Kim Christie and his wife, seen at his Winnipeg home on March 10, opted to stay in Nuevo Nayarit, Mexico, amid recent cartel violence.Shannon VanRaes/The Globe and Mail
Kim Christie and his wife, Marielle Christie, were watching the Canadian men’s hockey team compete at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics from a bar during their vacation in Bucerías, Mexico, when they heard a loud bang outside – and then another.
The couple didn’t think much of the commotion in the otherwise quiet beach town in February, about a half-hour drive from the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. But their friends soon hurried over to tell them the local market was unexpectedly shutting down.
As they headed back to their resort, frantic locals with translation apps on their phones warned them about cartel violence and said: “Go back to the resort. Shelter in place.”
While the couple opted to remain in nearby Nuevo Nayarit, their daughter was no longer comfortable sending their grandchildren to join them later in the month.
News of widespread violence in the country “freaked her out,” said Mr. Christie, 72.
Mr. Christie looks through a photo album from a previous family trip to Mexico.Shannon VanRaes/The Globe and Mail
The couple are among Canadians whose March break and spring travel plans have been shaken up by conflict and geopolitical tensions in regions including Mexico, Cuba and the Middle East. Many Canadians, including the Christies, are also boycotting travel to the U.S. over tensions with the Trump administration.
Canadian airlines have also suspended flights to Cuba – a popular resort destination for Canadians – over fuel shortages. Travel to the Middle East has been curtailed, affecting many international flights with stopovers in Dubai, one of the world’s busiest flight hubs.
Mexicans and Canadians in Puerto Vallarta watch their step in a cartel war’s wreckage
For many Canadians, however, the violence in Mexico has presented the most immediate March break headache.
After the killing of a cartel leader prompted a surge of violence in Mexico’s Jalisco state, the Canadian government advised travellers to “exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico due to high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping.” Many airlines initially cancelled flights but have since restarted normal operations in the region.
From Cuba to Puerto Vallarta, Canadian snowbirds face shrinking list of winter havens
Shirin Jangi, from Vancouver, cancelled her family’s all-inclusive Puerto Vallarta trip – which her cousin was also joining – when news of the cartel violence broke.
“It really is unfortunate, but it just felt safer,” to skip her uncle’s planned 90th birthday celebration, Ms. Jangi said. “Knowing that there is turmoil, why should we put ourselves in that situation?”
Instead, Ms. Jangi, 49, and her family are putting their Puerto Vallarta budget toward a Hawaii trip, while her cousin is now planning a trip to Jamaica.
The Christies – who enjoy taking their large blended family on what they call “spending kids’ inheritance” trips – will take Mr. Christie’s son and his fiancée to Tamarindo, Costa Rica, at the end of March.
Canadians’ spending on bookings to Costa Rica this spring has climbed 48 per cent over the past year, according to Flight Centre Canada, the second-highest increase after Japan, where money spent on bookings is up 64 per cent.
Flight Centre Canada director of communications and public relations Amra Durakovic said adventure tourism options in Costa Rica and enhanced diplomatic ties with Japan have piqued Canadians’ interest in those destinations. She added travel to Cancun – on the other side of Mexico, roughly a 29-hour drive from Puerto Vallarta – is continuing normally.
Kayla Inserra DeLoache, a director of communications with travel search engine Kayak, is also seeing interest in warm weather destinations surging “significantly.”
Canadians are especially interested in the Caribbean, Ms. Inserra DeLoache said, while interest in Florida destinations such as Fort Lauderdale has remained stable.
But Canadians don’t have to travel overseas to make the most of their time off.
Janet Nezon, 65, enjoyed a February break full of palm trees and authentic Mexican food – even though her plane to Puerto Vallarta never left the tarmac.
The Thornhill, Ont., resident was already buckled into her Porter Airlines seat when a text from her rental host came through. “Have you left yet?” he asked. “There’s violence here.”
Janet Nezon, at home in Thornhill, Ont., on March 10, will spend the money recouped on a cancelled trip to Puerto Vallarta on a visit to Newfoundland.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
After Porter Airlines cancelled the flight before take-off, Ms. Nezon said she and her husband decided to make the best of it at home.
She spent the week admiring cactuses and a lemon tree at a local garden centre and snapping pictures wearing sombreros at a Mexican restaurant in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Aside from her ride to the airport, Ms. Nezon was able to recoup everything she and her husband spent on the trip. The couple will put the money toward a visit to Newfoundland this summer.
In Mexico’s small towns and rural areas, cartel retaliation has residents on edge
With Canadians’ steadfast “emotional reluctance to travel to the U.S.,” according to Ms. Durakovic, money spent on bookings for trips inside the country are up 9 per cent this spring, Flight Centre Canada data show.
Atlantic Canada, Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, and Montreal are among the most popular destinations, Ms. Durakovic said.
Now that “the dust has settled,” Ms. Nezon said she is overwhelmingly grateful that she was able to recover the money she spent on bookings.
Ms. Nezon believes the airline, her rental host and the driver she had hired to pick her up in Puerto Vallarta were so accommodating during the disruptions “because they’re trying to preserve the reputation of the country and show that this is not who the Mexican people are,” she said.
“We just felt sick for the people of Mexico who have to deal with all this.”
Aside from the sunny refuge from Winnipeg winters, it’s the locals that have also kept the Christies coming back to Mexico for more than two decades – the kind who would go out of their way during an emergency to help tourists get to safety.
“The Mexican people are really nice,” he said, adding he worries about how tourism sector workers near or below the poverty line in the country are faring.
“It’s unfortunate, the effect this thing is having on the country,” he said. “They count on tourism to make the country tick.”
He said he has already rebooked the same condo for next year and hopes that by then, his family members will be able to join him.
“We’ll see what happens,” Mr. Christie said.