My name is Charles Roberts and I am the Director for Hero Holiday. I, along with my wife and three children, the Bernardi family and the Boyce family, are all currently in Mexico representing Hero Holiday here. Over the past couple of years, my wife Tricia, our sons, and I have been living here off and on. Our boys know this as their home. We know this community very well and have many friends here. We have been fortunate to be able to partner with local government agencies and authorities to better assist the people we are here to help.
Considering the media coverage of the Swine Flu, and the Drug War along the northern Mexican border, I feel it is important for you to hear from us on a personal level. We are living here, day in and day out and would love to share with you, from our perspective, what is really (or not really) happening.
Safety has always been, and will continue to be, our number one priority for all of our trip participants. Safety is always at the forefront of every decision we make and every trip that we facilitate.
I am continually saddened by the media in Canada and the US. Their overreaction and selective coverage to the Swine Flu and to the Drug War stories in Mexico have created and continue to create an incredible amount of fear in people. Considering the media’s business approach to ’sell’ stories to the public, we are constantly seeing more and more ’stories’ that are slanted to instill fear in their listeners. Looking at it carefully, it is clear that ‘fear’ sells.
When hearing news stories, always remember to use a personal filter and your own common sense to read between the lines of what is being reported. When considering traveling to other countries, the most reliable information is official government information that they publish for our safety. It is direct, to the point and usually not ’selective’ or ‘over-dramatized’. A few trusted sites that we gain our information from are the following:
- Canadian Foreign Affairs (http://www.voyage.gc.ca/
countries_pays/menu-eng.asp ) - Canadian Health Agency (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/
index-eng.php). ) - The World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/en/ )
These three are highly respected government agencies, and are accountable to people for what they say. Our Canadian government will ALWAYS air on the side of extreme caution when it comes to travel advisories. If there is any reason for concern at all, our government will clearly communicate that to us, again, sometimes to an extreme.
Today, April 29th, 2009, the World Health Organization communicated again that there is no need to advise against regular travel.
“WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.”
If you are a Hero Holiday participant, concerned about traveling to Mexico on your trip, please do not be alarmed. I understand that the media is making a big deal about this, and it may appear that the world is falling apart. However, I encourage you, as I did earlier, to please filter what your are hearing, use some common sense, and research this a little further on your own. Please do not believe everything you hear, and do not just take my thoughts on this either. Look into it for yourself via trusted sources. I am confident that a lot of your concerns will be eliminated. The worst thing you can do is to make a quick, uninformed decision, based solely on something you have heard/seen on TV.
Thank you for your understanding. I hope you are encouraged by this. I am available anytime if you would like to contact me personally.
Charles Roberts
Hero Holiday Director
Mexico Cell: (to dial from Canada) 001 521 (616) 109-9404
US Cell: (for when I am in the USA) (619) 370-6303
Email: charles@heroholiday.com
Thanks Charles! That helps a lot!
As someone who has worked with hero holiday since it began I am frustrated with the public and media for going directly to fear and mass hysteria before researching the information for themselves. The WHO has declared the swine flu a level 5 outbreak and I would not be surprised if it reaches level 6 which is a pandemic. People have already been talking about this word, and it instantly causes fear and panic. The word pandemic simply means, a new virus, that is passed person to person and is in more than one geographic location, no where in the definition does it mention huge mortality rates! Yes, people have and will likely continue to die from this virus, however 4,000 people in Canada and 18,0000 people in the US died last year from the regular flu, I’d be willing to bet most people haven’t heard those shocking numbers on the evening news! We have a weapon in our favour right now…..summer! The flu virus likes the dryness of winter…the fact that people are in closer proximity to one another doesn’t hurt the spread either!
Does anyone remember SARS? That was a pandemic, did it cause you to think twice about travel within Canada, probably not, because you knew where the viurs was and where it was not! So before you say “I refuse to travel to Mexico, because that’s where that virus is” take some initiative and get the facts for yourself, the virus isn’t everywhere, find out for yourself where it is and where it isn’t. By the way….it’s in Canada too, does that mean you’re ready to leave your home and go to a country that is pig flu free?
Although I do appreciate the responses above, we still need to make ‘responsible’ informed-decisions. Yes, the influenza has attributed to many deaths in Canada & the U.S., however we also have access to vaccinations which help to ease our fears of this & to literally offer protection. The swine flu, that is now passing from person to person, (of high concern) thus far has no vaccination for protection, which perhaps causes weariness. I would hardly recommend traveling to distant countries who pose a risk of us becoming infected, thus returning home & possibly spreading the virus to young children & the elder. Again, there is no vaccination for this type of influenza strand; would you really travel at this time (during the thick of the outbreak), & risk spreading it to those more vulnerable? I certainly would not want my young children to contract it!
Thank you for your input and concern in regards to this blog. We all agree 100% that we need to make responsible informed decisions, in fact, that was the whole purpose behind posting that original blog. Too many people were believing everything the media broadcasts have been implying, without taking the responsibility upon themselves to do any research to find out the facts about what was or was not really happening. I included respected government agency’s websites, in hope that people would start taking their own initiative to get the facts.
Your concern about being a carrier of the swine flu and passing it on to others (the elderly or the young), is a legitimate concern for everyone. The same can be said about thousands of other flu bugs and diseases in the world today. The facts that I have been able to find in my research suggest that there is a lot more chance for someone to catch the swine flu in Canada or the US right now, then there is for them to catch it here where we are, on the Baja in Mexico.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, safety is always our number one concern when facilitating trips to developing countries. We maintain our confidence that we are not running any unusual risk by continuing our trips to Vicente Guerrero, MX at this time. Your comment on this matter shows a diligence and initiative on your part and for that we are truly grateful.
As of May 18, 2009, Foreign Affairs Canada lifted the non-essential travel advisory that had been issued for Mexico.
I think most Americans buy into the fear-mongering stories about Mexico, but don’t realize (or don’t want to acknowledge) that we (the US) are the second-most-feared country when it comes to Swine Flu. It’s ridiculous - people who wouldn’t dare travel to Mexico are going to New York City for business as usual!
I have a friend who was planning to go to Japan. She flew to Shanghai to meet her mother, only to find out that their tour was canceled. Several people from Asian countries decided to cancel their trip after finding out that my friend and another American couple were in the tour group. That cut the number of people in the group down so far that the company canceled the tour entirely.
I am guilty of actually listening whole heartedly to the media, but I should of known this was just a played up story. We thank you for opening our eyes to the real deal down there. We go to Mexico every year as we have a timeshare. We were going to skip this year and now you have made up my mind to go as planned. Using common sense and travel safety though applies at all times anyways.