But in Mexico, where drug violence has hobbled the nation’s $70 billion tourism industry, government leaders hope to counter Tinseltown’s doomsday scenario by promoting 2012 as the year of the tourist.

Several of Mexico’s top tourism officials have been making the rounds in their northern neighbor, betting that an invitation to see Maya ruins will attract hordes of older, wealthier U.S. visitors keen on Mexican culture.

"Our interpretation of the Mayan calendar is reverse to what many people speculate," Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, the chief operating officer for the Mexico Tourism Board, said on a swing through Los Angeles with other top Mexican officials this summer. "Our focus will be on growth and prosperity instead of the end of the world."

The campaign is the latest effort by Mexico to overcome a steady stream of negative publicity over drug-related violence that has killed tens of thousands in that country and made many American tourists hesitant to venture south of the border.

U.S. travellers made up about 60 percent of Mexico’s 22.4 million international visitors in 2010, according to Mexican authorities.

When drug killings first began to dominate headlines in 2008, tourism to Mexico dropped steeply. But it has been rebounding slowly ever since, mostly because of international visitors from countries other than the neighbouring United States.

From January to May, the number of international visitors to Mexico grew 2.1 percent compared with the same period in 2010, according to the tourism board.

During that time, the numbers of tourists from such countries as Brazil, Russia and China have grown by double digits, the board says. Meanwhile, U.S. tourism to Mexico remained mostly flat, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Tourism analysts partly blame the lackluster travel interest among Americans on warnings by the U.S. State Department. One warning in April said "U.S. citizens have been injured or killed in violent incidents in various parts of the country, especially ... in the northern border region, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence throughout Mexico."

In an effort to deflect attention away from the violence, Mexico’s tourism secretary, Gloria Guevara, and the governors of several Mexican states joined the recent swing through the U.S. to promote their country’s historical destinations, particularly 10 Maya archaeological sites in five Mexican states.

"Our task is to be proactive," Guevara said during the Los Angeles stop.

But Mexico is still a tough sell among many wary tourists north of the border.

At Montrose Travel in the Los Angeles area, agent sales manager Kate Bernier said U.S. travellers are still reluctant to book flights to Mexican hot spots such as Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. "People will still ask, ‘Is it safe to go?’ " she said, adding that Americans seem less concerned about traveling to Mexican states near the Caribbean, which are home to many of the Maya ruins.

The classic Maya civilization existed from A.D. 250 to A.D. 900, primarily in what is now southern Mexico. It relied on a calendar that began more than 5,000 years ago and runs out Dec. 21, 2012. But most scientists who have studied the Maya calendar say the end only represents the start of a new cycle.

The predictions surrounding the end of the Maya calendar have also been the subject of dozens of books published during the past two years, including the popular "The Source Field Investigations: The Hidden Science and Lost Civilizations Behind the 2012 Prophecies."

Mexican officials say they will promote their new tourism campaign on billboards and in newspaper and magazine ads, targeting affluent travellers interested in Mexican archaeology as opposed to the younger set looking to party and frolic in the sand.

Fernando Ortega Bernes, governor of the southeastern state of Campeche, said he expects the campaign to promote not only Maya ruins in his state, including the ancient city of Calakmul, but also other popular attractions such as hunting, fishing and bird watching.

"This is an opportunity," he said, "to (position) Campeche in the international marketplace."

Hosted by Travelocity.com.mx and the Mexican Council for the Promotion of Tourism (CPTM), this online competition featured weekly match-ups between 14 competing Mexican destinations this summer. Travelers were asked to vote for their top pick in four travel categories, including Family Beach, Luxury Beach, Urban City and Colonial Town.

More than 2.3 million people living in cities and towns throughout Mexico cast their online ballot for Mazatlán in the battle for Best Family Beach Destination, held during the week of July 1. With a grand finish of more than 73 percent of votes, the seaside destination known as “The Pearl of The Pacific” celebrated a landslide victory over the rival beaches of Cancún, Acapulco and Ixtapa.

Mazatlan garnered more than half of the total ballots cast in the Battle of Destinations. The competition drew a total of nearly 3.9 million votes in all four categories.

