Mazatlan Tourism Trust, the Mexico destination’s tourism marketing arm, last week reached out to reassure travel agents after fatal shootings in a hotel parking lot caused cruise lines to cancel calls there for the second time in less than a month.
In a statement sent to travel agents, Mazatlan tourism officials expressed disappointment at “the drastic reaction of [Norwegian Cruise Line], in response to a shooting on Feb. 22 involving two local men who were not cruise passengers or tourists.”
NCL pulled the Norwegian Star from its last two calls of the season, substituting Cabo San Lucas.
The recent cancellations took place almost a month after a wave of petty crime in Mazatlan involving tourists prompted NCL, Holland America, Princess and Disney to divert ships headed to Mazatlan.
Disney subsequently dropped Mazatlan for the season. Holland America has not made any changes to its Mexico itinerary and is calling in Mazatlan.
Princess Cruises’ Princess Sapphire is set to call March 16 in Mazatlan. The line “will monitor the situation up to that scheduled call,” according to a statement.
On March 7, a few days after Mazatlan reached out to agents, Carnival said it would pull the Carnival Spirit and the Carnival Splendor from Mazatlan but said it would work with officials to "review their plans to improve security in all of the main tourist areas."
Mazatlan officials pointed out that the port has hosted 1.5 million cruise passengers since 2008 and “is widely regarded as one of the safest destinations in Mexico.”
Additional capacity on Aeromexico flights from Mexico City, a 5% increase in passenger load factors in January and February over the same period in 2010, online testimonials from visiting tour operators and occupancy rates close to 100% for its Carnival celebrations March 3 to 8 “underscore the popularity of our destination and our commitment to travelers,” tourism officials said in the statement to agents.
After the January incidents, Mazatlan initiated new security measures to ensure the safety of cruise passengers, including extra personnel in the main tourist areas and shore excursion sites and additional bilingual staff to assist all visitors.