Today, the Mexico Tourism Board and Canadian online leisure travel retailer, itravel2000, announced an innovative program to address the confusion created by recent media reports about Mexico.

New Mexico travel blog.

In the past weeks, reports of drug-related violence in towns on the US-Mexico border have created a perception with consumers that all of Mexico, including favorite sun and beach destinations, is dangerous to travel to.

This ignores the fact that destinations like Cozumel, Cancun and the Riviera Maya are over 1,800 miles (3,000 kms) away from the affected border cities.

This is Cozumel and business people on the island pointed this out last week and yesterday an article from the Miami Herald newspaper backed it up saying, "It is as safe to vacation in the tourist part of Mexico today as to go to any city of the United States or Canada."

Interviewing real tourists.

To address the confusion, a project entitled What is REALLY Happening in MEXICO? has been launched. It features an independent regular traveller, Scott Sheehan, visiting popular destinations in Mexico.

Scott is interviewing real consumers on their experiences and the interviews, pictures and stories are hosted on a web blog.

"We can say it's safe to travel to Mexico, but consumers are looking for an unbiased opinion. This initiative lets real people share with other people the realities of what is going on in Mexico right now," said Alfonso Sumano, the Mexico Tourism Board's Director for Canada.

The Mexico Tourism Board is encouraging all industry partners to promote this link on their websites and to their clients to help clarify what is really going on in Mexico, real-time.

The initiative will see Scott travel to and interview tourists in Cozumel, Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and Acapulco.

For more information visit www.whatisreallyhappeninginmexico.com.