Puerto Vallarta maintains safe status in recent U.S. travel updates

Puerto Vallarta has maintained its safety status in this week’s updated travel warnings for Mexico issued by the U.S. State Department.

While Jalisco state border regions along the states of Michoacán and Zacatecas remain under a warning by the U.S., these areas remain eight hours from Puerto Vallarta.

The State Department warns U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery by organized criminal groups in various Mexican states, with 103 Americans killed in Mexico in 2015. While not disregarding 103 lives lost, there were over 8 million Americans who travelled to the country during that time period.

The report also indicates Riviera Nayarit, San Blas, Santa María del Oro, Tepic, and Xalisco are safe areas to visit using major highways, but warns against other areas of the state.

The Secretary General of Government in Nayarit, José Trinidad Espinoza Vargas, said there has not been any violence or organized crime on the state highways. He said that he believes the Nayarit warnings are due to activities in the border state of Sinaloa.

The State of Jalisco has rejected the latest warnings by the U.S. State Department. However, State Department warnings go beyond homicide and violence; robberies, identity thefts, and credit card theft are also part of the measurements of safety in a community.

Both destination of Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit has seen an increase in tourism over the past several years with expectations that 2016 will be one of the strongest in nearly a decade as more flights and cruises have been added to the region.

Photo by Gordon (Creative Commons)