The State Department has changed the way it issues warnings on Mexico. Now, it is making a distinction between specific places where there is crime and specific places where there is not crime. From my perch in Philadelphia, this looks something they should have done years ago. The destinations I have visited -- some beach resorts, many archaeological zones -- have little crime, so why should I stop visiting Mexico because there's a shoot-out near the Texas border? What is your reaction to this? http://www.vancouversun.com/health/safe+travel+Mexico/2717620/story.html
You need to be a member of Tripatini to add comments!
I bring up that point in my New York reports on my site too. The first time I went to the city, we were apprehensive because of the negative image. We were quite pleased to find it was the farthest thing from the truth and fell in love with NY. We go back as much as we can.
Darryl Musick > Darryl MusickSeptember 6, 2010 at 9:48pm
Kristin, Where I used to live...here in the U.S...in South El Monte, a suburb of Los Angeles, there were 20 murders (according to the Los Angeles Times) within a 1 mile circle around my former house. Mexico does not have the market cornered for violence.
Darryl, you have offered a good analogy. It reminds me of something I read recently: There has not been an act of violence at the Egyptian pyramids 15 years. (I don't remember the exact number.) However, I am sure that when there was an explosion and a fatality at a Cairo mosque last winter, many people decided they could not go to Egypt because the entire country was unsafe.
Some people draw those same conclusions about New York City, which I visit as often as possible. To be sure, there is crime in some of the boroughs, although not as much as you would think by watching television. But most of Manhattan, which is where most visitors will go, has one of the lowest big-city crime rates in the United States.
I agree. There were similar warnings given for India, Nepal, Peru in the past too. The percentage of people who actually watch international news and follow what is happening in the countries they plan to visit is low, hence these country wide warnings tend to scare away occasional traveler.
Replies
I bring up that point in my New York reports on my site too. The first time I went to the city, we were apprehensive because of the negative image. We were quite pleased to find it was the farthest thing from the truth and fell in love with NY. We go back as much as we can.
Some people draw those same conclusions about New York City, which I visit as often as possible. To be sure, there is crime in some of the boroughs, although not as much as you would think by watching television. But most of Manhattan, which is where most visitors will go, has one of the lowest big-city crime rates in the United States.