Hallelujah - people are driving to Mexico again!!!

2009 has been a tough year for the 'tourist' Mexican auto insurance industry.  The following 4 factors plunged Mexican auto insurance sales down nearly 50% in 2009

Drug gang violence in the news - local news channels ran stories almost every day about drug gang violence in Mexico - even though no tourists were the victims of this violence

The economy - no one felt like vacationing when their financial future was hanging in the balance

Passport requirements for land travel to Mexico - June 1, 2009, the US finally brought the hammer down and began requiring passports for all land travel from Mexico into the US. Prior to this date, US citizens could use their drivers license as ID when crossing the border in their car or by foot.

Swine Flu - this was the nail in the coffin.  For a month, then the media made it sound like the entire country of Mexico was swimming in swinfe flu viruses.  Travelers got the impression that if you went to Mexico - you might die!  This obviously did not inspire many travelers to vacation in Mexico.  It turns out, there have been less cases of swine flu in Baja than in the US state of California - so you ar eless likely to contract swine flu in many parts of Mexico than in many cities in the US!

But now - Hallelujah - the smoke has cleared, and people are driving to Mexico again. In fact, a LOT are deciding to head south of the border.  Based on our Mexican auto insurance sales - it appears just as many people are driving to Mexico in November - December 2009 as this same time in 2008 and 2007.  In fact, from customer feedback - many people have been itching to go to Mexico for quite a while, and now they finally feel safe to head back.