August 31, 2007, Cont. from front page, A mother recovers her children after almost two years, By Jesús Ibarra

There are a number of possible reasons for the decline. Traditionally, national tourists prefer beaches to colonial cities for vacation. In addition, other colonial cities have become strong tourist competition for San Miguel, in part because of their planned activities during the high season and their competitive hotel prices.

“Besides the fact that national tourism traditionally prefers the beach, cities like Morelia and Zacatecas have become strong competition for our city,” says Francisco Peyret, head of International Relations, Tourism and Economic Development. “San Miguel used to be one of the most visited colonial cities, but now Zacatecas, for example, celebrates Holy Week with activities for all ages. San Miguel and Zacatecas are now sharing the tourism from Monterrey.” According to DATA TUR, Zacatecas has increased its tourism more than 18 percent from Holy Week 2005 to Holy Week 2007, and more than 5 percent from summer 2005 to this summer. Around 10 percent of Zacatecas tourism, in Holy Week as we
ll as in summer, is foreign.

Hotel room prices are another factor. In San Miguel, the best hotels are classified as “Special Category” and range in price from 1500 to 3024 pesos; there are no five-star hotels. In Zacatecas, a five-star hotel ranges in price from 1300 to 2700 pesos, and may include breakfast.

Peyret says that Zacatecas and Guanajuato do not have as many good hotels as San Miguel. “If the hotel offers the best quality service, it can charge whatever it considers right, and people will pay,” says Peyret.

The local government has been planning new strategies to attract more tourists and to invite them to stay longer in the city—(M)for example, development of the tourist area of the Rio Laja basin—(M)but these strategies have not yet been realized. Authorities are also hoping for San Miguel’s recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Foreign tourism

Foreign tourism in San Miguel decreased by 3 percent during the summer and 9 percent during Holy Week from 2005 to 2007. According to Peyret, the new US regulations requiring passports for travel to Mexico, the weakness of the American economy and rumors of insecurity in Mexico may also be affecting tourism in San Miguel. “The effects of last year’s violent demonstrations in Oaxaca are still being felt,” he says. For example, attacks against the pipelines in Salamanca and Querétaro on July 5 and 10 were attributed to the left-wing policy group Ejército Popular Revolucionario (Popular Revolutionary Army), which also participated in the Oaxaca demonstrations.

New US passport regulations went into effect on January 23, 2007. In order to reenter the United States by plane from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean, US citizens now need a passport, where in the past they only needed a driver’s license and birth certificate to prove citizenship.

According to the website http://travel.blizzardemail.com/ , currently about 73 percent of all US citizens do not have passports.

Anni Ruetinger, owner of San Miguel Rentals, believes that the summer decrease in house rentals is due to both the current weakness of the American dollar and the new passport regulations. “New passports have been delayed up to three months,” she says. “However, although American and Canadian tourism has decreased, we still have visitors from Europe—(M)mainly Spain—(M)Australia and South America.” She added that in past years she used to receive reservation applications several months in advance, but now people call to rent houses only days before.

Mayte Mena, manager of Atotonilco el Viejo hotel, said that the occupancy rate was around 30 to 40 percent for July 2007. Most tourists were nationals; however, they received some from Ecuador, Spain and Italy.

Jaime Fenton, owner of Villa Jacaranda Hotel, said that the occupancy rate in his hotel decreased from 33 percent in July 2006 to 30 percent in July 2007. He believes this is because “We are receiving visitors of more mixed income, which affects the “Special Category” hotels. We need to do something to re-attract higher-income tourists. Becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site would undoubtedly attract them.” He is also concerned about the Oaxaca demonstrations, the pipeline attacks and the increase in drug-trafficking violence. “In the United States, many people believe that Mexico is on the edge of revolution. They don’t understand that violent sites like Oaxaca are distant, isolated cases.”

Unregistered bed & breakfast businesses are another challenge. “In the Tourist Council, we are trying to regulate these illegal businesses; they charge less and they don’t pay taxes,” Fenton says.

However, Carol Schmidt, who runs a blog about San Miguel hotels and tourist attractions, says that her site has received the same number of visitors and the same number of questions as in years past.

Solutions

For Peyret, it is important to have alternative tourist options to extend the average stay of two days. “With the historical background, the colonial chapels, and the archeological site of Cañada de la Virgen, we are projecting an increase in tourism in the rural area of the Rio Laja, from San Miguel Viejo to Atotonilco,” he says. “There are also some balnearios (bathing resorts) in the area. We are planning a project that will include horseback riding, trails for walkers and bicyclists, guided visits to the chapels, and a museum at the archeological site.” Peyret says that Cañada de la Virgen should be open by next year, since the only thing still missing is the access road. “We are in talks with the owner of the land, who has already agreed to cede the road; we are only waiting for her to sign off on the project. If everything goes according to plan, the site will be open to the public by next year.” He added that the local and state governments are very interested in having access to the area around San Mi
guel Viejo, the site of two other pyramids. They are currently in talks with the owners of the land.

