Americans Rate Los Cabos As Safer Than Other Mexican Destinations

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Last Updated 1 year ago

Mexico has been in the world news headlines for plenty of the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. In the first week of the year, there was civil unrest in plenty of cities across the country. Los Cabos, though, was completely spared from any safety issues in those first days of 2022. As a result, American tourists understand that Los Cabos can be considered a bit of a separate entity from the rest of Mexico. 

In a recent interview Rodrigo Esponda, head of FITURCA, the local government tourism fund used to promote Los Cabos, revealed that American tourists seem well aware of the differences between Los Cabos and the rest of the country. During an exit survey taken by American tourists at the end of their vacations before heading back to America, travelers pointed out that they viewed Los Cabos as a safe destination.

Further, over 90% of the people polled by FITURCA at the Cabo airport reported being pleased with their vacation, while 66% of those polled claimed that their Cabo vacation exceeded expectations. This is great news for a destination set in a country that often gets treated unfairly by the media.

Esponda would go on to say that positive word-of-mouth advertising from people who have been to Los Cabos really helps out the destination. In his interview, he mentioned, 

“We can’t make generalizations, but the U.S. market generally knows that the security situation in Los Cabos is optimal. We are one of the better-rated destinations, especially by frequent travelers. People who have come to Los Cabos know that it is perfectly safe.”

Locals & Expats Seem To Agree With Esponda

Mexico’s national data collection agency INEGI runs a survey that it calls its security perception test. It polls residents of different cities across Mexico to see how safe they feel in the city that they live in. The survey includes questions like, have you been witness to a violent crime in the last 6 months? Also, it asks those surveyed to rank the situations where they feel most at risk. Usually, visiting a bank or traveling through the public transport system are two situations in which people feel uncomfortable, two things that travelers often don’t experience during their vacations.

INEGI calls or visits people’s homes without accounting for the nationality of the homeowner. That’s why it’s reasonable to assume that expats are part of the survey in Los Cabos. In any case, only 20% of those polled in Los Cabos mentioned they felt unsafe in the region. This made Los Cabos the best-rated city out of all of the popular beach destinations in Mexico. Puerto Vallarta’s insecurity perception grew to 34%, which is still decent, all things considered. Particularly when you take into account that 82% of people polled in Cancun mentioned that they felt unsafe.       

Los Cabos Authorities Are In Constant Contact With The U.S. Government

The U.S. State Department continually updates its travel warnings, particularly to Mexico. Each Mexican state is given a ranking according to how dangerous travel to that destination might be. Esponda mentioned that the Los Cabos tourism fund which he presides over is in constant contact with the U.S. authorities through the Overseas Security Advisory Council or OSAC. Communication with local authorities is one of the elements that the State Department uses to be able to update its rankings.

In the case of Los Cabos, this means that Americans traveling to the region could be alerted almost immediately if a dangerous situation occurs while they are on vacation. Esponda did not reveal why the state of Baja California Sur, where Los Cabos is located, currently sits in the second-safest warning level in the State Department rankings. The U.S. government warns about general crime in the state while also highlighting the fact that travel to Los Cabos and La Paz is by no means discouraged.