Mazatlán: Top Family Beach Destination - To find Mexico’s top spot for authentic culture and miles of scenic coastline, travelers in the know follow the gnome. Mazatlán welcomed Travelocity’s roaming gnome to its shores on July 9 – 11. The tiny traveler was on hand to present the honor for Best Family Beach Destination during a special award ceremony, accompanied by Rodrigo Cobo, Director General for Travelocity México. Raúl Llera Martinez, Undersecretary of Tourism Operations and Promotions for the State of Sinaloa, accepted the award on behalf of Mazatlán, with Mazatlán Hotel Association and Tourism Board members attending.

“We wish to thank the multitude of supporters who voted for Mazatlán as part of the Battle of Destinations,” Llera says. “This competition underscores our ongoing investment in Mazatlán’s tourism product, with landmark restoration projects and new development that have continued to grow the destination over the past seven years consecutively. We are confident that Mazatlán will draw millions of travelers this year, and invite all visitors to experience rich offerings of this beautiful city.”

Gnome On The Roam In Mazatlán - Following the reception, the gnome ambassador set off to explore Mazatlán’s renowned beaches and cosmopolitan tourism district, known as the Golden Zone. Many of the luxurious resorts here have completed upgrades and extensive renovations to showcase award-winning spas, high-tech fitness centers, championship golf and nightlife. Premier restaurants serve up gourmet cuisine with panoramic sunset views, while the oceanfront malecón promenade offers a taste of Mazatlán’s fresh Pacific seafood in outdoor markets and beachside palapa huts.

Just north of the Golden Zone, the gnome made a stop at the state-of-the-art, $70 million-dollar Mazatlán International Center and new growth as part of the Marina Mazatlán project – at more than 15 square miles, one of the largest urban and tourist developments in Mexico and Latin America. Marina Mazatlán’s master plan calls for new high-rise luxury hotels, residences, gourmet restaurants, spas, shopping and recreational areas. The Marina Mazatlán Golf Course recently debuted the first nine of its 18-hole course, designed by David Fleming.

Ecoadventure and pristine scenery were among the highlights of the gnome’s excursions to nearby colonial towns in the Sierra Madres foothills. In the mountain village of La Noria, this savvy traveler explored the 130-year-old La Vinata de los Osuna blue agave distillery and plantation. Daily walking tours take guests through the agave fields, where plantation guides explain the growing process and demonstrate how the blue agave is harvested before touring the ancient and modern distillery. Afterward, the gnome took off on a heart-pounding zipline tour through jungle treetops as part of the Huana Coa Canopy Adventure.

Rich culture awaited the gnome back in Old Mazatlán, home to more than 479 national historic sites like the 135-year-old Angela Peralta theater and bustling Pino Suárez open-air market, which has operated since 1899. In Plaza Machado, the gnome joined visitors and locals strolling alongside unique shops, art galleries, jazz clubs, museums, contemporary dance studios and outdoor concert halls. Old Mazatlán’s sidewalk cafés featured al fresco dining against a colorful backdrop of neoclassical architecture.

To follow the Travelocity gnome’s adventure in Mazatlán or for more information on the Battle of Destinations, visit www.batalladedestinos.com or www.gomazatlan.com.

Calderón seems to have gotten the message. That's largely because Mexico can't afford another repeat of 2009, when international tourism to the country plunged 15%, to $11.3 billion from $13.3 billion in 2008, thanks to the global recession and a swine-flu scare as well as narcoviolence. Such a drop is no small thing in a country, the world's 10th most visited, where tourism is the third largest source of foreign income, behind migrant-worker remittances and oil — especially at a time when those revenues are also in sharp decline. It's important, too, because any hit to Mexico's economy, which shrank 6.5% in 2009, risks sending more unemployed Mexicans into the lucrative but bloody drug-trafficking industry.

Both Mexico's economy and foreign tourism, which was up more than 7% in 2010, had a healthy rebound last year, when almost 10 million international travelers visited. But much of the tourism recovery came via sometimes steep price discounts that Mexican hotels, airlines and restaurants can't sustain for too many more years. The trick is to convince the world that Mexico's spectacular drug carnage — more than 15,000 narco-related murders last year — is mostly confined to northern Mexico, especially in border cities like Juárez, and that it doesn't represent the general crime situation in Mexico, which has a considerably lower murder rate than countries like Brazil do.

