SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Tourism officials are expecting fewer visitors throughout northern Baja California during the 4th of July holiday weekend, blaming long border waits and security concerns among tourists.
The U.S. Independence Day holiday is traditionally one of the busiest travel seasons in Baja with most visitors coming from Southern California.
Hotel reservations are down by 20 percent when compared to last year, according to Arturo Gutiérrez, a member of Tijuana’s Visitors and Conventions Committee.
“Room reservations have been slow, and we have been promoting heavily in Los Angeles, the idea is to make our area more appealing to tourists,” Gutiérrez said.
He blames “a lot of negative information about long border waits and perceived violence in Mexico that leads many to believe Baja is not worth visiting.”
“There’s a lot of misinformation about what it takes to cross the border and that it’s not safe on our streets, it’s just unfounded fear that is keeping many people from coming here,” he said. “A lot of people are hurting, not just us, Southern California is also seeing fewer tourists, same thing in Las Vegas.”
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