Strange headline of the day

Given the problems the U.S. has been having along the Mexican border, the following news story left me scratching my head a little.


"Mexico Asks Texas To Tone Down Travel Alerts"

SAN ANTONIO -- Mexico is asking Texas authorities to tone down travel warnings that broadly discourage tourists from crossing the border because of violence.

The head of Mexico's state-run tourism board was in Austin on Wednesday to meet with Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade and law enforcement officials. Mexico wants Texas to stop portraying the entire country as unsafe in travel bulletins.

...

[Tourism board boss Rodolfo] Lopez-Negrete said major resort destinations in the country remain safe.

So, travel to Mexico is dangerous because of the drug cartels and the crooked police and the silent media (and the general failure of the federal government, leaving the impression that the country is on the brink of a civil war), and -- really, for some unknown reason -- people have decided it might not be a good idea to risk their lives for a little vacation south of the border.

And Mexico wants to blame Texas for that? The Mexican government wants to blame the Texas government for their drop in tourism, attributing it to a few sensible travel warnings?

Am I reading this right, or am I wrong? Should we listen to the Mexican tourism board and actually encourage U.S. citizens to travel to Mexico? Do you think anyone down there would actually benefit from a big influx of American tourists with money to spend?



Yeah, I bet someone would.