TIJUANA — Marcos Rojas, a waiter at Mr. Tequila Restaurant, roams the Plaza Viva Tijuana, eager to pour double shots for partying tourists. This downtown gateway used to be crowded with Southern California day-trippers, Midwestern families and busloads of German and Japanese tourists.
But empty bars and shuttered businesses now outnumber people mingling near the broken fountain. Rojas, who earns tips by making a show of slamming tequila shots on the table and pouring them down customers' throats, says it's been a week since he performed one of his signature tricks, twirling a tourist on his shoulders.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, February 24, 2008 Bulldog Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Tijuana: An article in the Feb. 17 Section A, about tourists steering clear of Tijuana because of drug violence, omitted the reporter's name. Richard Marosi was the author.
"Look around, it's dead," he said.
In the sleepy plaza, down the lonely pedestrian promenade leading to the heart of the tourist district on Avenida Revolucion, bored waiters and strip club hawkers compete for the trickle of customers, while old-time merchants wax nostalgic about the days when a downtown dotted with attractions drew millions of visitors, including the occasional Hollywood star.
Tijuana's recent wave of violence appears to have driven another nail into the coffin of a tourism industry already hobbled by its reputation for tacky tourist traps and rowdy bars and by long waits at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing.
Visits are down 90% since 2005, when an estimated 4.5 million came to the area, according to the downtown merchants association. On an average day now, only about 150 tourists show up, the association says. Some encounter the latest Tijuana spectacle: convoys full of heavily armed soldiers rumbling down Avenida Revolucion.
Grant Bourne, a 23-year-old tourist from Australia, took a break from visiting San Diego's beaches to spend a recent afternoon in Tijuana, where he marveled at the striking contrasts between the two cities.
The odd sight of soldiers next to the mariachi-filled Plaza Santa Cecilia enriched his visit in a culture-clash sort of way, he said, and the military presence certainly made him feel safe. But he planned to stay downtown, he said, because "I was told not to stray too far off this street."
The tourism collapse is especially sad, many merchants and tourists say, because people may not be aware that recent beautification projects and police crackdowns have left the area safer and spiffier than it has been in years.
Tree-lined promenades feature repaved sidewalks and roadways. Police sweeps have cleared out the drug addicts. Gone too are most of the beggars and hookers. At the balcony bars, club owners have turned down the ear-splitting volume.
Many stores showcase high-quality products: silver from Taxco, Talavera pottery from Michoacan, handcrafted stained-glass and leather products. The Cuban cigars at the business association-approved stores are authentic, and tourists can get custom-made furniture and pinatas at the historic arts and crafts market.
"That's what really represents downtown Tijuana," said Andres Mendez Martinez, coordinator of the merchants association. "Quality products and traditional goods from all over Mexico."
Still, they acknowledge, that's not what Tijuana is famous for these days. It's the bloody battles between police and organized crime that make the headlines.
Since Jan. 1, more than 50 people have been killed across the city, some in wild shootouts that terrified bystanders. Last month, police discovered an organized-crime hide-out near downtown that they said included a training center for hit men complete with a soundproofed basement shooting range.
Recently, the upscale restaurant Hacienda Cien Anos, which once drew tourists, was identified by U.S. authorities as a front for money laundering.
Downtown has been flooded with police and has been largely free of the violence. No bystanders have been killed in the shootouts. A crackdown on corrupt transit cops has resulted in fewer reports of extortion, and merchants immediately report officers who stop tourists without reason, according to police.
Still, the negative image hangs over the city. "In reality, the violence isn't targeting tourists. It's between drug traffickers, criminals and police. But the tourist doesn't know the difference," said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of Tijuana's Bi-National Center for Human Rights.
Meanwhile, merchants say even some of those who haven't been scared off by crime reports may be reluctant to visit because of new, stricter requirements for Americans reentering the U.S. from Mexico -- and fears that the rules will make crossing the border slower. U.S. citizens used to get by at the border crossings with oral declarations of citizenship. Now they need to show proof both of citizenship and identity.
"Americans had 9/11; we had 1/31," said Rojas, the waiter, referring to the date the new rules went into effect.
Aiming to ease the transition to stricter requirements, Baja California tourism officials recently announced a new program called "Get Your Passport" that offers discounts at certain hotels and restaurants to people with U.S. passports.
