REGION: Mexican officials say new passport rules may lead to fewer visitors
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Sunday, April 26, 2009 6:32 PM PDT ¡Û
Mexican merchants who cater to Americans say they worry that new rules
requiring Americans to have passports will lead to fewer visitors south of
the border.
"I think this is going to affect tourism very much," said Hugo Torres, the
mayor of Rosarito Beach, a popular beachside resort town about 20 miles
south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Torres, who also owns the historic Rosarito Beach Hotel, and others say
many visitors are day-trippers who decide on a whim to go for the day to
dine and shop.
Merchants in Mexico already have been hammered by the U.S.'s sagging
economy, the ongoing and increasingly bloody drug war and the hours-long
border waits, all of which have contributed to fewer visitors traveling to
the area.
Torres said his city experienced a 50 percent drop over last year in
visitors during the usually busy Spring Break period earlier this month. He
attributed much of the slide on media depictions of the area's drug
violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives over the last year.
Federal travel warnings about the violence did not help matters, Torres
said. The mayor and U.S. officials say tourists are not the targets of the
cartels.
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