Nevertheless, U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican government has been engaged in an exte

This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning for Mexico, issued July 12, 2013, to update information about the security situation and to advise the public of additional restrictions on the travel of U.S. government (USG) personnel.
Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day. The Mexican government dedicates substantial resources to protect visitors to major tourist destinations, and there is no evidence that Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have targeted U.S. visitors or residents based on their nationality. Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime that are reported in the border region or in areas along major trafficking routes.
Nevertheless, U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican government has been engaged in an extensive effort to counter TCOs which engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities throughout Mexico. The TCOs themselves are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activity. Crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere. us travel advisory U.S. citizens have fallen victim to criminal activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery. While most of those killed in narcotics-related violence have been members of TCOs, innocent persons have also been killed. The number of U.S. citizens reported to the Department of State as murdered in Mexico was 71 in 2012 and 81 in 2013.
Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including us travel advisory more than 150,000 who cross the border every day. More than 20 million U.S. citizens visited Mexico in 2012. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations, and there is no evidence that Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have targeted U.S. visitors and residents based on their nationality. Resort areas and tourist destinations us travel advisory in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime that is reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.
Nevertheless, U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican us travel advisory government has been engaged in an extensive effort to counter TCOs which engage in narcotics trafficking us travel advisory and other unlawful activities throughout Mexico. The TCOs themselves are engaged in a violent us travel advisory struggle to control drug trafficking us travel advisory routes and other criminal activity. Crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere. U.S. citizens have fallen victim to criminal activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery. While most of those killed in narcotics-related violence have been members of TCOs, innocent persons have also been killed. The number of U.S. citizens reported to the Department of State as murdered us travel advisory in Mexico was 113 in 2011 and 71 in 2012.
Baja California: Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali are major cities/travel us travel advisory destinations in the state of Baja Cali fornia -  Exercise caution in the northern state of Baja California, us travel advisory particularly at night. There were 458 homicides in Tijuana from October 2012 through September 2013, compared with 324 for the same period a year earlier. Murders in Mexicali declined in the same period from 166 to 132. In the majority of these cases, the killings appeared to be targeted TCO assassinations. Turf battles between criminal groups resulted in assassinations in areas of Tijuana and Mexicali frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents, in which innocent bystanders have been injured, have occurred during daylight hours.
The average homicide rate for the U.S. is 4.7 per 100,000 people. The homicide rate for US Nationals visiting Mexico in 2013 was 0.57 per 100,000. This means you are more than 8 times more likely to be murdered in your own country than on a trip to Mexico.
Updated January us travel advisory 26, 2014 2013 was a big year for tourism us travel advisory in Mexico. The black cloud that developed over the Mexican travel industry following the eruption of drug violence in 2007 seems to have passed. Positive news and publicity for travel us travel advisory to Mexico, along with the steadily improving economy have brought back the North American Tourists in record numbers, particularly to Baja California Sur.
By 2018 the Travel Industry is expected to be the #3 contributor to Mexico's Gross National Product. Today, Mexico is the #3 employer us travel advisory of persons in the travel industry with nearly 4 million participants, nearly 3 times that of the United States. us travel advisory Only India and China, much more populace nations, have more travel related jobs in their economies.
The biggest impediment to US travel to Mexico remains the WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) begun under the Bush administration, which now requires passports for travel to Mexico. More accurately stated, requires passports to return to the US from travel to Mexico. A decade later only about 30% of Americans hold passports, the other 70% apparently aren't going to get up from an episode of Duck Dynasty to get a passport and go blanket us travel advisory shopping inTijuana.
Let's put the Mexico Travel Warning issued by the United States Department of State on July 12, 2013 in perspective. It is a continuation, with revisions, of the travel warning that has been in effect since February of 2008.
Bad things can happen to you anywhere, even in your own home town. I certainly would not try to say that anywhere in Mexico is as safe as San Diego, one of the safest cities in the U.S. But you have a far better chance of being struck by lightening or winning the lottery than having a negative experience in your visit to Mexico.
A visit to New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit or Houston could certainly be considered more perilous than a trip to most locations in Mexico. In Baja California only Tijuana even comes closes to as perilous as the above mentioned cities.
• 81 Americans were reported murdered in Mexico us travel advisory in 2013, up from 71 in 2012. That is a homicide rate 1/8th that of the US average and a little more than 1/4 of the Canadian average. us travel advisory You are significantly less likely to be murdered on vacation in Mexico than at home.
Over the last couple of years headlines in Mexican and international press have highlighted great progress in Mexico's war against the cartels. Arrest headline now overshadow the headlines of body counts and horrific deaths.
Every time I update this article I receive a laundry list of particular events in Baja complied by an anti-Mexico travel group. Let me be perfectly clear, bad things to happen to tourists in Mexico. But more expat Americans and Canadians call Mexico home than any other location, nearly a million and a half of them. More Americans us travel advisory will visit Mexico this month than visit England in a year. Statistically speaking you are far more likely to be struck by lightening us travel advisory near your home than be the victim of a violent crime in Mexico. To improve your odds we have some tips below to protect your vacation.
Although Americans can refer to anyone who is resident of the American continents The Oxford Dictionary of Modern English states that since World War II the word American can specifically refer to a citizen us travel advisory of the U.S.A.
Mexico has suffered a drop in tourism since the implementation of WHITI, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiate, implemented by former us travel advisory president Bush, requiring passports of citizens to re-enter the US. Mexico's walk-across traffic for shopping in border towns dropped dramatically, us travel advisory but the country remains the #2 travel destination for Americans after Canada.
More US travelers visited Mexico in 2012 than almost all the countries of Europe combined. That is about 10 times that which visited Great Britain in 2012, the #1 European destination. Mexico fell from the world wide tourist destination top 10 in 2012, not because Mexico us travel advisory travel decreased, but because us travel advisory of the increased popularity of Europe, during the Euro downturn. Tourism in Mexico rose by 5.6% in 2012.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) took some responsibility for the decline of international travel as well.  More than 70% of travelers surveyed who expressed dissatisfaction with their travel plans blamed treatment and delays caused by these US agencies for their bad trip experiences.
Only about 30% of Americans hold passports. The U.S. is a big country with a wide variety of destinations. But it is very likely that this low percentage of international travelers from the States is why the population has a low understanding of international politics and other cultures. The U.S. has the lowest percentage of international passport holders of any industrialized country. Get out and meet the world folks! This author has visited more than 70 countries in the last 30 years.
With the number of people traveling to Mexico, the occasional story of a ghastly tourist crime need to be taken in perspective. You are more than 10 times more likely us travel advisory to be struck by lightening and 100 times more likely to win the California lottery than you are to be affected by a violent crime in Mexico. Petty theft is the #1 crime against tourists in Mexico according the PGR (equivalent to the FBI in Mexico)
us travel advisory More than 1 million US citizens and about half again that number of Canadians live part or full time in Mexico. It is believed that up to 80% of them live in Baja California and Baja California Sur. Mexico is home to more US expatriates than any other nation by a huge margin. The number of North Americans living in Mexico dipped in 2009 and 2010, as some folks returned north of the border, liquidating their assets in Mexico. A recent survey by a Mexican real estate interest found that the vast majority returned for financial reasons, while some admitted to having sold out for concerns of personal security.
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