MEXICO CITY – The Government of Mexico expressed its “concern” on Thursday about the travel alert issued by the United States in which it is suggested not to travel to 180 countries, including Mexico.
“The government of Mexico expresses its concern about the modification in the travel recommendation at Level 4, issued by the authorities of the United States of America. With this it is suggested not to travel to 180 countries,” said the Ministry of Tourism in a bulletin .
The alert covers practically every country in the world, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the Philippines, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, Qatar and Mexico.
“This action has a bilateral impact on the reactivation of tourism and connectivity with the North American region,” the ministry lamented.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, with the United States “we are united by an extensive and complex common border and a diversity of natural markets, which together with Canada make up one of the main supply chains in the world.”
In addition, “neighborhood, communities that reside in both countries and families in the two nations” are shared.
THE IMPORTANCE OF US TOURISM IN THE ECONOMY OF MEXICO
In 2019, the tourism market between Mexico and the US reached a volume of 174.2 million international visitors between the two countries, with 92.9 million visitors from the US corresponding to Mexico, and 81.3 million from Mexico to the US.
This volume of international visitors between the two countries represented a total expenditure of $ 26,873 million. Of these, $ 18,617 million were spent by Americans in Mexico.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador indicated that, to carry out this strategy, the presence of the Armed Forces in that region will be increased to provide protection to small migrants, in a joint strategy with the representatives of the states.
“Restricting productive, tourist and business mobility by inhibiting the flow of travelers between the two countries would represent a loss for the two economies, in the interior, in the border area and in the cruise market,” the text said.
At a global level, Mexico has emphasized the need for equitable and collective responses, since “there can be no global solutions if there are countries that lag behind.”
THE REASON BEHIND THE US RECOMMENDATION NOT TO TRAVEL TO MEXICO
According to the US government website, the recommended reasons for not traveling to Mexico from this April 20 are related to COVID-19, in addition to urging to act with “greater caution” due to crime and kidnappings and to identify areas of higher risk.
“Faced with the pandemic, Mexico has promoted universal inoculation and international cooperation in access to vaccines. Proof of this are the biosafety and vaccination measures that have placed it among the 15 countries with the highest reception and application of vaccines against the COVID-19, building international confidence and certainty, “claimed the Ministry of Tourism.
Without ignoring the serious economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the Mexican authorities “understand the impact that this decision has on both nations and will address this situation with their US counterparts,” since the measure is not directed only at Mexico, but at a wide group of countries, concluded the newsletter.