Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Canadian and other Foreign visitors to the US, why do you tip less?

Tully Mars · 05-20-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leto

Just last week, another Canadian was killed. he was from BC. Maybe it's just a minor blip on the local screen, but there's been a lot of agitation up here to boycott the cheap, warm gettaways (ha! as if that would ever happen). I just know that I tend to look more at Jamaica, Domincan, Cuba or Bahamas, before Mexico.

Posted below FYI....

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/0...n.html?ref=rss

Canadian tourist killed in Mexico
Victim's B.C. girlfriend wounded
Last Updated: Sunday, May 18, 2008 | 12:43 PM ET Comments96Recommend89CBC News
Mexican police are investigating the killing of a Canadian tourist in the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.

State police commander Enrique Wuilar says Bouabal Bounthavorn, 29, was shot three times in the head by a lone gunman Thursday night in his room at Hotel Riu.

His girlfriend, 24-year-old Masha Heikali, was shot in the foot, he said. She is now recovering at her home in Burnaby, B.C. Bounthavorn's hometown has not been confirmed.

Foreign Affairs in Ottawa has confirmed a Canadian was killed, but would not release any other information, citing the Privacy Act.

Wuilar says no one has been arrested in the case and investigators have no leads.

There has been a string of violent incidents involving Canadians in Mexico since 2007.

Domenic and Nancy Ianiero of Woodbridge, Ont., were found with their throats slit in February 2006 at a resort near Playa del Carmen, Mexico. No arrests were ever made.

In January, 2007, Adam DePrisco, 19, also of Woodbridge, was killed outside an Acapulco nightclub. A Mexican doctor blamed the teen's death on a hit-and-run driver, but his family and friends believe he was beaten to death.

In May, 2007, Jeff Toews of Grande Prairie, Alta, died from injuries after he visited a nightclub in Cancun. Mexican authorities concluded he fell from the second floor of his hotel, but at the time Toews' family said his head and back injuries came from a severe beating

and: http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_7514.aspx

Two More Canadians Shot In Mexico
Sunday February 4, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
A chain of troubling incidents involving Canadians in Mexico had a new link Sunday, after reports two more Ontario residents were shot in an Acapulco hotel Saturday night.

The pair - a man and a woman identified as 55-year-old Rita Calara and 73-year-old Yoyo Manela - was at the Casa Inn Hotel (pictured) when a gunman reportedly fired into the lobby.

They were originally reported to be from Woodbridge but it now seems they actually came from Niagara Falls and Welland. They apparently weren't travelling together, but were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Both victims were shot in the leg and their injuries were non-life threatening, which is good news considering a recent string of tragedies befalling Canadians vacationing in Mexico.

Giuseppe Alaimo was at the Casa Inn at the time and was in a large group that witnessed part of the shooting.

"We brought them in tried to comfort them, stop the bleeding," he said.

"But the trouble is, you know, before they get the ambulance, it takes more than a half an hour ... the police arrived about an hour later."

Tour operators say overall, Mexico remains a safe destination. But several incidents in the past year have involved Canadians being either shot or killed while vacationing there.

This one comes just weeks after 19-year-old Adam De Prisco from Woodbridge was killed in Acapulco. His family says he was beaten to death but Mexican authorities say he was struck and killed by a car.

Similarly, Glifford Glasier of Chatham, Ont. was killed in Guadalajara last month after an apparent hit-and-run. His wife was also badly injured and left in a coma.

And Woodbridge couple Domenic and Nancy Ianiero were found brutally murdered in their room at a resort in the Mayan Riviera nearly a year ago.

The Canadian government has issued past warnings to citizens about the dangers of travel to Mexico.

But thousands go anyway, and now Alaimo's son-in-law Gabriel Cicconi sits at home in Toronto growing frustrated.

"I'm not just worried about my own family, I'm worried about all the Canadians that are down there," he said.

"Canadian tourists that are bringing dollars down there, that are putting people to work, are not respected for what we are doing."

Mexican police say the shooting was random, but Cicconi isn't totally buying it.

"I think at this point we've gotten a fairly clear message to stop traveling to Mexico," he said.

"Even if it's not for safety issues, but just to send a message to say 'Hey, we're not going to stand for this anymore ... this is getting ridiculous.'"

News of Saturday's shooting also hit Adam De Prisco's uncle, Sandro Bellio, hard.

"I'm not surprised ... if the Canadian government doesn't change things, this kind of stuff is going to keep going on."

Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Dan McTeague said Canadians need to be better informed by Foreign Affairs about the risks of traveling to Mexico. He says the current travel report which suggest Canadians should "exercise caution," is nowhere near enough.

"It clearly hasn't been designed with the recent events in mind," he said.

"Perhaps advise to Canadians not to travel there except for essential reasons."

Foreign Affairs said Sunday night it will be reviewing travel advisories for Mexico to determine if they need to be tougher. However, officials say changes are usually only made when a situation becomes critical like during civil wars, rioting or an outbreak of disease.

Well like I said it maybe simply the area in which I live. I rarely hear of anyone, US, Canadian or Mexican being attacked here.

I'd heard about the couple in Playa, but could have sworn it was a few years prior to 2006 (not questioning it, just a little surprised it's that recent.)

I wouldn't go to the places listed in these stories (Except maybe Cancun) any more then I would go to Detroit, East Central LA or for that matter many parts of DC.