Acapulco Puts Students to Work Welcoming Tourists

(Acapulco, JG 19 December) More than 300 students will participate in the “Welcome, Tourist” program to be inaugurated next Friday by the municipal government, offering them a chance to get credits for social service, often a requirement for graduation. The coordinator of the program, Perla Bibiano Guzmán, said that one of the aspects will be an informational program to warn against excessive alcohol consumption. Students wearing lime green “Welcome, Tourist” t-shirts, will be posted at beach accesses from Caleta to the Naval Base and in Puerto Marqués, Revolcadero and Bonfil on the Diamante side. Others will work along the Costera Alemán.

Other aspects of the service will be to distribute maps of the tourist zone, complete with emergency numbers and tips on how to avoid accidents. If children wander off, the students will help the parents find them.
The coordinator of the program mentioned that all students will receive training in how to avoid any violations of the electoral laws. The fact that the t-shirts are the same color as the campaign t-shirts of Añorve Baños was not considered to be an infraction, but just a coincidence.

In addition to the students, more than 1000 policemen will be on patrol to ensure the safety of tourists. This operation, according to Public Safety Director Héctor Paulino Vargas López, will be supplemented with elements of both the Army and the Navy. He was explicit that “organized crime will not be able to affect the tourists.”