A more detailed plan will be worked out later for how to attract American tourists next year, but a pivotal part of the endeavor will involve working with business owners to reopen their restaurants and bars. The city previously attracted thousands of spring breakers from South Padre Island for the "Two Nation Vacation," but the number of such visitors began dwindling in 2005 as drug violence started making international headlines and U.S. authorities later began warning against traveling into northern Mexico. The declines are being felt from this Gulf Coast community to the West Coast, where Rosarito Beach south of the California border is no longer a mecca for Spring Breakers due to a turf war between rival drug gangs that sent business plummeting in the last decade. [...] as drug-fueled bloodshed subsided in recent years the region's tourism industry hired a U.S. public relations firm and is attracting an increased number of wealthier, middle-aged travelers seeking world-class cuisine and wines in Tijuana and nearby Valle de Guadalupe, which is often called Mexico's Napa Valley. "If I see a group of three or four spring breakers, I will have to take a picture with them because that would be a rare sighting," Raul Garcia, general manager of the Garcia's complex, said as two customers perused his souvenir shop packed with colorful clay dolls, ceramic vases and plates. A State Department travel advisory cautioning Americans about visiting Mexico remains in place as cities still deal with cartel violence that has kept heavily armed soldiers patrolling the Mexican border.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 3 hours ago.
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