With Baja visits down, tourism chiefs plead for better safety

By Diane Lindquist

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

9:24 p.m. November 29, 2007

After the number of Baja California visitors dipped over the Thanksgiving holiday, tourism industry representatives are urging state officials to take swift and decisive measures to better protect American tourists who have been targets of recent road attacks.

Tourism officials are scheduled to meet with state officials Friday in Tijuana.

Reports of at least six violent armed assaults on American travelers along Baja California's coastal highway in recent months have struck fear in frequent visitors, with many vowing never to come to the state again. Some, but not all, of the cases have been determined by authorities as credible accounts.

The attacks, staged in some instances by paramilitary-style criminals driving vehicles with flashing lights and sirens, could significantly hurt the state's tourism sector, which last year attracted 25 million people, including repeat visitors.