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The University of Arizona will not rescind its warning to students to avoid traveling to Mexico for spring break nor issue any additional memos about safety measures being instituted in Sonora despite a request by Mexican officials.

At a meeting Thursday in Tucson, Sonoran tourism officials asked that the UA send out an e-mail to students about precautionary efforts being taken in Sonora such as the creation of a tourism police force and extra patrols on highways, said Epifanio Salido Pavlovich, the director of the Sonora Tourism Office.

But Carol Thompson, the UA's dean of students, said the university has no plans to send out any more information and that the UA stands by the original memo. Sonora tourism officials will have an opportunity to speak to students at UA's Spring Break Safety Event on the UA campus mall Friday, she said. In addition, the UA has provided safety tips to students for travel to Mexico already, she said.

In mid-February, the UA Dean of Students Office issued a memo to students strongly advising them "to avoid travel to Mexico at this time and during spring break," citing a U.S. State Department travel alert.

The alert — which warns travelers about dangerous situations but doesn't instruct them not to go to Mexico — mentions Nogales alongside notoriously dangerous border cities such as Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo.

That alert, which has since been updated, also mentioned Route 15 between Nogales and Hermosillo as a road where "criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles." That highway was omitted, however, from the latest Mexico travel alert issued on Feb. 20.

The strongly worded statement sent out by Thompson's office took many by surprise, including Salido Pavlovich, who immediately called contacts in Tucson and began requesting a meeting with UA officials. On Thursday, he spoke with Thompson and UA President Robert Shelton in what he deemed a useful meeting.

Salido and other Mexican officials stopped short of criticizing UA for sending out the memo, instead chalking it up to the university basing it on "mis-information."

"The travel alert — and the U.S. consul in Hermosillo has said this — doesn't say not to go, but to be alert," Salido said.

The Mexican Consul in Tucson, Juan Manuel Calderón Jaimes, said that the "damage has been done" no matter what information is sent out in the future.

The UA's admonition follows a similar move by Fort Huachuca officials in December. The post, Southern Arizona's largest military installation, instituted a rule requiring troops to get prior approval from the Army post's top brass to cross the border or be subject to military discipline and warned military families and civilian employees not to visit Mexican cities such as Naco, Agua Prieta and Nogales.

The UA reached its decision to send out the memo in February after a meeting that included risk management, student government and campus police, Thompson said.

"To not make our students aware of that information would not be OK," Thompson said.

Drug-cartel-fueled violence has reached record levels in the past year in the state of Sonora, and specifically in Nogales. Official government figures show homicides soared in Nogales to 116 in 2008, up from 52 in 2007 and 35 in 2006. In Sonora, the total rose to 398, up from 307 in 2007 and 328 in 2006.

Mexican officials aren't denying the drug-cartel fueled violence is a major problem for Mexico but said the gunfights and killings are isolated to those involved in the drug trade.

"If you are not related to cartels and drugs, you will not have any problem," Salido said.

They emphasized that vacationing in Rocky Point is not a risk.

Sonoran government figures show 10 homicides occurred in 2008 in Rocky Point, the same as the year before. There were no homicides during January, figures show.

There will be 15 tourist police officers in Rocky Point starting next week. Wearing red and white polo shirts and baseball hats, they will patrol the beaches and tourist areas on ATVs, Salido said. They will be trained in English and armed with information helpful to tourists. There are going to be 200 tourism police in Sonora with officers also in Guaymas, San Carlos, Hermosillo, Kino Bay, Rio Sonora and Alamos, Salido said.

Next week, Rocky Point officials will meet with federal, state and municipal police to devise a plan to ensure safety along the highways to Rocky Point, said Oscar Palacio Soto, president of the Rocky Point Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hotel and restaurant owners expect fewer students this year but not only because of the violence and UA memo, but also on account of the economic downturn, said Palacio Soto

Sonora tourism director Salido, when asked if he was worried that the UA memo would cause fewer students to travel to Rocky Point, replied: "That's why we are here" in Tucson.

"We are here to try to inform people that it is safe in Sonora and that we are making a huge effort to make sure people feel safe and take vacations there," Salido said.

On StarNet: Read the State Department's travel alert for Mexico: go.azstarnet.com/travelalert