Cartel violence is heating up in Mexico, so much so that it is starting to spill into some of the more popular tourist destinations.
The threat of cartel violence has risen since five people were gunned down at a resort in Playa del Carmen back in January.
“We've seen in one case remains were left in a suitcase on a highway leading to a hotel zone,” says Eric Martin, reporter for Bloomberg News. “We've also seen the discovery of a large unmarked grave near the Los Cabos marine preserve.”
Martin says with Mexico relying so heavily on tourism, many of the incidents are being swept under the rug.
“It's just a different kind of feel to these cities that previously were considered a safe oasis and now you need to be a little more careful and watch your back a little bit more perhaps than in the past,” he says.
Though Martin insists the danger is no more extreme than someone visiting the wrong neighborhood of Chicago or Washington D.C., business owners near Mexico's resorts still worry that uneasiness is likely to drive away tourists.
“We're seeing, certainly reflected in the statistics, greater danger and greater conflict between some of these groups that in the past was not something that tourists thought or worried about.”