly after hearing from my friend. Her take on the place gave me new eyes.
   I’ve longed bemoaned the increasing homogenization of Fifth Avenue. Then again, I remember when Playa had a few dirt streets, budget hotels and campgrounds on the most gorgeous beach on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.
Computer Geeks, Oceanside
   But I hadn’t really looked at the big picture in years.
Read more:

06-26-2009
The LA Times: “Be neighborly to Mexico”

   "Mexico needs the help of all Americans, either by booking a week's holiday on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos, or visiting Mexico City, or any of the colonial towns in the heart of the country. This is for the common good," said Andres Martinez, an influential Mexican journalist and analyst, in an editorial published a few weeks ago in the Los Angeles Times.
   The author, who currently directs the Fellows Program Bernard L. Schwartz of the New America Foundation, appealed publicly to the American people to adopt an attitude of good will towards Mexico.
   Be neighborly; go to Mexico. This decade has had a significant level of empathy tourism, in which many Americans decided to travel to New York after 9 / 11, and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and all did so with a sense of public service. Now Mexico needs something similar.
   Throughout the article, Martinez, who for several years was responsible for editing the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times, points out the need to understand that cooperation in tourism, the third most important sector for the Mexican economic system, rather than a question of solidarity it is a cause for concern, both for institutions and for American citizens.
   One reason that the author stresses is that Mexico as a "neighbor to the south has been reliable, stable and friendly" to the United States. Similarly, and as far as the global economic crisis is concerned, unlike Citigroup and AIG, the country is proving to be consistent enough, to fail the perspective of Washington. In this regard, and as the author adds "Mexico has adopted prudent fiscal policies, increased foreign reserves and respects the North American Free Trade Agreements."
   Finally, from a political perspective on a bilateral level we must recognize that "drug users in the United States are fueling the war that now exists in Mexico."
   The current international context requires the United States to maintain a commitment to Mexico and to promote stability and prosperity. In that sense, Martinez concludes his article with a plea to citizens to "do their part to help a good neighbor," and invites them to take a trip to Mexico soon.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-martinez9-2009jun09,0,6056003.story