Have recent events made you rethink your travels to Mexico? Egypt? New Zealand?

Peter recently spoke with Arnie Weissmann, editor in chief of Travel Weekly, to talk about the places that have been in the headlines … and why you should go now.

Arnie Weissmann: There’s so much going on in the world, and just about anything that’s going on in the world winds up having implications for travel.

Peter Greenberg: Boy, you’re not kidding. Let’s start with the Department of Public Safety in Texas issuing a warning urging spring breakers not to go to Mexico. What are they thinking?

AW: It’s just ignorance. The problems that exist in Mexico are concentrated across the border. But when you look at where people take spring break— Riviera Maya, Cancun or on the West Coast—it’s like saying that there was a murder in Alabama so don’t go to New York City. It’s insanity, really.

PG: A few weeks ago, you and I crisscrossed the country, literally.

AW: It was interesting. At one point I took a nine-hour van ride through four states in Mexico, stopped frequently to take pictures and get something to eat. Everybody could not be warmer. We saw no problems, no evidence of problems. When I got back I even Googled the cities we stopped in to see if there was anything I didn’t see below the surface. They didn’t even show up on Google news. It’s a huge country and there’s so much to offer, and it’s a beautiful place.

PG: Cruise lines have canceled stops in Mazatlan due to a shooting in a hotel parking lot.

AW: If you look at those cases, in Mazatlan in particular, no tourist was involved or targeted. This is gang on gang violence for the most part. There is the odd circumstance as there is in any country where a tourist is in the wrong place at the wrong time, or somebody is targeting a tourist for a robbery. But it does not happen more in Mexico than many, many places I could name. Believe me, Mexico across its breadth is a much safer place to be than some places in the USA.

PG: Isn’t it interesting that the cruise lines that said they were pulling out of Mazatlan came back a week later, and then canceled again?

AW: That’s happened before. A lot of times there’s a headline and in order to avoid getting their phone lines jammed with people having to ask questions, “Is it safe?” it’s easier to just pull out. But then they really want to go there. They know that there’s a good experience there and they return.

Learn more: Changing Cruise Ports: Avoiding Mazatlan, Arriving In Egypt, Libya & Cuba?

PG: Exactly. I had a number of friends who had planned visits to Egypt and wanted to cancel. I told them not to. They actually called me a couple of days ago and were elated and ecstatic because they were having such a great time.

AW: This is something that I haven’t see talked about before, but generally speaking, Americans will be the first ones to stop going some place and the last ones to return. They’re perhaps only surpassed by the Japanese in terms of being skittish.

But if you look at what’s going on in Egypt, tourism there is about 12 percent of the GDP, 20 percent of foreign currency. It is a very, very important earner. And their unemployment rate is not all that different from ours by the way, it is about 9.7 percent. But when you look at the youth it is very high, about 25 percent among young people. Right now tourism employs 1.2 million people in Egypt. If you throw those 1.2 million people into the roles of the unemployed that actually is a bigger problem for America than any American going to Egypt and having a good time. If the tourism industry there collapses we will have more to fear than any tourist who goes there today.

PG: My prediction already is that it won’t collapse because the economic imperative to get it back on track is so strong and so overwhelming that they will probably get their tourism infrastructure back before they even hold an election.

AW: In fact I think all the major attractions have reopened. The Egyptian Museum is now open. Of course the pyramids and the Sphinx are back up. The biggest difference is that there are no crowds. This is the best time to go.

PG: That leads me to my next item and that’s New Zealand, especially after that 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch.

AW: It would be ridiculous at this point to stay away from Christchurch, from New Zealand. It was a very, very unfortunate event. Earthquakes happen anywhere around the world. But at this point it would just be punishment. Why would you not go?

More on the Christchurch quake: Rescuers Search Christchurch Rubble As Death Toll Rises

PG: Exactly, because the infrastructure is still there. You’ve got both the South and North islands. New Zealand, other than sheep, believe it or not, depends almost entirely on travel and tourism.

AW: It’s such a beautiful country. Although it is not the easiest place in the world to get to, and not the least expensive place in the world to get to, there are very few people I know who’ve ever gone there who don’t come back talking about moving there. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful society and a beautiful place.

PG: Listen, I still kick myself in the butt. When I was down there doing one of our Royal Tourprograms with the prime minister, the New Zealand dollar had shrunk to 47 cents on the dollar. It was one of those things where I still walk around saying, “If only.” If I had bought then, I’d be a very happy guy today.

AW: In a weird way, because New Zealand is less foreign seeming than places like Egypt and even Mexico, I don’t think there’s that much of a sense of fear going there. There’s a tour operator in Canada who is making a lot of noise that people shouldn’t be going there. I don’t understand what’s motivating him.

PG: I don’t. Interestingly, in Mexico, tourism is up 20 percent over last year.

AW: Even among Americans it is up 15 percent. The fact is, it’s a fantastic value right now. You can have unparalleled vacation on the Mexican Riviera right now, on the Riviera Maya, in Cancun and the West Coast too, and the colonial cities. I mean it is just on sale. There has been a big surge in building upscale and luxury properties, and it’s just a terrific value.

PG: The Intercontinental Group has huge investment in Mexico. I think the number they’re talking about is 47 hotels in the next couple of years.

AW: Yes, they’re the largest hotel group in Mexico. They’ve got wonderful properties throughout the country. The people who are in the travel and tourism industry, including the hoteliers, are very bullish on the future of Mexico.

PG: And they should be.

By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.

Related links on PeterGreenberg.com:

• Changing Cruise Ports: Avoiding Mazatlan, Arriving In Egypt, Libya & Cuba?
• Rebuilding Egyptian Tourism: Facebook, Oprah, and The Return of Travel Companies
• Travel Emergency: What To Do When Traveling In a Country In Crisis
• Rescuers Search Christchurch Rubble As Death Toll Rises