Monday, December 7, 2009

Is Mexico safe for travelers?

Between Mexico's drug war entering its fourth year and its H1N1 flu outbreak beginning with dozens of deaths and global headlines last spring, travelers have at least two reasons to study up before booking that trip to Mexico.

But it doesn't necessarily mean staying home.

Mexico's drug-war death toll reached more than 9,900 by early October, according to a count by the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute. Many of the deaths have been near the U.S. border and far from the resorts and cities that draw thousands of Americans every year.

Robert Reid, who has contributed to Lonely Planet's Mexico volumes and serves as the New York-based U.S. travel editor for the guidebook publisher, likes to remind people that Mexico is about the size of France, Spain, Germany and Italy -- combined.

Before you let trouble in one corner of the country affect your travel to another corner, he said, "Imagine a shootout in Sicily forcing a canceled vacation in Germany."

Also, as Mexican officials are quick to note, most drug-war victims so far have been active partisans -- that is, drug traffickers and law enforcement officials.

Posted via web from Cancun Mexico News

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