Image courtesy of Thinkstock/Daniel Villeneuve

The Pacific coast town of Acapulco is too unsafe as a travel destination, according to the U.S. embassy in Mexico, the Associated Press reports.

Embassy personnel “have been instructed to defer non-essential travel to Acapulco, by air or land," and added that it "cautions U.S. citizens to follow the same guidelines."

The latest round of protests are related to the disappearance of 43 students in the nearby Iguala, thought by the demonstrators to be murdered by a local drug gang working with local police. The protesters have blocked roads leading to Acapulco, hijacked buses, and focused their rage at the airport, wielding clubs, machetes, and gasoline bombs.

This has wreaked havoc on hotel occupancy rates. Javier Saldivar, head of Acapulco's business chamber declared, “we have suffered a serious loss,” as hotels normally at around 95 percent, are at 60 percent. Cruise line numbers have seen a drastic drop as well. Cozumel, Mexico’s most popular port, accommodated 894 cruise ships in 2013, while Acapulco saw only 9.