Americans enjoy unrestricted travel to few destinations during the pandemic, but not all Americans are traveling for leisure, and some plan to stay a while.
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Americans Escaping to Mexico’s Open Arms
While the entire world is not closed to Americans many nations are; Mexico is one of the few that remains open. Americans like it because it is close, comfortable, and welcoming. It’s no secret that many Americans are escaping major cities, especially those with stringent lockdown measures, for a little rest and relaxation. Florida is experiencing some of the highest demand relative to 2020 traffic.
Mexico doesn’t require a COVID-19 test nor proof of a vaccine, largely unavailable to the traveling population anyway. That doesn’t mean Mexico doesn’t have any restrictions – they do. Like the US, the country is a collection of Mexican states each of which is free to impose its own regulations in the interest of public health.
In Baja California Sur, home to Los Cabos and Cabo San Lucas, hotel workers are given free COVID-19 tests, restaurants are limited to 50% capacity, masks are to be worn indoors, and temperatures are taken upon entry. Puerto Vallarta, also a Pacific Ocean-side hotspot has been a busy tourist destination too.
In the state of Quintana Roo (home to Tulum, Cancun, and Cozumel), tourism remains down vs 2019, but is markedly up with respect to the rest of the world. The Caribbean Sea side of Mexico has seen hundreds of thousands of tourists despite Mexico holding the fourth most deaths outpaced by just Brazil, India, and the US.
However, COVID-19 cases are far more likely to be fatal in Mexico with a total mortality rate of 8.8% vs. the relatively low 1.71% and falling in the United States.
It’s Not All Leisure
It’s not all margaritas and flip flops, however. One of the busiest areas of the country is Mexico City, the largest city in North America. The metropolitan area has experienced a 50% decline over 2019 visitor numbers when 100,000 visited the city in November last year. However, in April, visitors had fallen to just 4,000, so it’s 50,000 visitors is indeed substantial.
One reason that visitors are coming to Mexico City is to work remotely. Escaping the restrictions of some US states, remote workers can go about their lives in a freer manner and some never plan to return.
While the Department of State warns Americans to avoid visiting the developing country as it battles the virus, more and more appear to be flouting those recommendations in favor of a Mexican lifestyle. And they can do so easily, not just because of the limited entry requirements, but also because of the generous stay allowances. Americans can visit Mexico on a tourist visa for up to six months consecutively making one of the easiest for which to relocate.
It’s fair to note some irony in the fact that Mexicans (and Central Americans more broadly) who have wanted to work in America but faced resistance may impose the same resistance on Americans coming to Mexico for a better work-life.
Some Mexicans also have concerns about the ability of hospitals to cope with an influx of new people should the coronavirus crisis extend longer. Foreigners could also bring new strains that, while not more deadly, may be more contagious such as the recent strain found in the UK.
For what it’s worth, cases in Colorado and California who tested positive for the new strain did not have a history of recent travel.
Wider Implications
Visiting Mexico is one thing, moving there is rather another. However, avoiding the cold northern winter in the US for the sunny shores of the Gulf of Mexico could have wider implications. Companies the world over have realized that the location of the employee matters little to the output of their work.
Remote workers were once seen as a marginal portion of the population but now acceptance has increased. Businesses can save money on real estate and expensive offices making a shift that seems natural, resources can be allocated to other aspects of the business.
This will also have long term implications even after COVID is a distant memory. Instead of recruiting employees locally, and hiring the best available at the time a company needs them in an area for which they are needed, the whole world is available as a talent pool. People living in areas of Mexico regardless of nationality can work for US companies, and likewise the other way around.
Employees can choose where they want to live and where they want to work as separate life choices. The US-Mexico remote worker shift may pave the way for more countries to adopt more generous visitation allowances or remote worker visas. Similarly, the US may ease restrictions on foreign workers as part of reciprocal agreements to benefit US workers and companies as well.
According to LinkedIn, 20% of jobs will go remote, opening up the world and diversity.
Conclusion
Americans are increasingly winding up in Mexico and it’s not solely for leisure purposes. Some workers are finding that Mexico is open for business and that it may be the best place for them to wait out the pandemic and its restrictions back home. I believe that it will lead to further remote work options for Americans and perhaps for other countries as well.
