MONTREAL — Canadian tourists don’t seem too deterred by the bloody drug war gripping Mexico and increasingly unflattering comparisons of that country to a narco-state.
In fact, numbers released to The Canadian Press suggest the volume of tourists jumped 18 per cent in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year.
The number of Canadian visitors has surged by nearly one-third since 2008 and has increased in each of the last six years, according to figures set to be released Tuesday by the Mexican government.
The most popular destination for the 925,000 Canadians who went to Mexico in the year’s first half was the turquoise-coloured shore of Cancun — which, deep in the country’s south, is far from the epicentre of the drug violence.
Over 500,000 visited Cancun’s famous beaches, while 157,000 went to Puerto Vallarta and 75,000 visited the capital, Mexico City.
The Mexican government credits the high Canadian dollar, and the quality of its own tourism industry, for the increase.
Only the United States sent more tourists to Mexico in 2009, with 5.4 million compared with the 1.2 million from Canada.
However, considering the total population of each country, the percentage of Canadian citizens travelling to Mexico was more than twice as high — 3.59 per cent, compared to 1.73 per cent from the U.S.
Mexico has been plagued for several years by battles between drug cartels that have resulted in the brutal killings of civilians, journalists, police and public officials.
Several Canadian tourists in recent years have also perished in events that received widespread publicity in this country.
But the country continued to hold its top 10 spot on the UN’s list of world tourism destinations.