Acapulco, Mexico — Lounging poolside at her hotel on the Pacific Ocean, Donna Littleton recounted the highlights of her vacation: cliff divers, an air show, jewelry shopping and a tasty buffet.
But one element clouded her sunny mood: the memory of police with automatic weapons patrolling the beach.
"It makes you feel uneasy," said the 48-year-old Georgia resident. "I doubt that we'll be back."
Drug wars and political unrest are taking a toll on Mexico's tourism industry, one of the nation's biggest employers and revenue earners. The number of international visitors to Mexico in the first nine months of the year fell by nearly 4 million, or 5.1%, from the same period last year, according to the latest government figures.
The drop has cost Mexico more than $200 million in tourism revenue this year, most of that from Americans, who make up the vast majority of foreign visitors.
The U.S. State Department put out a bulletin in September cautioning U.S. travelers to be aware of "the rising level of brutal violence" along Mexico's northern border.
That alert was followed by an October announcement urging Americans to avoid the southern tourist magnet of Oaxaca. The city has been racked by nearly six months of civil unrest that has killed at least 10 people, including an American freelance journalist. The State Department last week expanded the scope of that bulletin, calling on Americans to "be alert to increased security concerns related to protest violence throughout Mexico" after explosives damaged three buildings in Mexico City in early November in attacks that may have been related to events in Oaxaca.
The biggest decline in foreign visitors -- more than 2.7 million -- has been among day-trippers to northern Mexico. Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo have been convulsed by a spasm of kidnappings and narcotics-related murders this year, spooking Americans who used to zip across the border in search of souvenirs, discount medications or a spicy meal. Their trepidation is hurting Mexican merchants who depend on their spending.
"We are barely holding on," said Pablo Jacobo "Jack" Suneson, owner of Marti's, an upscale boutique in Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. He said scores of businesses had been shuttered in the Mexican border town, where more than 160 people have been murdered this year.
The migration of dollars is prompting Suneson to build a store in San Antonio so that his American clients don't have to cross the border.
