Mexico plans tax break for tourists
Mexican vacations would be a little bit cheaper next year under a measure approved by the lower house of Congress.
The bill would allow allows tourists a refund of Mexico’s 15 percent value-added tax as of July 1, 2006.
Following passage in Congress on Monday, it now goes to the Senate. The federal Tourism Department is promoting the measure, which is similar to a practice used in Europe.
Only tourists arriving by air or sea would be eligible for the refund, which would apply only to products purchased and taken out of Mexico. The total of the purchases would have to amount to 1,200 pesos (a little more than $100) and tourists would have to obtain a formal receipt from the seller.
Source: signonsandiego.com
Mexico plans evacuation of tourists from Cancun as hurricane Emily advances
Mexican officials recommended Friday evacuating tourists from much of the country's Caribbean coast - including the resort of Cancun - if hurricane Emily continues heading toward the Yucatan peninsula.
While no evacuation has yet been ordered, the Cancun city government is already meeting with local bus companies to arrange transport for tourists away from the low-lying spit of land that houses much of Cancun's hotel sector.
The Interior Department recommended evacuating the Caribbean coast from Tulum to an area north of Cancun, and urged people to take refuge at
Fewer Arizona families going to Mexico during Christmas break
PHOENIX Fewer families seem willing to take their annual Christmas trek to Mexico if they aren't in the U-S legally.
And that means fewer children are missing school when classes resume in January.At most schools, the break starts Friday and ends January 9th.Three years ago, principals could expect to be missing as many as 30 children after winter break. Now, they say it likely will be fewer than a dozen.Sean King of the Border Patrol in Tucson says fewer families seem to try to cross illegally at Christmas because tightened security at the
Mexico warns tourists in Cancun of threat from Hurricane Emily
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning Saturday for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, as Hurricane Emily barreled across the Caribbean south of Jamaica.
Authorities already were recommending tourists leave much of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a precaution.
While evacuation had not yet been ordered, the Cancun city government met with local bus companies to arrange transportation for tourists away from the low-lying spit of land that houses much of Cancun's hotel sector, which lies almost directly in the catagory 4 hurricane's path.
Mexico issued a hurricane
Tourists fleeing Yucatan ahead of hurricane
Long lines of people choked the Cancun airport as tourists rushed to leave this Caribbean resort ahead of Hurricane Emily, which packed 155 mph winds as it streaked toward Mexico.
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning today for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, and authorities were recommending tourists abandon much of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a precaution.
Sunny skies and a laid-back atmosphere still prevailed at the resort, despite the approaching Category 4 hurricane.
"The locals seem pretty nonchalant about it," said Becky Hart, 29, a school teacher from Madera, Calif.,
Mexico's Cozumel, storm survivor, awaits tourists
At first glance, Mexico's Cozumel island -- a Caribbean jewel ringed with coral reefs -- looks like the site of a nuclear explosion.
Chunks of concrete pier have been swept away, palm-thatched beachside bars are stripped to skeletons, lush forest has turned into dry brown kindling and huge bites have been taken out of concrete buildings.
Yet unlike nearby Cancun, whose high-rise resorts are nearly all shut for repairs after their beaches were sucked away by Hurricane Wilma last month, many of Cozumel's hotels are open. Its best white sand beaches -- which are natural rather than
Wilma slams Mexico resorts, tourists flee
Lashing wind and rain pounded Mexican beach resorts on Friday and thousands of tourists hunkered down in shelters to escape Hurricane Wilma, which was hammering Caribbean resorts on its way to densely populated southern Florida. Heavy rain was coming down in diagonal sheets and howling winds were buckling sturdy trees.
Tourists were evacuated from luxury beachfront hotels all along Mexico’s “Maya Riviera†coast and the normally calm, turquoise Caribbean seas heaved and Wilma dumped rain on streets patrolled by soldiers ordering people to take cover.
Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous and at its height later
Mexico, U.S. Break Up Counterfeit Ring
Mexico and the United States broke up a counterfeiting ring that printed an estimated $5 million in fake $100 bills in Mexico and sold them across the border, officials said Wednesday.
The ring, based in the western state of Jalisco, operated more than four years, selling fake $100 bills in Santa Ana, Calif., San Diego, Calif, and Phoenix, Ariz., said Jose Luis Marmolejo, of the attorney general's organized crime division.
The bills, produced with offset printing equipment, were "one of the best falsifications we've seen," Marmolejo said.
Authorities arrested six people, including a man they
Hurricane halts Mexico travel
Tour operators are holding back tourists from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, which was hit by Hurricane Emily last week, until hotels reopen and damage is assessed.
Winds of 125mph swept across the popular holiday region on Monday, killing six and forcing the evacuation of 30,000 tourists in Cancun. Many had to camp in a local gymnasium for the night. Some tourists on the island of Cozumel also had to abandon their hotels.
The hurricane continued to the north-east coast and moved inland, travelling westwards. A hurricane warning remained in effect from La Cruz to the Texas border at
Volkswagen plans to build new model at Mexico plant
Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest car maker, plans to build a new stationwagon in Mexico from the end of 2006, but with output planned at below capacity, the vehicle will not require a new plant.
Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, VW's (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) global head of purchasing, said on Tuesday that Volkswagen had selected Mexico to be the sole producer of the Jetta stationwagon, known in Europe as the Golf stationwagon.
Otto Lindner, chairman of Volkswagen Mexico, said the plans for the new vehicle were part of the company's previously stated $2
Tourists flee huge Hurricane Wilma in Mexico
Roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts on Thursday and thousands of tourists were ready to be evacuated as powerful Hurricane Wilma plowed through the Caribbean on its way to Florida.
Cuba evacuated 100,000 people and residents of southern Florida stocked up on drinking water and gas to prepare for Wilma, which spun off the coasts of Mexico and Belize packing winds of around 145 mph (230 kph).
Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous, Wilma killed 10 people in mudslides in Haiti earlier in the week.
Expensive beachfront hotels all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" coast emptied
