In addition to being an oasis for tourists, Mexico has also become a solution for those who want to travel to another place but cannot do it directly from their country due to current sanitary prohibitions.
Thus, Mexico is one of the options chosen by many travelers to make a “long stopover” of two weeks before being able to continue to their destination, especially to the US.
Washington continues to prohibit entry to people who have been in the last 14 days in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, China and Iran. But travelers from Mexico are welcome.
Daniel, a Spaniard who had to travel to Miami from his country in July, spent this mandatory quarantine in Mexico City. His closeness to the US, having a friend in the Mexican capital and the fact that it was “relatively cheap” to spend two weeks there made this seem like the best option.
The young man believes that this ban on travelers from the Schengen zone in Europe “has never made sense from a scientific point of view after the first two months of the pandemic.”
“When I traveled to Mexico in July, there were hardly any covid-19 cases in Spain. The US prohibited me from traveling from a country where there were virtually no cases, but it did not put any type of restriction on flying from Mexico, where there were then more than 600 deaths a day, “he criticizes.
But tourism organizations emphasize that there are also other reasons why travelers choose Mexico to travel, such as all the measures taken in hotels or other businesses in the sector in the country to safeguard the health of tourists.
According to Armenta, from the Sectur, “the perception of people who want to travel counts a lot, and if they are thinking of going to a place and believe that there are no sanitary measures, they will think twice.”
From Travel Leaders Group, McGillivray tells BBC Mundo that “Mexico has some of the best resorts in the world that soon adopted health and safety protocols. These ‘all-inclusives’ became even more attractive in a pandemic because you don’t have to leave the resort or expose yourself to people leaving and entering the property. “
A French tourist named Pierre confirms that he felt “very safe” in the hotel in Mexico where he stayed, where employees wore face masks, antibacterial gel was everywhere, and guests were taking their temperatures.
“Of course, when you went out to party, in bars you did see people dance, hug each other and without distance. It was all very 2019,” he recalls.
Daniel from Spain says that during his stay in Mexico City in July he was “pleasantly surprised” by the degree of awareness of the population regarding respecting security measures if he compared it to Spain or the United States.
“The measures were then slightly more lax than in Spain, which came out of a strict home confinement. Despite this, I felt safer in Mexico since, despite having less restrictive measures, it seemed to me that they were respected much more”, think.
by Marcos González Díaz
BBC News Mundo correspondent in Mexico
Source: BBC
