An adjustment in the strategy to prevent the high-impact incidents occurring in the municipality, which have now begun taking place in the tourist area, is being requested by merchants from the authorities responsible for providing security to the population.
Factors Affecting the Situation
The president of the Association of Businesses in the Golden Zone, Julio Enrique Silva Osorio, acknowledged that insecurity and the low influx of visitors following the end of the summer vacation period have seriously affected the sector he represents.
He described the beginning of the current month as complicated for merchants, who are affected not only by the decrease in tourists, but also by security situations such as the one that occurred Thursday night between Garzas and Lagunas streets.
He maintained that the incident occurred at a time and in a location where there was little presence of people and commercial activity, so many people did not realize what had actually happened.
Poor Perception
He explained that it was a side street where most businesses had already closed their doors since 6:00 p.m., meaning the area was practically empty when the incident occurred.
The merchants’ representative regretted that these types of situations are replicated on social media, which increases the perception of insecurity and ultimately affects tourism activity in the municipality.
Despite what happened, he acknowledged the work carried out by the security forces regarding the surveillance implemented in the Golden Zone and highlighted the presence of personnel from the National Guard, the Army, and other security institutions.
Low Sales
He said that it is necessary for authorities to rethink their surveillance strategies and reduce the periods during which certain areas may have a lower presence of security personnel, as this could have been the factor exploited to commit the unfortunate incident.
Silva Osorio insisted that surveillance has improved, but considered that the recent incident should serve as an opportunity to review protocols and prevent similar situations from occurring again in a tourist area of great importance to Mazatlán.
He mentioned that, currently, businesses in the Golden Zone are experiencing 0 percent sales, while during the previous vacation period, souvenir and handicraft establishments maintained sales at 70 percent, whereas jewelry businesses recorded 30 percent in sales.
Source: debate