What do you think? Will more Americans stay in Mexico longer? Will companies embrace remote work? Will the US reach agreements with other countries to ease cross-border work arrangements?
“However, COVID-19 cases are far more likely to be fatal in Mexico with a total mortality rate of 8.8% vs. the relatively low 1.71% and falling in the United States.”
Wrong. That is a percentage against confirmed positive tests. Testing in Mexico is nowhere near as prevalent as the United States, as seen by the fact that the number of tests per capita is obscenely low. Getting a free test as a Mexican National generally requires being hospitalized to begin with.
There is nothing that shows Mexico has an obscene COVID fatality rate and quite a bit that shows a lack of free testing means the reported positive cases reside in the hospitals already rather than those who have no or mild symptoms.
Mexico is the US… as in the Estados Unidos Mexicanos, so it’s fitting that it’s open to people from the US. 😀
More seriously, lots of Americans and Europeans seem to have been getting to Mexico and the UAE for warm weather vacations in recent weeks too.
Mexico City itself is relatively temperate year-round due to its elevation, so I can see why it started to become a hot spot for “work from home” Americans to hang out maxing out their 6 month entry allowance even before the winter break crowds rushed into Mexican beach areas.
Expect to see an increase later this year in visits to US consulates/embassies in Mexico for children born in Mexico to one or more US citizen parents.
It’s unfortunate that people are unwilling to accept personal responsibility for their actions and become plague rats fleeing into Mexico.
Typical entitled and defiant American attitudes. Americans don’t like to be told what to do because it “infringes upon their constitutional rights.”
STAY. HOME.
@ Bob:
Aren’t you the entitled one telling people what they can and cannot do? Travel to Mexico is allowed. Why are you judging people who do so?
Why can’t you stay in mommy’s basement and worry about your own actions, or posts?
Mexico is not a central american nation….it, and everything north of the panama canal, is north america
I referenced it elsewhere correctly as North America. Simple error, corrected. Thanks.
Good for them. Genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back in. Quicker people realize this basic concept the quicker life returns to normal. It’s hard to fathom how people haven’t learned that no matter how many lockdowns happen it’s not going away.
Ironic that no commenters (or the author) want to call it what it really is…
white ppl: they’re coming in droves, lock ’em up. don’t come to MY country. they’re murderers and rapists. separate the kids at the border, that will teach them. i won’t say anything.
also white ppl: i’m going to move to mexico for 6 months at a time bc this covid is..ugghh…so inconvenient for my life
#Cake&EatItToo #whiteprivilege #74MillionVotesConfirmIt
@ Rob:
Do you have anything constructive to add? Anybody can retype CNN talking points.
I doubt that many Americans will stay in Mexico. Most Americans underestimate the effort general life takes in Mexico. Try and get your internet repaired. Or get a ticket paid. I suggest anybody who wants to move to Mexico to really research what they are getting into.
@Tyrone
Life in Mexico is easy. You hire people to do that kind of stuff.
Con dinero baila el perro <3
Nobody is talking about americans ‘sneaking’ into mexico. Where are your crime statistics on how many American tourists commit violent crimes against mexican citizens. Oh and are the Americans going there collecting any type of government entitlements? I thought we were talking about tourists going to a place briefly to relax and spend money that helps a suffering economy. I really don’t see the parallel with illegal immigration.
This is very relevant. Thanks for bringing it up. White supremacists are the biggest national security threat to the US per DHS. Not all whites are terrorists but why take the chance? If i was mexico i would consider all whites Republican males as terrorists. And how many of them are rapists? If your orange turd of a president is fighting discovery in a rape case then why shouldn’t mexico treat all white Republican males as rapists?
Look stereotyping is bad but i think we are beyond the point of having that conversation. Now the shoe is on the other foot and as far as the world is concerned it’s better to treat all white Republican males as potential terrorists and rapists.
Right, I can’t think of single democrat who is racist, sexist, a criminal, or honestly has ever done or said anything bad, but it’s fair to say that 100% of republicans are all of those things, not exceptions. Democrats are love everyone equally unless you disagree with them – so unlike the republicans. When you realize you all all just pieces of the same pile of sh*t
I also agree that we’re talking about tourists legally entering a country and following that country’s guidelines, the hotel’s rules, the airline’s rules etc…how can you compare that to a conversation on illegal immigration whether you’re an idiot replublican or an idiot democrat (actually, I guess i sort of answered my own question at the end there)
@Debit,
Were you born retarded or is that a recent development?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/K27RRmMG0xM/
Kevin you sound like a terrorist to me.
