Mexico continues to lure Canadian tourists despite fatal incidents

The murder of Canadian expat Lori Archambault, whose dismembered body was found in two suitcases in Playa del Carmen in April, has refocused the spotligtht on safety issues for foreigners living and visiting in Mexico. This article in the Toronto Sun says tourists tend to ignore travel advisories or news stories about murdered Canadians in Mexico, playing them as “one-offs.”

That’s according to Gabor Forgacs, associate professor of Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, who weighed in on how Canadians continue booking flights to Mexico in light of yet another Canadian killed there recently.

“There is this willful ignorance that ‘I take care of myself, and I’ll be safe,’ and with the best of intentions, we assume we’ll be fine,” he said.

“We don’t look at them as danger. Those are occurrences that are unusual and random. If people go mingle with the local population and they happen to be at the wrong time, wrong place, that’s a different story. But those who stay at a resort and only take guided tours, they have every right to assume that things will be safe.”

On April 17, Lori Archambault’s body was found dismembered and stuffed in two blood-soaked suitcases. The Canadian woman had been living in Mexico for 11 years, but her life came to a violent end after she met her new boyfriend a few months ago and moved to Tulum.

From 2011-2015, 141 Canadians died in accidents, murders, drownings and suicides, according to Global Affairs Canada. Of that total, 23 were murdered.

Walter McKay, a Canadian-based security expert on Mexico, said he believes tourists opt for the country’s sandy beaches because they’re close to home and it’s cheap to get there. But he also noted that 1.6-million Canadian tourists travelled there in 2011 and only six were killed — from balcony falls or robbery.

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Source: torontosun.com

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