In theory, that shouldn't be difficult, and the 2010 figures indicate that Mexico's narcos aren't scaring away that many visitors. As travel experts like Rhines note, tourists at Mexican resort destinations like Los Cabos on the Baja peninsula, Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Coast and Cancún on the Caribbean Mayan Riviera are insulated from the shootouts.

But Mexico's narcoviolence is known for its frightening gore, and when it's visited on even one well-known tourist site — like Acapulco, where in the first week of January 14 slain and decapitated bodies were dumped at a shopping center, or Mazatlán, where a week later a Canadian tourist was shot in the leg by a stray bullet from a gangland execution — foreigners considering a Mexican vacation often don't make distinctions. As it is, the Disney and Holland America cruise lines last week announced that they're canceling stops in Mazatlán, and the tanks and masked soldiers now patrolling La Costera, Acapulco's main drag, are hardly a tourist-brochure hook. To help counter its dependence on foreign ships, the Mexican Tourism Ministry announced the creation of a national line, Ocean Star Cruises, which, starting in April, plans to dock at six of the country's Pacific Coast sites.

One of the ironies of Calderón's Year of Tourism proclamation is his plan to "work very strongly with international media to show Mexico as it should be shown, a true natural, cultural and historical beauty." This despite the fact that he often blames the international media and its drug-war coverage for much of Mexico's image problems. And when he's not blaming foreign journalists, he's chiding Mexicans for badmouthing their country, as he did last spring when he complained that "Mexico is demonized and reproached, even by Mexicans," adding that he'd "never heard a Brazilian speak ill of Brazil," host of both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.

All of which is a reminder that the dour Calderón could use some of the Amazon-size media savvy possessed by former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who left office in January. Foreigners might be less wary of Mexico, for example, if they were more aware of Calderón's impressive judicial and police reforms, but his distrust for the international media has kept that message from resonating as strongly as it should — not a smart strategy when you're competing with severed heads for attention. Calderón is right: perception does matter. And so does the leader who is selling it.

— With reporting by Dolly Mascareñas / Acapulco

Fly Portland to Los Cabos for $159 each way, to Mazatlan for $179 each way, or to Ixtapa for $199 each way (plus taxes and fees). Or book a Delta Vacations package from Portland to Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, or Riviera Nayarit for travel through April 25, and pay as little as $447 per person for flights and three nights of hotel. You must book by March 31 to get the deal.

If the east coast of Mexico is more appealing to you, check out the all-inclusive Ocean Maya Royale in the Riviera Maya. Book by Feb. 16 and pay just $99 per person, per night for April travel, or $130-$140 per night in February or March. The rates include all meals, drinks and snacks, a kids club, non-motorized water sports, and staff gratuity.

Details are subject to change, so check directly with the hotel or airline to confirm.

The U.S. Department of State says the new fee scale is needed to help cover operating expenses for domestic and overseas passport agencies. Here's a look at how much more you're going to pay.

The biggest increase is the new cost for extra visa pages. It'll cost $82 now. It was free.

Some people, in the Coachella Valley, said the fee hike would make them think twice about international travel.

"I had no clue," said Vicki White, who was shopping in Palm Desert Friday. "We were getting ready to go on a cruise this summer. It is a lot of money. Its ridiculous." White said she is considering cancelling her travel plans because of the fee increase.

"It just makes it harder for those who can't afford to travel," said Dolores Granillo, who already has a passport, and was at the Thousand Palms post office Friday. "I guess you (stay and) travel around United States then."

The Thousand Palms Post Office is expecting long lines Monday.
The Thousand Palms Post Office is expecting long lines Monday.

There's still time to save money. Several post offices here in the Valley offer passport services Monday. Most require appointments so call ahead.

According to the USPS website, the Coachella Post Office accepts walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Thousand Palms Post Office accepts walk-ins from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. They do not take photos there.

If you're heading to the post office, here are a few things you will need.

Your picture identification, like a driver's license.

Your birth certificate.

Passport sized photos. (Some post offices don't offer photo services.)

Check, cash, or debit card. Post offices don't accept credit cards for the administrative fee which is usually $25. It is included in the cost.

In 2010 Holy Week (Semana Santa) is celebrated March 28- April 4.

