In a move that may be copied by other tourist centers in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta’s municipal government has opened an office to attend specifically to the multiple needs of visitors and foreign residents.
Trilingual, fully trained lawyers will staff the office that opened to much fanfare in the Pacific Coast resort this week.
The office, known in Spanish as the Oficina Municipal de Atención y Asistencia al Turista y Residente Extranjero, is believed to be the first of its kind operated by a municipal government in Mexico. Staff will deal with all kinds of issues and complaints, including assisting with the reporting of crimes, document loss, immigration procedures, as well as providing general tourist information.
“We want to make Vallarta the safest and friendliest place in Mexico to visit,” Mayor Juan Hernandez said at the inauguration of the office this week.
Among the staff will be a team of lawyers who are fluent in Spanish, English and French, Hernandez confirmed. The office will also serve as a liaison with municipal, state and federal government departments and officials, and work closely with the consulates of the United States and Canada.
Hernandez said the office will be open 24 hours a day, although it is not clear exactly how this will function. The office is located at Plaza Lazaro Cardenas,
Both Lynne Benoit and Kelly Trainor, the Canadian and U.S. consular agents in Vallarta, congratulated the municipal government for opening the ground-breaking office.
“We have spoken a lot in the past about a center of this kind. This will be a blessing for all visitors,” Trainor said.
Benoit called the office “an innovation” that could serve as an example to other regions of Mexico. She recognized that the service could be of great help to visitors and residents with legal difficulties, since consular officials are very limited in their scope when trying to assist their citizens with agencies such as the Ministerio Publico (district attorney’s office), where all criminal complaints must be filed.