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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2005 
US Warns Tourists About Cancun
 Wire services
| | The State Department said today it has received numerous allegations of tourists being extorted for money by taxi drivers and malfeasant police or individuals posing as police officers in Cancun. |
The U.S. State Department warned tourists of increased dangers in Cancun, Mexico, the top foreign destination for U.S. travelers, saying a strike by local police has left visitors vulnerable to a variety of street crimes.
"Police responsiveness to emergency calls and investigation of crimes has been severely impaired, and the U.S. consulate in Merida has received several reports of petty corruption and extortion aimed at U.S. travelers," the State Department said.
The warning could be damaging to the tourist industry in Cancun, which the American Society of Travel Agents ranks as the top international destination for travel by U.S. families.
"That's not good news," Paul Ruden, the Alexandria, Virginia-based association's senior vice president for legal and industry affairs, said of the State Department warning.
Alfonso Nieto, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said he had no immediate reaction to the State Department's alert.
The Dallas Morning News reported last month that about three-fourths of the 1,200 local police officers have been on strike over pay in Cancun.
The State Department said today it "has received numerous allegations of tourists being extorted for money by taxi drivers and malfeasant police or individuals posing as police officers" in Cancun.
"In some cases, tourists have been taken to ATM machines for immediate payment of alleged infractions," it said.
The American Society of Travel Agents in December listed Cancun at the top of a list of international destinations of U.S. families, accounting for 21 percent of all bookings. |
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