Montaviajes, a phenomenon that threatens the tourism industry

Acapulco, Gro. There is a threat to tourism that does not allow companies to rest and that worries travelers looking to vacation throughout the country, or the world, are montavias, confirm businessmen in the sector. The problem has escalated to such a degree that technology companies, such as Google, have announced tools to prevent more people from being robbed through digital platforms.

As happened in the financial sector, in recent months complaints have increased on social networks, people explain how a tourism company On the Internet he offered them a trip, at a very good price, and once they made some payment, mostly virtual, the supposed firm disappeared, testimonies indicate.

The authorities at this time cannot establish a position on the matter, they explain, due to the electoral ban, but travel agencies or tour operators They mention that this has become a problem in being able to sell trips in the new electronic media, one of the most used by young people.

“It is an issue that worries us, because Internet sales have decreased in recent months, clients call to see if what we offer online is real and they prefer to come to our offices to see if we are real, so it is somewhat complicated, because the Internet was helping us a lot after the pandemic,” mentioned Luis Landeros, owner of Landeros Travel Co., an agency based in Chihuahua.

The interviews were done during the Tianguis Turístico in Acapulco, Guerrero, the most important event in the sector in the country and Latin America.

Montajejes are fake companies that offer attractive, low-price packages to any destination, contact their victims and offer them trips for average durations of one week. When the client accepts, they ask them to deposit and once the payment is made they stop answering and disappear. Since the client is the one who granted their resources, it is difficult to recover them.

Yes we have heard… we realized that Internet sales have decreased since Decembersays Patricia Montemayor, a salesperson at the Tours Medina agency, a firm originally from Oaxaca.

I met a man who was robbed of 20 thousand pesos when trying to get a trip to Cancun; Then he came with us to take his family for Easter and I was afraid, because he went to the office and came back every week to see and greet us, I think it has become a problemdeclared Juan Mondragón, a salesman at Caribeño Travels in Quintana Roo.

Google launches tool

Given the increase in this type of cases, Google announced at the Tianguis Turístico that it launched two new tools that will allow its search engine to combat montaviajes.

We have several security mechanisms to combat disinformation, but this year we have launched two new functions for users that allow them to filter first-hand some sites that are not trustworthy.said Luis Ronces, product communication manager at Google Mexico.

About this result y About this image They are the tools of the platform. With the first, in a single click The information on your website is known, so travelers can know if the page is secure. The second will allow people to know if images on a website were created with artificial intelligence.

The tools will allow them (users) to know when that web page was indexed, who is the owner of the site and who is the owner of that company or travel agencypointed out the Google manager and highlighted that “they are available to everyone and are very easy to use (…) this is the way we are trying to prevent this type of fraud.”

In Mexico City, the Citizen Council for Public Security and Justice announced that people scammed in this way increased 100 percent in the first two months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.