The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board has released the following statement:

The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board is sad to learn about this incident that took place on February 23, 2012, when twenty two (22) Carnival Cruise Line passengers were robbed by one individual while on a walking tour near the town of “The Nogalito” on the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta. This is an extremely rare incident that is not part of the experience our historic international tourism destination offers our guests and we are pleased that our destination’s officials, and the US Consulate, took swift action to ensure the health and safety of all our guests involved. Minutes after we learned of the incident representatives from the local and state government, tourism leaders and tour operators to provide assistance to those who involved and police and the district’s attorney office started their investigation.

As one of Mexico’s leading destinations, we have high regards for the security and safety of our visitors and we are constantly working on enhancing the safety measures employed by our local police and private security officers who work at our many tourism attractions, including new international standardized training. We are also making renovations to the city’s streets and popular tourist zones which will better serve our guests and their safety.

We think our efforts are fruitful as this past June Thomas Dale & Associates (TDA), a leading global investigative and security firm hired by Puerto Vallarta to complete a security/threat assessment study of the destination found that the number of negative events involving foreigners or non-foreigners is fractional compared to the large ex-pat resident population and the millions of visitors that come to vacation each year in Puerto Vallarta. The study also found that visitors to the destination feel safe and continue to visit Puerto Vallarta numerous times throughout their lifetime.