ANAT protests: It is inadmissible for Romanian tourists - EU citizens - to be denied entry to Mexico without any justified reason
The National Association of Travel Agencies (ANAT) submits its official protest to the Embassy of the United Mexican States in Romania, for the abuses to which Romanian tourists - citizens of the European Union - are subjected by Mexican authorities, being denied entry to both airports from Mexico City as well as from Cancun.
"Groups of tourists or individual tourists who arrived in Cancun in recent days, with various airlines, were stopped at the border and denied entry into the country for no reason. This is not the first time that Mexico has taken such abusive measures against Romanian tourists. Tourists have their passports and phones confiscated, are kept locked up in inappropriate conditions, regardless of age. Obviously, none of the covid protection measures are observed. We want to know why the Mexican government behaves in this way with Romanian tourists and who will bear the material damages generated and the losses generated by these abuses ", declares Alin Burcea, vice-president of ANAT.
Mexico had become one of the exotic destinations requested by Romanian tourists this season, especially due to the fact that no covid-19 PCR test is required and no quarantine of 14 days is required when returning to the country. Every year, several thousand Romanian tourists choose this country to spend their holidays. Currently, hundreds of Romanian tourists, who have made reservations through Romanian travel agencies, who have local partners in Mexico, are forced to give up paid services and return to the country without any explanation.
ANAT wonders who will compensate for the losses generated by this situation
ANAT wonders who will compensate the losses generated by this situation, taking into account that we have an inconceivable situation - a unilateral decision of the Mexican state not to receive Romanian tourists in this country, without any argument, along with an outrageous treatment applied to Romanian citizens. On the other hand, it is not the first time that Romanian tourists arriving in organized groups are faced with such a situation, such abuses taking place several times in recent years.
We remind you that Romania has been a member of the European Union since January 1, 2007, and the US authorities should treat Romanian citizens like any EU citizen. It is known that the EU is one of the main tourist issuers in the world, Mexico being visited in 2019 by about 1,5 , XNUMX million tourists from the EU
ANAT wonders how countries like Germany, Spain or France would react
ANAT wonders how states such as Germany, Spain or France would react if their own citizens, as tourists, were subjected to such discrimination. We agree that each state has its own border rules and there are cases when certain visitors, regardless of citizenship, may be refused at the border for good, individualized reasons, but we find it inadmissible for this situation to apply to entire groups of tourists only on account of citizenship and that is why we are waiting for explanations.
In the context of the pandemic but also in general, it is outrageous that an organized group of tourists who comply with the legislation in force and who spend large sums in the destination country should be rejected without any argument. The rejection of entire groups of tourists for - as justified by the Mexican authorities - the lack of complete documents or hesitant or non-compliant answers to interviews puts us in a big question mark and sends us thinking of great discrimination and violation of the rights of some citizens of the European Union .
The National Association of Travel Agencies is urgently waiting for a well-reasoned response from the Embassy of the United Mexican States
We have not heard of situations in which groups of tourists in Mexico, if they comply with European law, are discriminated against when visiting a state of the European Union and, even more so, talk about seizure. And we doubt that Mexican tourists have had such treatments, if they have crossed the border legally, visiting other Latin countries (such as Mexico) European countries, such as Italy, Spain, France or Romania.
The National Association of Travel Agencies is urgently awaiting a well-reasoned response from the US Embassy in Mexico on this serious incident. ANAT also requested the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene as soon as possible to clarify and resolve the situation.
We remind you that Dozens of Romanians are stranded at airports in Mexico. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking action in the case of Romanian tourists stranded in Mexico and we hope that the situation returns to normal.