One of the most common hesitations that future Mexico real estate buyers have is that of security. With, the way much of the media portrays Mexico, this is not surprising. As I have often pointed out, this image is far from the reality of living in Mexico. The good news is that the word is spreading; those who have lived in Mexico for years on end, and those who have traveled to this beautiful country dozens of times are now speaking up and sharing the reality of their experience, ensuring that the truth is known.
Here’s part of a wonderful post from Terry Denton’ Blog, Travel by Terry.
THE THREE METRICS THAT MATTERÂ Â
Let’s turn our attention to three practical metrics you can use for measuring the safety of Mexico.
Metric One: Geography
Allow me to share a couple of realities that seldom get mentioned by the media. The first is the fact that the vast majority of the security problems in Mexico are restricted to towns along the border and a few other scattered sites. It is worth noting that Mexico has over 2500 municipalities and security problems have been concentrated in just 18 of them. You probably won’t run across this embarrassing little jewel either, embarrassing to the US that is. It almost makes you question the wisdom of staying at home!
The second fact rarely discussed is the immense size of Mexico (roughly the size of Western Europe) and the distances between historical hot spots and resort cities. Take a look at the map below. You may be surprised to discover that it is roughly 1000 miles from Juarez to Cancun and almost 800 miles from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas. The white line is meant to suggest how head-scratchingly strange we here in the US would find it if a potential visitor from a foreign country shared with us that he was apprehensive about visiting San Diego because he had heard of a recent ugly incident in New Orleans.
Map showing relative distances in Mexico
Metric Two: Statistics
Here are a few interesting facts you probably have not heard in the media:
1)Â Â Â Â The Mexican Ministry of Tourism revealed that 2011 was a record-breaking year for tourism with. 23.4 million international travelers visiting Mexico in 2011.
2)Â Â Â Â The Mexican Ministry of Tourism announced that 4.99 million international tourists visited Mexico between January-April 2012, representing an increase of 5.3 percent compared to the same period in 2011.
3)     Mexico is currently rated 10th in the world rankings for most international visitors and has publicly set a goal to be in the top 5 by 2018.
4)    There are currently no US travel advisories in place for popular tourist destinations like Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum, the Riviera Nayarit, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and San Miguel de Allende, Leon or even Mexico City.
Metric Three: Experience
If you were to ask me the number one reason I believe Mexico is safe I would say it is based on my own personal experience. I have been traveling there for over 25 years, multiple times many years, without ever once being threatened or harassed.   My story is but one of millions as the statistics above corroborate.
If you would like to hear some real stories from real people talking about the real Mexico, just visit the Mexico Taxi Project. These are unscripted comments from consumers just like you on their way home from the airport upon returning to the US.  OK, there may be a couple of folks in those clips still feeling the negative effects of over-indulgence but hey, hangovers don’t reach the threat threshold set for this blog post.
Traveling to Mexico is safe! Living in Mexico is safe. Thank you Terry! Read the full article – Mexico Maligned – over at his blog.
Thanks to the Mexico Report for the link!
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