Fear of Mexico

Here in Canada, Mexico is back on the news again for a series of sordid crimes which took place in recent weeks. Murders and vicious attacks on Canadian tourists... nothing to do with the drug cartels fighting for their share of the market.

I was always one to strongly advice people to filter what their hear on the media with common sense - Mexico is a BIG country! To put it in prospective, ask yourself if you would feel safe going to Vancouver if a murder took place in Toronto (which they do... of course). Troubled areas comprise about 1% of Mexico - but for some reason, the media is all over it as soon as it happens and are quick to report it as a 'Mexico' incident. What if we replaced the word 'Mexico' with the word 'Canada', or 'United States' - with little regard on where exactly the incident took place? Would you still go on vacation in Florida if you hear that someone was viciously beaten in the United States? Do these types of crimes on Canadians happen in other countries? In other vacation destinations? Yes, they do. Then why don't we hear bout these?

This has been going on for years... and Mexico has a reputation for being a risky destination now. With these recent headlines, two of our fellow travellers have pulled out of our upcoming trip to Yucatan because they fear that something bad is likely to happen. I'm getting tired of waving the safety flag and quite honestly, I can't say that it's perfectly safe either... no inhabited place on earth is perfectly safe.

For the first time - I feel that undertaking a project in the tourism sector is pretty much doomed right now in Mexico. Especially if it involves getting out of the mainstream resort style. If most people tend to be fearful about Mexico, very few will be interested in venturing out of the beaten path and drive around the country - no matter how remote, safe and peaceful the state of Yucatan may really be. So I think that for the time being, it's wise to keep the next trip as yet another vacation - with passive research and development.