By Thomas Black and Andres R. Martinez March 18 (Bloomberg) — Mexican tourism revenue may decline for a second year as violent clashes between drug gangs and a weak U.S. job market threaten to spoil its spring break party. Cancun and Acapulco hotels are seeing a smaller-than-normal influx of college-age revelers this month after recent reports of bloodshed, tour operators there said. Acapulco’s tourism marketing agency predicts the number of spring breakers will drop 30 percent this year to 17,500, said Piquis Rochin, director of international promotions for the organization. “The economic crisis is still hurting us a little bit, and we’ve been affected by so much news about violence in Mexico,” Rochin said in a telephone interview from Acapulco. Mexico’s push to draw tourists, the third-biggest source of dollar inflows after oil and remittances , is getting harder as violence connected to drug trafficking persists. Mexico’s international tourism fell for the first time in a decade last year amid a weak economy and a swine-flu scare, bringing in $11.3 billion compared with $13.3 billion in 2008. In Acapulco, where Viacom Inc. ’s MTV channel is hosting an event this week, 32 people were killed during the three days ended March 15. The slaying of three people tied to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez last week drew condemnation from President Barack Obama . “Whenever the U.S. government makes a statement it somehow affects us because we are a Mexico destination,” said Marina Colunga, public relations director for JW Marriott in Cancun . Violence may cut economic growth by 1 percentage point by reducing tourism and investment, said Gabriel Casillas , chief Mexico economist with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Mexico City. Last year, tourists who traveled beyond the border region spent an average of $732 per visit, according to the central bank. Airport Operators Shares in Mexican airport operators Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico SAB, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SAB and Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte SAB dropped when trading resumed after the Juarez killings as investors bet the news would discourage travel. The State Department reported at least 77 homicides of U.S. citizens in Mexico last year. The agency’s online database doesn’t specify the circumstances of the killings or say whether the victims were involved in the drug trade. The University of California, Los Angeles urged students this week to avoid travel to border cities. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a similar warning March 4. Some University of Arkansas students canceled their trips to Mexico after “their parents told them not to go,” said Steve Voorhies, a university spokesman. State Department Warning The State Department advises U.S. citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to three northern Mexico states and says visitors must be cautious in border cities. While well-known tourist areas generally are safe, the violence in Mexico has increased, according to a March 14 advisory . “Cartels and associated criminal elements have retaliated violently against individuals who speak out against them or whom they otherwise view as a threat,” the advisory said. Chris Lang, a third-grade teacher in Los Angeles, said he is considering backing out of a planned trip to Guadalajara later this year. “I just read the U.S. State Department Web site, which gave a crime breakdown of Mexico,” he said by e-mail. “I’m worried about the situation there.” Death Rate Drug-gang killings have left 2,049 dead this year, according to El Universal newspaper , a rate that would top last year’s total of more than 6,000. At least 110 people were killed last weekend, according to Reforma newspaper. In Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, the March 13 shooting deaths of a U.S. consulate employee, Lesley Enriquez, her husband, Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of a Mexican employee at the consulate spurred headlines worldwide. Gunmen chased two vehicles from the birthday party of a consulate employee’s child and opened fire, killing the three and wounding at least two children. The FBI said the attackers may have hit the wrong party and probably weren’t targeting Americans, the Associated Press reported. Enriquez, 35, was four months pregnant when she died, CNN reported. Calderon’s press office didn’t immediately return calls for comment. Speaking in Ciudad Juarez on March 16, Calderon said both the U.S. and Mexico are responsible for drug violence. “This is a bi-national problem, with a common origin, which is drug consumption in the United States, and the criminal element associated with it,” he said. Drop in Visitors Spring breakers are planning trips to Panama City, Florida, and other U.S. beaches as they opt for cheaper destinations amid a weak U.S. job market, said Christina Ferraro, an event organizer for travel service StudentCity . In Acapulco, 190 miles south of Mexico City on the Pacific coast, the number of spring breakers handled by StudentCity dropped 45 percent from last year. Cancun has fared better, with spring breakers traveling with StudentCity down 30 percent from a year ago, Ferraro said. The U.S. unemployment rate of 9.7 percent is weighing more on tourism than the violence is, Ferraro said. Most of the violence “is definitely outside the tourist area,” Ferraro said. “The war is not with tourists or Americans.” Tourism is likely to rise this year even after getting off to a slow start because last year’s downturn was so severe, Casillas said. International tourism hasn’t dropped in two consecutive years since Mexico began keeping records in 1980. Colunga, the public relations director for Marriott in Cancun, said the hotel is attracting travelers with prices as much as 20 percent below where they were before the swine-flu scare last year. “At the end of year we hope to be back on track,” she said. “Cancun is located in a very separate area from these specific cities where violence is giving the Mexican government a hard time.” To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Monterrey at tblack@bloomberg.net ; Andres R. Martinez in Mexico City at amartinez28@bloomberg.net
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Mexico Tourism Drops as Drug Gangs, Economy Rain on Spring Breakers’ Party