Dia Samaritana March 12
Viernes de Dolores March 26
Sábado de Pasión March 27
Domingo de Ramos March 28
Lunes Santo March 29
Martes Santo March 30
Miércoles Santo March 31
Jueves Santo 9 April 1
Viernes Santo April 2
Sabado de Gloria April 3
Domingo de la Resurrección April 4
CARNIVAL

Easter season traditionally begins with Carnival, a holiday that can begin up to two weeks before the beginning of Lent (Cuaresma).

Mazatlán is home to the third-largest Carnival celebration in the world after those in Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. Attracting more than 400,000 people, the event features singing and dancing. Veracruz City hosts the second-largest carnival in Mexico, followed by Merida and Cozumel.

In Oaxaca's Teotitlán del Valle, Carnival is celebrated the week after Easter.

Lent (Cuaresma) represents the 40 days Christ spent in the desert.

Ash Wednesday (Miércoles de Ceniza) is the first day of Lent.

Fridays (Viernes Cuaresmas) are celebrated in Oaxaca City with a local tradition of young men giving young women flowers early in the morning in El Llano Park.

Samaritan Day (Dia Samaritana) is a custom in Oaxaca City celebrated on the fourth Friday in Lent. Refreshments are offered to passersby. The tradition is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Churches, businesses, schools and government offices offer traditional fruit drinks, including horchata, jamaica, tamarindo and local favorite chilacayote.

Friday of Sorrows (Viernes de Dolores) is a day of great devotion in Oaxaca City, celebrated on the fifth Friday in Lent, one week before Good Friday. The tradition dates to the Colonial period when priests consecrated a chapel to the Virgen de los Dolores. Altars are built in public areas, markets, homes and churches to commemorate the pain of the Virgin Mary. Altars are decorated with seedlings, straw flowers and chia pets.
HOLY WEEK

During Holy Week (Semana Santa), worshippers participate in reenactments of the Passion, from Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) takes its name from Jesus' entry into Jerusalem where crowds laid palms at his feet. Outside churches, weavers create and sell elaborate woven fronts which are later hung on doors of Mexican homes to ward off evil.

Holy Wednesday (Miercoles Santo) Zaachila celebrates Holy Wednesday by decorating the city churches with vegetatation carried to town from the Sierra.
b Miercoles Santo - Erick Igari

Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo) commemorates the Last Supper shared by Jesus with his disciples and Jesus' betrayal by Judas. In Oaxaca City, it's a tradition to visit seven churches.

Good Friday (Santo Viernes) commemorates the trial, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus. Silent processions are held in city streets.

Holy Saturday (Sabado de Gloria) commemorates the day in which Jesus rested in the grave. Some communities celebrate by burning paper maché effigies of Judas.

Easter Sunday (Domingo de Resurrección or Pascua) commemorates the resurrection of Jesus.

MOVEABLE FEAST

Easter is observed in Western cultures on the first Sunday following the full moon following the spring equinox. It is based on the Hebrew lunar calendar and can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.
FOOD

Carnival is a time of rich living and rich eating. The word 'Carnival' is derived from 'carne' or meat.

Lent is a time of simplified living and meatless dishes. Seafood is permitted, so there are plenty of tuna dishes as well as seafood soups. If you like your cheese quesadilla with fish, try the pescadilla.

Aguas Frescas - Recipe
Empanadas de Vigilia - Recipe
INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS

The religious celebrations of Mexico's indigenous communities incorporate European beliefs with regional syncretism. Most celebrations incorporate traditional dances.
TOURISM FYI

Since Easter Sunday is a national holiday and the Thursday and Friday before Easter are paid vacation days, many workers receive the whole week off. This is a major holiday, so it is wise to make reservations and buy tickets ahead of time.
ELSEWHERE IN MEXICO

Celebrations are held in Mexico City, Oaxaca City, Pátzcuaro, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Taxco and Zacatecas.

In Mexico City's Xochimilco Gardens, the annual Xochimilco Festival is held two weeks before Easter and dates back to precolonial times when Mexicans honored the goddess of flowers (Xochipilli) and the goddess of dance (Maculxochitl) to ensure good harvests.

