4. Acapulco, Mexico
Until the last few years, Acapulco was associated with images of scantily clad co-eds, not decapitated bodies.
But when an image of a picturesque beach with a couple of bloody bodies in the foreground made the front pages in newspapers around the world – and 10 mutilated bodies were found in and around the resort city in a single weekend – the outside world recognized that this once prosperous tourist resort had fallen victim to the extreme, often sadistic drug violence that has plagued much of Mexico.
While tourism officials anxiously point out that most of the violence doesn't take place in cruise destinations, it's hard for them to be heard when they're competing with images of dismembered bodies.