Travel Trends for 2016

A new year is upon us. New years bring new beginnings and new opportunities.  Maybe you are one of those persons that like the newness of the new year.  Maybe you like to think about doing things you have never done or seeing places you have never seen.  Well the travel industry is well equipped this year to offer everyone something new and exciting.  Here are some examples of what is hot for 2016.

1) Cuba.  This destination has been making the news now for quite some time but it is still very misunderstood.  It is not "open" to tourism as some headlines make you think.  But it is accessible through the right tourism channels.  Now is the time to investigate those channels before it does become more open and more hotels and resorts descend upon the pristine beaches staking their claim for the future.

2) The "other side of Mexico."  Major hotels and luxury resorts are seeing the potential in places like Cabo San Lucas and Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa.  These are still destinations where you can escape the larger crowds that flock to the Caribbean side of Mexico.  Hotels to consider are the new The Cape in Cabo and Capella in Ixtapa.  Enjoy some of the most gorgeous sunsets and beautiful beaches found anywhere in the world.

3) Experiential Travel.  More and more travelers are weary of the same old same old when it comes to vacationing.  Sitting on a beach with an umbrella drink was fun the first 5 or so times, but thanks to social media, more travelers are seeing that there are exciting experiences awaiting them out in the big old world.  So travelers are now looking for their vacations to be one of a kind experiences that they can brag about to their friends via sites such as Instagram, Snapchat etc.  This makes destinations such as Costa Rica or Guatemala places that are seeing increases in tourism.

4) Year of the Dragon.  I am using that phrase generically to show that so many areas of Asia are on the radar now for 2016.  When large luxury hoteliers such as St Regis or the Four Seasons start building new properties in areas, you know that they are seeing trends that are making these destinations the next hot area.  Such is the case with Japan, China and Korea.  If you have been to Hawaii, you are already half way there.

5) River Cruising.  No longer are river cruises for those that carry certain cards to get certain benefits because of their birth dates falling before a certain year.  Get what I mean? Tour companies such as Tauck and Disney are seeing that river cruising is for all age groups within a family.  It is one of those vacations where grandma, grandpa, mom, dad and son and daughter can all go together and have something enjoyable to see and do during the vacation. This means that staterooms, menus and activities are all being designed to cater to all ages and families are seeing this as a great opportunity for the whole group to get together for a once in a lifetime vacation.

How Safe is Mexico?

As most everyone knows, thanks to the media, there has been yet another travel warning issued for Mexico. This latest warning is due to the increase in violence in certain Mexico states and towns. This warning has again made the public weary of traveling to any part of Mexico whether on vacation or business.

As with past posts on this blog, I feel it is my duty to help you sift through the media hype, the misstatements, the false and misleading advertising etc when it comes to travel related issues. This is why I feel it is necessary for me to help you understand the reality of this latest travel alert.

I will state right up front...I am a fan of Mexico. I have traveled to Mexico and had and will have clients who travel to Mexico and it is my opinion that Mexico offers some of the best vacation options throughout the world. That is why I am very bothered when I see and read things that try to get travelers to think otherwise, especially when news stories paint an unrealistic and negatively skewed picture of a situation.

I have recently posted a quiz to get a better idea of what the general public actually might know about Mexico and its size and geography. The results of that quiz were as I expected and further convinced me that this post was necessary. I asked questions such as "How far is the Yucatan Peninsula from the town of Nuevo Laredo?" Some responded that it is 100 miles away, some responded that it is 200 miles away. The correct answer was that they are over 600 miles apart. I also asked if it was true that Tijuana is within 50 miles from Cabo San Lucas? The correct answer is false, they are hundreds of miles away from each other. Another question was concerning the location of the Mexico town of Nogales. Almost 50% of the responders think it is in the southern part of the Country. The correct answer is that it is on the extreme northern border of Mexico (northwest to be more accurate, but not a coastal town). Most responders also believe that the Mexico city of Ciuad Juarez is on the Pacific, the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Ciuad Juarez is not on any coast and is also located on the northern border of Mexico (see previous post).

