Deadly Cancun Bombing: Will Drug Cartel Squeeze Life Out of Tourist Destination?

Sept. 7, 2010— -- The sun-drenched resorts and crystal waters that have long lured foreigners to Cancun, Mexico, may no longer be enough of a draw if tourists have to worry increasingly about bring caught in the crossfire of the country's dangerous drug war.

The deadly bombing last week of the Castillo del Mar bar in Cancun that left eight people dead -- all Mexican nationals -- has spurred questions about whether this popular tourist draw will join the ranks of other Mexican cities overrun with blood-thirsty and money-hungry drug cartels that have all but decimated tourism to the north.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, a foreign policy fellow for the Brookings Institution, told ABCNews.com Monday that the nation's largest tourism resort, even with its history of street violence and drug smuggling, is still one of the safer destinations in Mexico.

"But safer opposed to what?" she said.

"I truly believe the vast majority of tourists would have no problem going to Mexico," she said. "However, the more and more attacks, especially more bombs ... that increases the chance that someone will get caught in violence."

With tourism the only industry in Mexico generating new jobs, officials have been quick to reassure potential visitors that the violence is aimed only at other criminals, not innocent bystanders.

But, Felbab-Brown said, "I don't think it's been a very effective message."

It is unclear this early into the investigation whether the attack was an isolated incident or a prelude to more violent future.

Felbab-Brown, who specializes in illegal economics and organized crime, said there have been reports out of the region, although still unconfirmed, that the bar was targeted by men throwing Molotov cocktails because its owners had reneged on payment as part of an extortion plot.

The Associated Press reported that Mexican authorities have arrested six men in the attack.

Although Cancun has been a hotbed of cocaine smuggling for years, it has largely avoided the large-scale attacks and kidnappings that have made border towns intensely dangerous for Mexicans and tourists alike.

But the city, long a haven for spring-breakers and honeymooners, hasn't been immune to the country's volatile war on drugs with the corpses of police officers and politicians surfacing at regular intervals.

"This is not the first time there has been violence in this area," Felbab-Brown said.