Friday, June 26, 2009

Cancun: Back to the beach
Cancun has become the new setting for Real World 22. The new eight strangers move into the very popular spring break resort, ME. It is not your very typical Real World house, but it has been done before with the Real World: Las Vegas at the now very popular Palms Hotel & Casino. Hopefully this resort will receive some well deserved PR, just as the Palms did. The eight strangers meet but only a few weeks before the spring breakers from all over take over Cancun.
Wide-open beaches of Mexico
TULUM, Mexico - The last time Bud Olson visited Mexico, he ended up in a hospital with kidney stones and missed the ancient Mayan ruins in the seaside town of Tulum.

So, when he heard that swine flu was sweeping through Mexico just weeks before he was to return this year, the 43-year-old Seattle, Washington, resident and his friends threw all caution to the warm Caribbean breezes and went anyway.

Olson is one of the intrepid few who decided to come to Mexico in the throes of the epidemic.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sneak Peek: 'Real World: Cancun'
"Real World's" next house of eight strangers have been picked to work together and... run Spring Break trips in Cancun, Mexico.

Each spring, travel group StudentCity rounds up hundreds of co-eds and unleashes them upon desirable destinations - such as Cancun, Acapulco and Jamiaca - for one week of mayhem.

This spring, "The Real World: Cancun" kids will be the ones doing the party-lassoing.

Since the "Real World" house is one big party without the backdrop of 24/7 wet T-shirt contests and never-ending drinking games, MTV has decided to cook up its freshest batch of "Real World"-ers for Cancun.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Cancun gets the spotlight for MTV's 'Real World'
Sexy hookups. Tequila shots. And maybe a shot in the arm for a destination brought low by the swine flu.

The 22nd season of MTV's The Real World— premiering Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT — showcases Cancun.

The reality show, which has stirred youthful interest in other destinations including Las Vegas, stars eight young hotties who stay at the hip ME Cancun hotel and play all over town during spring break. It was taped before fears of contracting H1N1 flu made tourists say adios to Mexican bars and beaches. Filming ended in April, before the flu made headlines. (No cast members came down with the disease later, says show spokeswoman Lauren Sammak. )


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Vive Mexico: Swine flu down, bargains up in Mexico
TULUM, Mexico—The last time Bud Olson visited Mexico, he ended up in a hospital with kidney stones and missed the ancient Mayan ruins in the seaside town of Tulum.

So when he heard that swine flu was sweeping through Mexico just weeks before he was to return this year, the 43-year-old Seattle, Washington, resident and his friends threw all caution to the warm Caribbean breezes and went anyway.

Olson is one of the intrepid few who decided to come to Mexico in the throes of the epidemic.

His reward? No lines, great service, empty beaches—and lower prices.

"There was no one at our resort," said Olson's friend, Penny Moeller, 44. "The service was spectacular. But it's a shame for the economy."

Moeller says she ended up paying $142 (1,907 pesos) a week for a rental car she originally booked for $350 (4,700 pesos).

Yes, it might just be the perfect time to head south of the U.S. border: Sure, swine flu is still alive—in fact, it's now a global pandemic—but chances of contracting it in Mexico, where the outbreak was first detected, are probably at their lowest.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the epidemic peaked in Mexico in late April and now has spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The CDC says it will continue to be a threat south of the equator, where countries are entering the winter months and traditional flu season.


Friday, June 12, 2009

10 reasons to explore Mexico's final frontier
Not so long ago, travelers could still feel smug about bailing out of Cancún to explore the empty white-sand beaches, arrested-in-time fishing villages, Maya ruins and hidden cenotes on the unspoiled Caribbean coast to the south. What a difference 10 years makes: The Cancún building frenzy and relentless upscaling has seeped south, turning the Riviera Maya, as the northern half of Quintana Roo's coast was branded in 1999, from jungle backcountry to a string of resorts with just as many hotel rooms as Cancún.


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

AFP: Mexico to host swine flu summit in Cancun
MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexico will next month host an international summit on swine flu at the Caribbean beach resort of Cancun, the country's health minister said Monday.

Representatives from 40 countries and the directors general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization will take part in the summit from July 1 to 3, Jose Angel Cordova said in a statement.

Less than two months after the A(H1N1) virus first emerged, Cordova said the epidemic was now under control.

A few isolated cases have emerged this month, the last reported on June 3 and the last death on May 31, raising the number of fatalities in Mexico to 106.

The health minister said he may be able to remove a flu alert here later this month.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Mexico's Just the Latest Country Forced to Combat Overhyped Fears
The southernmost member of North America has certainly had a rough 2009 so far (as have many of the rest of us), but touristically speaking it's been close to disastrous. So now the Mexican government has launched a campaign that's spending $90 million and enlisting Plácido Domingo and a bunch of other celebs, all to convince skittish gringos that they will not only survive but even kinda enjoy their south-of-the-border sojourn.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. - More Mexico More Often
WestJet today announced it will fly to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas from more than twice the number of Canadian cities next winter, beginning this November. The announcement comes in advance of the airline releasing its full winter schedule in early July. WestJet will fly new non-stop service to Mexico from Moncton, Toronto, Montréal, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna, Prince George, Abbotsford, Victoria and Comox. Non-stop service already exists from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax.