Mexico Tourism Email Campaign
December 21 – Mexico City
Mexico – one of the finest cruising grounds in the world – has
created a vexious problem for cruisers. We hope that you’ll join
us in trying to help them solve it.
Our friends to the south are investing nearly a quarter of a
billion dollars in the hope of attracting 10 times the number
of Americans who currently visit by boat. Alas, they are making
the investment less than two years after instituting clearance
procedures that are more expensive and time-consuming than almost
anywhere else in the world. While they are doing this out of
ignorance rather than spite, the net effect is nonetheless the
same: they are discouraging the very tourists they are spending
a fortune to attract.
It’s impossible to describe the current
clearance regulations precisely, as they are interpreted so differently
by different port captains, but for a quick synopsis as well
as a couple of first-hand accounts, see December
19’s ‘Lectronic Latitude. For the full version of this story,
see the January issue of Latitude
38, to be distributed beginning Friday.
The current regulations are bad for cruisers
because they waste too much time and because they are too expensive.
The regulations are bad for Mexico because they are giving this
great cruising country a black eye with the kind of visitors
they are trying to attract. Fortunately, there’s a simple and
excellent solution – an annual cruising permit. These are common
in many parts of the world, and are what Terry Grossman, head
of the Marina Owners Association, has been pushing for a long
time. Under such a plan, cruisers would buy an annual or seasonal
cruising permit for a set fee – say $150 to $300 – and receive
a card that would allow them to travel Mexico without having
to check in. Or if they had to check in, the port captain would
merely stamp the permit and take a copy of a crew list. But that
would be it. Cruisers would stop wasting hours of aggravation,
Mexico would stop pissing off current and future cruisers.
Terry Grossman tells us that she has pushed
SCT and Tourism as hard as she can without it becoming counterproductive.
As such, it’s time for we cruisers – past, present and future
– as well as marine businesses in Mexico and the United States,
to respectfully but forcefully help the Mexican government understand
what a mistake the current regulations are. As such, we’re asking
you to email a copy of the following petition to Lic.
Berta Leticia Navarro Ochoa, Secretario de Turismo. We’re
also asking you to send a copy to Lic.
Rosario Graham, Directora General de Servicios a Prestadores
de Servicios Turisticos.
There are a couple of reasons why now is
a good time to push the issue. First, the government is investing
millions in the ‘Nautical Stairway’ to attract more American
yachties. Second, President Fox’s right hand man is an attorney
who has a large motoryacht, so he is at least somewhat familiar
with the situation.
Here’s the email we suggest that you send
(you can copy and paste it into an email):
Dear (fill in one of the names previously
mentioned),
As a mariner who loves the people, culture, land, and seas of
Mexico, I want to respectfully object to the clearance regulations
that were put in place by the SCT in January of 2000. I believe
the regulations are bad for tourists by boat as well as bad for
Mexico. The changes made clearing in much more expensive and
time-consuming. In some cases, it could cost close to $120 U.S.
in fees and probably more than a day waiting in lines to cover
just 20 miles! In the short term, the effect is to discourage
tourists by boat from visiting places with port captains, thereby
denying business to nearby marinas, restaurants and stores. In
the long run, the effect is to discourage Americans from bringing
their boats to Mexico – at a time when Mexico is investing $220
million to lure Americans down a ‘nautical stairway’.
We believe that it is in the best interest
of Mexico to offer boat tourists a reasonably-priced annual cruising
permit – as is done in many other countries where boat tourism
is popular. Upon entering Mexico, the owner of a vessel would
pay a one-time fee – say $150 to $300 – to purchase a permit
that would allow his/her boat to travel about Mexico without
having to check in with each port captain – or perhaps only check
in by dropping off a crew list and having the permit stamped.
Such a system would be much more attractive to boat tourists,
yet would provide the Mexican government with an efficient means
of collecting a cruising fee and keeping track of all boats and
tourists. This is a very important issue for boat tourists –
and Mexico – so I hope that you will give it serious consideration.
Respectfully,
(your name)
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