Comparisons in costs hotels San Miguel and Zacatecas (Information from www.cronica.com.mx )

SAN MIGUEL (The prices are per room for two persons unless specified)	HOTEL Category	Price

Antigua Villa Santa Mónica	Special	2,561 to 3024 pesos (breakfast included)

Atotonilco el Viejo	Special	1500 pesos

Casa de la Cuesta	Bed and Breakfast	1617 pesos

Casa Quetzal	Luxury boutique	2500 pesos (breakfast included)

Hacienda de las Flores	4 stars	1617 pesos (breakfast included)

La Puertecita	Special	2163 pesos

Villa Jacaranda	Special	1950 pesos (breakfast included)

Villa Rivera	Special	2060 pesos (breakfast included)

ZACATECAS	HOTEL	Price

Casa Torres	5 stars	1390 pesos (breakfast included)

Mesón del Jobito	5 stars 4 diamonds	1673 pesos (breakfast included)

Quinta Real	5 stars	2700 pesos

Santa Rita	5 stars Boutique	1231 pesos (per person)

Comparison between incidence of tourism in San Miguel and other tourist sites (according to DATA TUR, from the National Tourism Council, http://datatur.sectur.gob.mx

Percentage of tourism occupation in hotels

	Summer 2007	Summer 2006	Summer 2005

San Miguel Nationals	33.83	37.64	35.72

Foreigners	10.94	14.41	13.06

Guanajuato Nationals	48.93	51.1	55.26

Foreigners	5.31	5.54	6.15

Morelia Nationals	53	58.31	60.9

Foreigners	3.5	3.87	5.49

Zacatecas Nationals	54.94	49.35	55.93

Foreigners	6.84	5.36	3.47

Taxco Nationals	34.23	35.73	37.26

Foreigners	2.55	4.52	7.77

Acapulco Nationals	50.15	43.2	55.26

Foreigners	1.33	1.21	6.15

Ixtapa Nationals	66.87	64.08	63.76

Foreigners	12.85	13.3	14.97

Cancún Nationals	6.1	5.9	6.03

Foreigners	69.13	66.88	63.31

A mother’s two-year ordeal to find her abducted children finally ended this month. Santos Olalde was reunited with her children Cindy,12, and Jesus Olalde,5, who were abducted by their father and taken to the United States in 2005.

The children were located due to the successful investigation by the municipal office for Attention to Immigrants.

In November 2005, the children’s father, Benjamín Frías, took Cindy and Jesús from their maternal home without the knowledge or permission of Santos. Cindy left her mother a note saying that her father had taken them away, refusing to wait to speak with her mother.

“I was never married to him,” said Santos. “He never wanted to marry me. We do not even own a house. We live with his mother. Life was impossible for me; he would hit me and his mother also treated me badly.”

To locate her children Santos sought assistance from staff at the municipal office for Attention to Immigrants.

Fernanda Esparza, office coordinator, said that the children were taken illegally to the US, “exposing them to all the risks implied in crossing the border,” and that the mother did not know the missing children’s whereabouts.

“Santos pressed charges for kidnapping before the District Attorney’s Office, and we took the case to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to apply for legal repatriation of the children. There was a formal request by the Mexican authorities to the US government to return the children to Mexico,” she said. “An American lawyer was hired to represent Santos during the trial.”

For more than a year Santos knew nothing about her missing children, until finally they were located near Dallas by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in February 2006.

“Once the children were found the case was taken to the US courts,” explained Esparza. “Our office helped Santos with her passport and a humanitarian visa so that she could go to the US to get her children back. The Dallas office for the sanmiguelense Immigrant and the Mexican Consulate paid half the expenses of her stay in the US.”

On July 25, Santos traveled to Dallas. The judge demanded that the father, Frías, attend court with the children on July 27, but he did not appear, so police went to his house and took the children into protective custody. Frías then was deported to Mexico. His current whereabouts are unknown, though he is believed to be in San Miguel. There is an order for his arrest on charges of kidnapping.

Santos returned to San Miguel with her children at the beginning of August. “I have a new home, a new husband and my children are in school. My husband works in the US and sends me money to support the family. The judge in the States called him to court and asked if he was able and willing to support the children. He accepted. A true father is not the one who produces the children, but the one who takes care of them.”

According to Esparza, this is the first case of international child repatriation for the Attention to Immigrant office, and the first to be solved.

“We have other cases, but generally the parents give up before recovering their children, accepting that they are better off in the US with the other parent. The public is not aware of the service and support we offer,” she added.

The Foreign Relations Department oversees migrant issues, offering legal assistance, procedures to locate missing persons, transporting the bodies of deceased Mexicans, repatriation of abducted children, deportations, humanitarian visas, child support from fathers working abroad and special cases with foreigners.