Every year, a young woman is crowned La Flor Mas Bella del Ejido (the most beautiful flower of the land) who presides over colorful parades on flower-decorated barges along the famed canals.

The most popular dramatic representation of the Passion is held in Iztapalapa, on the east side of Mexico City.

“The number of travel agents from 1995 until now has been cut almost in half,” says Maloney. “There were some 37,000 physical branch locations in 1995, which was the peak, and now there are about 16,000 to 18,000.”

Many agents today specialize in tours, cruises and vacation packages. Often they have extensive first-hand experience with the carriers, hotels and sites they recommend.

If you are thinking of using a travel agency, as with any service, ask about fees up front.

Marshall says his agency “would charge a little fee on a straight air-only” transaction. “But what we sell are mainly vacation packages,” he says. “When we book air in conjunction with those packages, we don’t charge a service fee, because the suppliers pay us a commission; it’s more efficient for them to have us handle the bookings.”

He compares a travel agent to “a travel valet, a free person to handle your trip. Our competitive edge is that we are on the same playing field in price, but we add in service. We save you a lot of time. If you’re a busy person who wants a vacation planned, all the work is done, and if there is any troubleshooting, we do it all, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Crawford’s company books much of its air travel through Toronto and does not add service fees, he says.

Book it now

Maxwell speaks to a lot of people who want to wait until the last minute to book trips. “They hear from their neighbor, their brother or somebody else to wait and the prices will go down. We get more people who come in here who have waited too long, and then they’re desperate.”

Maxwell advises the opposite.

“Book as soon as you can,” she says. “We tell people, don’t wait for the price to go down, just book it!”

She also advises her customers to buy trip insurance, which can range from about $60 to just over $100 per person. Then she programs the details of the trip into her computer, which prompts her to recheck the prices from time to time.

“I booked somebody months ago at a luxury hotel in Mexico, and it was over $6,000 for a trip at Easter,” she says. “I just rebooked it for $5,100. He has exactly the same thing and I just got the price down.”

An experienced agent can save a client aggravation as well as money. Crawford was in his office on a Sunday a few weeks ago catching up on paperwork when the phone rang. “It was a client who was going to Jamaica on Delta on Monday,” he says. “With the anticipation of bad weather, the airline told her she couldn’t get out for a week, and she was practically crying on the phone. I told her I’d take care of it, so I called Delta and I worked on it and I got her a flight out the next day.”

Crawford also recommends that travelers buy insurance, but this client hadn’t this time. But his intervention with the airline got her Jamaican vacation off the ground, he says.

“There are certain companies you want to be a good customer to,” he says. “We’re in the 500 Club with FunJet, that’s a big tour company, and we have a special line that we call that’s only for members. So we get special treatment. If we have a problem, they are going to take care of us, because we are good customers. It’s the same thing with the insurance company we use and certain cruise lines.

“If people see a price on Expedia or one of the other online services, we call one of our contacts, and they’ll beat the price. And a lot of people think we charge for our services, I guess,” he says. “We don’t.”

Marshall points out another benefit of booking travel with an agent. “Most travel agents require just a deposit to hold their trip, while online they have to pay in advance,” he says.

Why risk it

Travel, by its very nature, is fraught with uncertainties, caused by everything from weather and mechanical problems to human error.

Crawford tells of accompanying a tour group to the Dominican Republic last Easter. At the front desk of the group’s hotel, one of his staffers saw a honeymooning couple who had booked through one of the online companies. “It was never verified, and there weren’t any rooms, the hotel was fully booked,” he says. He and his agent made sure their rooms were verified before his group ever got on their plane, he says.

“What’s mind-boggling to me is that people who don’t know a lot about the world [book travel] themselves even though they don’t know what a good price is,” says Crawford. “If I was looking for bolts for a carburetor, I wouldn’t know a good price. It’s my job to know about travel.”

For some trips, a travel agent’s expertise is invaluable, says Maloney: “Clearly, places you’ve never been before, places where you don’t speak the language and places where they are not used to seeing a lot of Americans.”

“Some people love the planning, but you still need good expert advice to execute it,” says Maloney. “Honeymoons and destination weddings are classics. You’re very busy when you’re going to get married. The last thing you want to think about is ground transportation from the airport to the hotel, or other details like that.”