Mexico resort cities continue to be popular tourist destinations for US citizens, however, concerns for safety and security have risen steadily over the past decade and both the US government and various foreign governments have cautioned foreign nationals traveling to Mexico. Many resort areas are feeling the negative repercussions of Felipe Calderon’s renewed campaign against Mexican drug cartels. Drug related violence, once confined to trafficking routes along the US-Mexico border, has spread to cities located along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Escalating levels of violence threatens to scare away foreign tourists who spend an estimated US $1.35 billion in the Guerrero state each year.
The Narco-Effect
A city of more than 700,000, Acapulco has battled increasing crime, but until recently violence has remained largely confined to Acapulco’s poor neighborhoods located outside the city’s tourist resorts. Since April 2006, however, drug related crime has spread outside these neighborhoods, impacting the tourist zones. In addition drug related crime has grown in ferocity. Gangs have carried out at least six beheadings, mounting several of the heads on a railing in front of a downtown building. A decapitated body was found in a hotel room in Pie de la Cuesta, a popular resort just north of the city line, and a municipal police officer was gunned down outside a disco in the tourist night life area. Most recently, on February 7, 2007, assassins dressed as soldiers entered two state police stations, confiscated the officer’s weapons and opened fire. Five police investigators and two secretaries were killed.
Mexican authorities attribute the violence to a battle for control of Pacific entry points for South American drugs smuggled in by maritime vessels, go-fast boats, and small planes (Previous Report). The city hosts a direct route to Mexico City and the US, and possesses a lucrative local narcotics market as domestic drug consumption grows at a high rate. More cocaine is being smuggled from Colombia and Peru via Pacific entry points than ever before, exploiting Mexico’s long and lightly guarded Pacific coast and Acapulco’s hidden coves.
For many years Acapulco’s drug market was under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, named for the northern state where it originated. Sinaloa Cartel bosses largely avoided disturbing the peace. However, violence increased in 2006 when the rival Gulf Cartel began sending members of its infamous “Zetas” hit squad – former Mexican military special-forces, turned rogue – in response to incursions by the Sinaloa Cartel into the Gulf Cartel’s Nuevo Laredo trafficking point. Since, the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have battled for control of lucrative routes off the Pacific coast for US-bound cocaine.
Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 24,000 soldiers and federal police officers nationwide to fight drug gangs, including some 7,000 to the Acapulco region. Violence has not halted, however, in what Calderon calls “an unfortunate response to the military crackdown.” Even with the continued violence, though, the government continues to reiterate its commitment to stemming the bloodshed promising that it would not “retreat or give up in the face of the attacks by organized crime.”
Impact on Tourism
The violence has not impacted tourists directly, but at least two foreign nationals were injured in two daytime shooting incidents in February 2007 near Acapulco’s main beach strip. However, most tourists remained unfazed by the violent drug war. The beachfront area continues to be largely unaffected by the violence. Tourism officials have reported no significant tourist cancellations and are anticipating a record-breaking Spring 2007 tourism season. Hotel occupancy is higher than 2006 and will likely reach 75 percent occupancy despite a US State Department warning about drug-related violence in Acapulco.
However, drug violence will likely spill over into the tourist zones in the near to mid-term affecting tourist facilities and negatively impacting the local economy. The presence of federal troops has done little to quell the violence or disperse narco-traffickers from the region. Should a US national be killed in drug related violence, the local tourist industry will likely experience a rapid decrease in US nationals visiting the city.
