The United States Department of State issued an updated travel advisory for Mexico just ahead of the busy winter holiday period, but the overall warnings about specific states have not changed since January 2018.
In this report, Mexico remained at Level 2 overall, but it was elevated in certain regions as a result of an increase in criminal activities, including kidnapping, carjacking and robbery.
The good news is that some of the country’s most popular tourist areas, including Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit, are still considered safe.
Though violent crime and gang activity have been reported in some parts of the States of Jalisco and Nayarit, there are No Travel Advisories or restrictions for stays in the following tourist areas: Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Ajijic in Jalisco; and Nuevo Vallarta, Punta Mita, and other Riviera Nayarit destinations, such as Bahia de Banderas and Santa María del Oro.
And while there are currently no advisories for travel to tourist hotspots in Quintana Roo, including Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and the Riviera Maya; nor for Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, and La Paz in Baja California Sur, Americans are being asked to exercise increased caution in some of the tourist areas of these states due to violence and turf battles amongst criminal groups.
The State Department’s updated advisory also showed officials are concerned about crime in specific regions after issuing a Level 4 warning to avoid all travel to states such as Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. The ban on travel to Guerrero includes popular destinations like Acapulco, Ixtapa and Taxco.
In addition to the warnings for travelers, the State Department has placed new restrictions on government employees working in Mexico. Americans south of the border are being instructed to not travel between cities after dark and only use dispatched vehicles, such as Uber and regulated taxi stands – good advice for all visitors.
To read the U.S. Department of State’s full Mexico Travel Advisory Report, issued on December 17, 2019, click HERE.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
