Amid Border Crisis, Mexico Resort Town Asks: Where Have All The Gringos Gone?

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Rosarito Beach is a resort town on the coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. It is known as a nightlife destination for young Americans partying at dance clubs, was desolate. While winter is not generally the party season, residents and business owners warn economic activity has collapsed, reported The New York Times.

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“This is not normal, it’s all empty!” said Luis Pacheco, a waiter at Papas and Beer, a popular beachside bar.

“This used to be full of people,” he said, pointing at the rows of colorful wooden chairs on the sand, devoid of sunbathers.

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Businesses who depend on Americans for their livelihood blame the collapse in tourism on the recent turmoil at the border in the neighboring city of Tijuana, where a migrant caravan with thousands of people from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador arrived in mid-November.

“It has been isolated incidents that have created a distorted, negative image of the border, and we are all suffering from it,” said Ricardo Argiles, the chief executive of the company that operates the Rosarito Beach Hotel, which is a frequent spot for Hollywood elites.

Millennials consider the town an exciting, more cultured alternative to Tijuana, and until recently, young Californians who flooded the beaches on weekends and holidays, enticed by nightlife, seafood, and avocados, have vanished.

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