Tourism in Quintana Roo and parts of Yucatan grew 3 percent last year, when counting travelers from everywhere but the United States.
Visitors from the U.S., however, declined 2 percent in 2018.
For that, the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo blames U.S. politics.
Both inflammatory statements from Washington and State Department travel advisories encouraged vacationers from the U.S. to go elsewhere, said the president of the tourism agency, Darío Flota Ocampo.
American authorities are engaged in a strategy to discredit Mexico, he said.
Most of foreign visitors are from the United States. Visitors from within Mexico, and from countries such as Colombia, Spain and Europe, have increased.
This is the first time in many years tourism officials have recorded a dropoff in visitors from the United States, said Flota Ocampo. Earlier, records showed an overall decline in visitors in Cancun, ending a seven-year growth trend.
Addressing concerns about safety, particularly in Cancun and Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo has received 3,000 National Guard soldiers, reinforcing existing security patrols.
He said that these measures have begun to reduce crime, “although it is a subject where victory can never be sung.”
Source: Sipse
