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The number of people crossing the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry -- seen here in 2009 -- had dipped sharply in the past few years, from a peak in 2003 of 47.4 million to 30.3 million in the most recent fiscal year.
Laura Embry / Union-Tribune file photo

Number of Border Crossings Stabilizes
Some counts reported higher at three ports

By Sandra Dibble, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 9:54 p.m.

The number of people crossing the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry -- seen here in 2009 -- had dipped sharply in the past few years, from a peak in 2003 of 47.4 million to 30.3 million in the most recent fiscal year.

The number of border crossings between San Diego and Tijuana has largely held steady in recent months after three years of steep decline — and has even increased in some categories — prompting hopes that the binational economy in that region is rebounding.

U.S. authorities are reporting higher counts of people heading north by foot and bus at the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate ports of entry, the main crossing points for the San Diego area. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded a 7 percent rise in pedestrian crossings and a 30 percent surge in bus passengers at those sites in May compared with the same month last year.

“It appears that the bottom has been hit and we’re starting to see upward indicators,” said Kenn Morris, president of Crossborder Group Inc., a market research firm based in San Diego.

The recession, violence in Mexico, clogged border crossings and last year’s swine flu pandemic combined to drive down the number of crossers in the past few years, and that drop-off has taken its toll on businesses in Baja California and San Diego.

A new southbound electronic inspection system used by the Mexican government, known as SIAVE, has stirred concerns that it will cause traffic delays and further deter tourists and other visitors.

At the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing, the number of individual crossings peaked in fiscal 2003 with 47.4 million, according to Customs and Border Protection. In the past fiscal year, the total had dipped to 30.3 million, a decrease of 36 percent.

Figures for the first eight months of the current fiscal year — through May 31 — show that the steep downward trend has slowed, and in some cases been reversed.

The largest number of people going through the San Ysidro port cross by car: 23.6 million in fiscal 2009, a drop of nearly 10 percent from the previous year. The figure would rise by about 2 percent this year if the current average total of monthly crossings holds steady.

On both sides of the border, business owners catering to the binational market said customers are starting to return.

In the border community of San Ysidro, where 85 percent of shoppers come from Mexico, business is up “not by leaps and bounds, but it’s better,” said Jason Wells, director of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce.

“After two rough years of down, down, down, down, down, we’ll take that,” he said.

Hotel occupancy rates are slightly up in Rosarito Beach, where the tourism industry has struggled in recent years because of a decline in U.S. visitors, said Cesar Rivera, head of the city’s hotel association. The group’s figures show a 5 percent rise in occupancy rates from January through June of this year, compared with the first six months of 2009.

“We’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Rivera, who is general manager of Las Rocas Hotel, which was booked Friday and Saturday with a U.S. wedding. Longtime U.S. clients who were driven away by reports of drug-related violence in Mexico “are slowly getting their confidence back,” Rivera added.

An additional sign of change is data from Mexico’s federal National Migration Institute, which has been issuing more tourist visas, a requirement for foreign travelers going south of Ensenada. The number of visas nearly doubled in May compared with the same month last year.

Although many U.S. visitors neglect to get a visa, the increase is a sign that U.S. tourism to Baja California is heading upward, said Morris of Crossborder Associates.

Yet another indicator that U.S. visits are back up comes from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During the first eight months of fiscal 2010, the agency registered a 2 percent increase in the number of U.S. citizens returning to the United States at all six ports of entry on the California border, compared with the same period in fiscal 2009.

Typically, 70 percent to 80 percent of northbound border crossers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry live in Mexico, according to Morris’ research. He said it’s likely that many of the U.S. citizens who go through there are dual nationals living in Baja California.

Although the statistics look positive for the cross-border economy, they don’t answer all the questions, Morris said.

“It’s hard to say precisely who those crossers are right now,” he said. “We have to collect (more) data and figure out why they’re crossing.”

Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com

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I have seen some of the "double booth" lanes starting to appear although not currently being used (yet). Hopefully we may have that help coming soon. If the border traffic does pick up at all with the increased time per car now seen it will certainly improve the wait times.

One factor involved in the decline of cross- border traffic that the article failed to mention is the US passport requirement. While knowledgeable members of this forum know that not having a passport upon re-entry results in nothing more than a slight delay and a tongue lashing, I'm thinking that huge numbers of folks who do not possess passports simply have decided they just won't cross. I think the situation really affects day- trippers, who might go to TJ to shop, or have a meal, as well as places like Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo. Have any idea if there is a site, and if so, reliable, about hotel occupancy for places like Rosarito and Ensenada?

Slightly off the topic of border crossings, but certainly germane to the tourist thing is that with respect to the cruise industry, Royal Caribbean pulled a mega- liner from LA that served the Mexican Riviera and repositioned it to Houston. Princess and Holland America have cut back service. Just seems to me that in the coming months there will be many thousands fewer day- trippers walking around places like Ensenada, Cabo, Mazatlan and PV.

I agree that the passport issue has had an effect as has customs checking for valid license/registrations on vehicles. The fact that crossing numbers have not dropped further tells me something is going on???

As far as the cruise ships, sending them to the gulf side is going to help their numbers? Who wants to go cruise an oil slick???