As Canadian airlines resume flights to Puerto Vallarta, some Ontarians are deciding to vacation elsewhere

Polina Kamaev says she and her friends were about an hour into their flight to Puerto Vallarta Sunday when it turned back for Pearson airport.

The crew initially said there was a mechanical issue, she said, but when they arrived back in Toronto, they learned the issue was their destination, not the plane.

Canadian airline service to Puerto Vallarta had been temporarily suspended after violence erupted in several parts of the country. A notorious cartel leader had been killed as part of a Mexican government operation, and tourists and locals were told to shelter in place to stay safe.

The situation has since stabilized, and Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Porter Airlines all announced they were resuming flights Tuesday to and from Puerto Vallarta. Kamaev was back at Pearson that morning, but she said she and her friends had decided to take their vacation in the Bahamas instead.

"We just chose to play it safe," she said. "Even though it seems like it's clearing up, we don't know if it will stay stable, and we don't want to risk not being able to get home."

Kamaev was one of several travellers headed south Tuesday as service to the popular western Mexican tourist resort city started up again. Many, like her, said they were steering clear of that part of the country — or Mexico altogether — despite the resumption.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters Tuesday that "the situation in Mexico is becoming more stable." But Global Affairs Canada is still advising people to exercise a high degree of caution if they are in Mexico and to avoid non-essential travel in several states, saying that the security situation "could deteriorate rapidly" across the country.

Brenna Hallock-Dobson said she was supposed to vacation an hour outside Puerto Vallarta, but changed her mind after seeing videos of violence in the streets Sunday. Even after flights resumed, she said she preferred to cancel her Mexican accommodations and fly standby to Costa Rica.

"If people still want to risk going down there, then that's OK. But you never know. Things can change in a pinch," she said.

Donna McKay is one of those people. She said her brother and sister are already there and have told her "they feel good about it."

"They're not the kind to live on the edge ... so I feel confident that [if] they say it's good to come down, then it's good to come down," she said before her flight.

"I was there last year at this exact time — beautiful place, love it — and [I] was pretty determined I was going to go."

Shaun Russell of St. Thomas, Ont., said turmoil abroad had already forced him to change his vacation plans once this month, and he had nearly found himself in a similar bind.

Russell said he was headed to the Dominican Republic after rebooking a cancelled flight to Cuba, where airlines have wound down flights after the U.S. started blocking Venezuelan fuel from entering the island country. He was originally going to move his vacation to Puerto Vallarta, he said, but found it was slightly more expensive.