Something to think about before you read:

The average homicide rate for the U.S. is 4.7 per 100,000 people. The homicide rate for US Nationals visiting Mexico in 2013 was 0.57 per 100,000. This means you are more than 8 times more likely to be murdered in your own country than on a trip to Mexico.

Updated January 26, 2014 2013 was a big year for tourism in Mexico. The black cloud that developed over the Mexican travel industry following the eruption of drug violence in 2007 seems to have passed. Positive news and publicity for travel to Mexico, along with the steadily improving economy have brought back the North American Tourists in record numbers, particularly to Baja California Sur.

By 2018 the Travel Industry is expected to be the #3 contributor to Mexico’s Gross National Product. Today, Mexico is the #3 employer of persons in the travel industry with nearly 4 million participants, nearly 3 times that of the United States. Only India and China, much more populace nations, have more travel related jobs in their economies.

So, don’t for a moment think that the Mexican government is going to ignore the importance and safety of travel in Mexico.

The biggest impediment to US travel to Mexico remains the WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) begun under the Bush administration, which now requires passports for travel to Mexico. More accurately stated, requires passports to return to the US from travel to Mexico. A decade later only about 30% of Americans hold passports, the other 70% apparently aren’t going to get up from an episode of “Duck Dynasty” to get a passport and go blanket shopping inTijuana.

Two new groups of international travelers pushed their way into the significant statistics in 2013, visitors to Mexico from China and Japan were the two fastest growing segments.

Let’s put the Mexico Travel Warning issued by the United States Department of State on July 12, 2013 in perspective. It is a continuation, with revisions, of the travel warning that has been in effect since February of 2008.

Bad things can happen to you anywhere, even in your own home town. I certainly would not try to say that anywhere in Mexico is as safe as San Diego, one of the safest cities in the U.S. But you have a far better chance of being struck by lightening or winning the lottery than having a negative experience in your visit to Mexico.

A visit to New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit or Houston could certainly be considered more perilous than a trip to most locations in Mexico. In Baja California only Tijuana or Juarez even comes closes to as perilous as the above mentioned cities.

I can not tell you that Baja is as crime free as before, but perhaps in the same breath I can tell you that Baja is as safe to come visit as ever before.

The information in this article come from some of the most reliable sources available, including the FBI, World Health Organization and U.S. State Department.

There was great disparity in information from other sites on the internet, each with a unique political or monetary perspective. Great effort was put into collaborating the facts written here.

Here are the facts about Mexico travel and living:

• Mexico returned to the #1 position as an international destination for Americans, bumping Canada to 2nd place.

• Mexico returned to the top 10 international destinations world wide in 2013.

• Mexico is the #1 location for North Americans living abroad, with 1 million Americans and more than 400,000 Canadians calling Mexico home, part or full time.

• More than 15 million Americans visited Mexico in 2013. more than 150,000 US citizens cross the border into Mexico daily.

• Cabo San Lucas became the #1 International Travel Destination on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

• 81 Americans were reported murdered in Mexico in 2013, up from 71 in 2012. That is a homicide rate 1/8th that of the US average and a little more than 1/4 of the Canadian average. You are significantly less likely to be murdered on vacation in Mexico than at home.

• The vast majority of the murders in Mexico in the last 7 years are directly related to the drug trade, and are not against tourists.

• Baja California Sur is one of the safest states in Mexico. Huge strides have also been made in Baja California since 2007 and tourist incidents remain rare.

• What is being done about the problem

Over the last couple of years headlines in Mexican and international press have highlighted great progress in Mexico’s war against the cartels. Arrest headline now overshadow the headlines of body counts and horrific deaths.

Every time I update this article I receive a laundry list of particular events in Baja complied by an anti-Mexico travel group. Let me be perfectly clear, bad things do happen to tourists in Mexico. But more expat Americans and Canadians call Mexico home than any other location, nearly a million and a half of them. More Americans will visit Mexico this month than visit England in a year. Statistically speaking you are far more likely to be struck by lightening near your home than be the victim of a violent crime in Mexico. To improve your odds we have some tips below to protect your vacation.

Despite the blathering of some radio talk personalities and has been politicians clamoring for attention, Mexico is not in Civil War, nor on the verge of lawlessness.

Note to all “Americans” At several places in this article I refer to U.S. citizens as “Americans” Before you waste your time to write in, I will point out in advance that this is not an oversight. Although “Americans” can refer to anyone who is resident of the American continents The Oxford Dictionary of Modern English states that since World War II the word “American” can specifically refer to a citizen of the U.S.A. Want to prove it? Just ask someone from Toronto in Paris if they are an American!

Article from the bajainsideronlinemagazine by Thomas