More curtail travel to Mexico

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Many Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans say increasing violence and a worsening economy will keep them from traveling home for the holidays.

Increasing violent drug wars have made life especially dangerous this year in the cities of Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez, the U.S. State Department said in a recent travel alert.

Buses that run from Los Angeles to Tijuana and Mexicali already have seen a decrease in business, Robert Bahine, a dispatcher with Transportes Intercalifornias told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Sunday.

"They don't want to go home because of the problems in TJ, all the shootings and the killings," Bahine said, referring to Tijuana by its initials.

Mexican Airlines reports a 4 percent drop in bookings to Mexico from last year with Mexico's consul general in Los Angeles saying the economy is having a greater effect on travel than the drug wars, the Times reported.