Mexico 's official tourism website was ridiculed on Friday after it was revealed to be riddled with hilarious auto-translate errors.- On VisitMexico.com, the resort of Tulum became "Jumpsuit," the town of Aculco became "I Blame," and the city of Ciudad Madero became "Log."
- The Tourism Department apologized, but hinted that it may have been sabotage, saying "a criminal complaint has been filed and appropriate legal actions will be taken against those responsible."
- On Thursday, the resort of Acapulco removed a promotional video that showed people partying without masks on with the slogans "anything goes" and "there are no rules," The Associated Press (AP) said.
- The US imposed a "do not
travel " warning on Mexico on Thursday in light of the surge in coronavirus cases.
In a classic of the auto-translate glitch genre, Mexico's official tourism website hilariously mistranslated the country's most popular spots from Spanish to English on Friday.
On VisitMexico.com, the upmarket beachside resort of Tulum became "Jumpsuit," the area of Aculco became "I Blame," and the city of Ciudad Madero became "Log."
The errors, first picked up by the news site Latin US, prompted Mexico's former President Felipe Calderón to tweet "Stop making Mexico look ridiculous!" to his 5.7 million followers.
Some of the Spanish to English translations, while amusing, were, however, entirely accurate.
Villa del Carbón became "Coal Village," Progreso became "Progress," and Puerto Escondido was changed to "Hidden Port."
The site was down as of 5 a.m. ET on Saturday, but the gaffe is the latest in a string of embarrassing episodes for the tourism industry.
On Thursday, the resort of Acapulco hastily removed a promotional video that showed people partying without masks on with the slogans "anything goes" and "there are no rules," according to The Associated Press (AP.)
The same day, the US — the country worst hit by the pandemic — imposed its highest travel warning on Mexico, in light of the surge in coronavirus cases, issuing a "do not travel" notice to Americans on Thursday.
On July 24, the VisitMexico.com website went down, amid allegations claiming it happened because Mexico's Tourism department authority did not pay its bills.
The department apologized for the string of mistranslations, in a statement.
"The Tourism Department expresses its most sincere apologies to the public and users for the effects that have occurred on the website VisitMexico," the statement, carried by the AP, said.
The department then suggested that the glitches could have been done intentionally.
"We make it known that these acts aim to damage the image of the website and the department, and so therefore a criminal complaint has been filed and appropriate legal actions will be taken against those responsible."