Cozumel says they should be exempt from US travel warning

Cozumel, Q.R. — Businesses on the island of Cozumel are requesting they be exempt from the new US travel warning for the state of Quintana Roo saying they are not part of the violent scene cited in the warning.

Letters have been written to contacts and partners in the United States requesting the island be removed as part of the named places of risk in the state. Companies including cruise ships and airlines have also been written to, explaining the situation saying the municipality does not have a record of homicides.

Their goal is to put pressure on the American State Department to be removed from the travel warning list. Eduardo Carlos González Cid, president of the Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) on the island, said that a call will be made to the US consulate to modify the information that damages the island.

He pointed out that the municipality has no record of homicides of American tourists and added that not only is cruise tourism fragile, all tourism is, and that now Cozumel must deal with the effects of misinformation.

On August 22, the US State Department updated their country travel warning for Mexico, which for the first time named the state of Quintana Roo and in particular, the main tourist destinations of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Riviera Maya and Cozumel.

In a press release, Marisol Venegas Pérez tourism secretary of Quintana Roo, rejected the regional travel warning saying that it was not a restriction, but only a travel recommendation adding, “In Cozumel we have not had any increase in homicides, so it is important for US State Department to rectify the information that includes the island.

“We are left with the issue even though there is no restriction to travel to Quintana Roo,” adding that such information can cause harm to all who earn their income from cruise tourist activity.

Anja María López Miranda, the city’s tourism director, said it is unknown where the State Department captured the data and that they are already working on a letter of alienation to the embassy requesting the modification.