I specifically used those towns and cities (Nogales, Ciuad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana) in my quiz because they are the very locations of all of the violence in Mexico and they are all border towns with the United States. Another thing that they all have in common is that they are hundreds and even thousands of miles from almost every Mexico tourist destination (see photo). For example...San Francisco and L.A. are closer than Tijuana and Cabo San Lucas. Would anyone cancel a trip to San Francisco because of crime issues in Los Angeles? Here is another truth...the very popular Riviera Maya area of Mexico is over 1300 miles from the town of Nogales where a lot of the violence has occurred. So that would be the equivalent of canceling a trip to the State of Oklahoma because of some violence outbreak in a city in California. Imagine what we would think if we found out foreign tourists were deciding to cancel trips to Florida because they heard that there was a crime spree in New York City. We would think they just have no earthly idea of how far apart those two places are or we would think they are simply overreacting. Well...I wonder what the people of Cozumel or Cancun or Mazatlan think of us when we make similar decisions about visiting their part of the world because we hear that there is violence on the Mexico/Texas border?

I have posted the numbers in a previous post so I will not belabor you with them again, but the facts show that we have much higher crime rates in most of our large U.S. tourist destinations than they do in the actual tourist locations of Mexico.

So with that said...what are your thoughts about traveling to Mexico? Are you still concerned? If you are...why? Do these facts help you better understand where the trouble spots are? I would love to get your feedback or questions.

Concerned about your safety while traveling abroad?

Being the victim of a crime while traveling abroad would undoubtedly put a damper on anyone’s vacation. The U.S. State Department occasionally puts out warnings making us aware of the dangers of traveling to certain areas of the world because of the threat of violence against U.S. citizens. Most of the time it seems that those warnings are valid when you take into consideration that some of the areas we are warned about experience a high level of terrorist activity.

But I am not talking about those very few in number violent hotspots in this article. I want to address the constant warnings or news stories that keep making headlines for such places as Mexico, Aruba, and now even the Bahamas. Our media is quick to pick up on a story of a U.S. citizen being attacked while on vacation in some of these popular tourist destinations. In regards to Mexico, most stories are not even about Americans being attacked as much as they are about drug related violence in the towns along the U.S./Mexico border. Sensationalism is a major issue when it comes to our media reporting such events. There is a teaching in the Bible that says a man should not try to get the stick out of another person’s eye while he has a large beam in his own eye. That seems to be true about American Journalism. Our media seems to be one that likes to point out the trouble in other areas of our world while ignoring the major trouble right in our own backyard.

This sort of problem bothers me because of the fact that so many listen to such reports about a crime in “XYZ” Country and then decide to no longer vacation in that area of the world. An entire Country’s economy can be devastated by what our media reports when it shines such a negative light.

Now I am not saying that we should not be aware the potential for crime in various tourist areas, but I am saying that we need to sift through the hype and realize what the facts truly are before rushing to judgment or decision.

So let’s get down to the facts about crime for a moment. First…do you know where the U.S. ranks in the world when it comes to assaults? Out of every nation in the world, the U.S. ranks 6th! That is right…6th. Do you know where Mexico ranks? 20th! They rank lower than Great Britain, Canada, Australia and even Jamaica. When was the last time that you saw someone in our media write a story about the dangers of traveling to Australia or Great Britain? Wonder how many foreign media outlets are writing stories warning travelers of the dangers of traveling to the U.S.?? There have been stories recently about assaults against tourists in Nassau in the Bahamas. Cruise lines even started warning their passengers about getting off the ship while in port in Nassau. Do you know where the Bahamas rank in overall assaults? They are not even on the list. Guess where the U.S. ranks in total crime? If you guessed 1st, you are correct. That is right, more crime happens right here in the good old U.S. of A than any other nation in the world. Even if you break the statistic down to a per capita basis, the U.S. still ranks 8th. Mexico again comes in 39th well below the U.S. But we like to ignore those stats and jump on other countries when one of our own becomes a victim of crime inside their borders and put out travel warnings that may take a huge toll on those who live modest lives and who rely on tourists coming to visit their small part of the world.

So what is the moral of this story…be a smart traveler. Be vigilant no matter where you are. Don’t cut down side streets if you are not familiar with an area. Stay in populated areas or choose to go on guided tours. Keep your belongings close to your side and locked up. Appear that you are sure of yourself and where you are headed, or in other words, don’t look like a “tourist.”

And don’t be quick to take the media’s version of a story or report and keep things in perspective. You are in as much danger living and visiting areas of our own Country as you are traveling abroad. So get out there and don’t let fear rule your decisions and experience life through travel.

If you would like to see the statistics for yourself…you can click here.