Millions of people are not taking Covid-19 seriously. It’s not just 1% die or just the elderly.
The first case of a Covid-19 caused lung transplant was to a previously healthy 28 year old woman in Chicago. She worked at a law firm. She was not obese.
The first case of community acquired Covid-19, called “Patient Zero”, was a 50 year old healthy attorney in New York. He was interviewed on the Today Show and notes that he lost his memory and has possibly permanent damage to his lower leg making it impossible to walk without leg braces, cane, and assistance.
Nothing to laugh about. The vaccine is coming. That will help a lot if people get it.
@ Derek
You are right. Millions do not take the politicians, scientists and doctors seriously. They keep moving the goal posts and keep lying to us. Even the most naive will get fed up. In the meantime, we will continue to vacation. We have been to Mexico 5 times since March 2020. And might just go again next month.
No government has done a good job marketing the vaccine. (US, France, Germany etc)
We are fleeing to Mexico, the ultimate irony?
Nobody is ‘fleeing’ to Mexico – what is wrong with all of you? Millions of Americans (and others) visit Mexico every year. All this article is saying is that the Mexican government is allowing tourism without many restriction so people are going there. What’s the big deal? Americans are not sneaking into Mexico through tunnels or holes in fences looking for a new place to live, carrying all their belongings on their backs….Does nobody actually understand this? Wow, people are going south in the winter months (and because of COVID they are going to places without a lot of restrictions) – what does any of this have to do with politics or immigration? You all realize, every year people from up north ‘flee’ to warmer places for vacation. I don’t remember any of the travel sites I read talking about how everyone should plan a trip to Madison Wisconsin in January pre covid. This is a travel blog. If you don’t feel safe traveling, then don’t travel – why do you care if someone else does if they are following the rules of that country?
Please tell me Stuart – what is ironic about people vacationing in Mexico in the winter?
It was a joke, lol. Jeepus!
In the immortal words of Sgt. Hulka, “Lighten up, Francis.”
It’s not new for Americans or even others.
Didn’t a collection of Mormons escape from US control and head to Mexico so to get some more freedom than they had in the US? I am pretty sure there are some distant Romney relatives who are Mexican citizens and have been for a long time.
There are also Mexican Armenians, Lebanese, and European Jewish communities that are the product of people who fled to Mexico or of people who went there to seek a better life. I guess we can now add in a group of Trump supporters who fled to Mexico to seek a better life of sort.
“Americans can visit Mexico on a tourist visa for up to six months consecutively making one of the easiest for which to relocate.”
You are playing with fire by going to Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter, on a tourist visa with the intent of either living or working there. Take it from someone who’s had to deal with tax law issues related to expats: the definition of “working” or “residing” is often subjective and a matter of interpretation. Good luck to you as a gringo if you tick off the wrong person and end up having to defend yourself in an immigration violation hearing in a foreign country.
“Good luck to you as a gringo if you tick off the wrong person and end up having to defend yourself in an immigration violation hearing in a foreign country.” – Totally agree- your statement supposes that person broke the law for which they should have to answer regardless of the country. I don’t think anyone is saying differently, but why is that if you say they same thing regarding a foreigner breaking the law in the US all Americans are terrible racist people. If someone follows a country’s rules, what is the problem with them going there whether to live, work or vacation?
Dealing (or more problematically not dealing) with the host country tax authorities may actually be the bigger problem, as the tax authorities have a financial incentive to come after the money more than the immigration control authorities.
“Work from home” in a foreign country may subject your income during that “work from home” period to taxation by the host country. And the tax authorities may try to to haunt such people even years after the “work from home” visitors have left. And if the US and the host country have a mutual assistance clause when it comes to a tax treaty or or some other agreement that provides for mutual assistance in law enforcement matters, then the “work from home” “visitor” may find themselves wanting the US to become more detached from foreign engagements but it being too late to lobby against foreign relationships being formed and maintained and utilized.