The newest list of North and Latin America travel hotspots is in -- and it seems Mexico City tops the charts.

According to the folks over at Cheapflights.com, Mexico City experienced a 58 percent increase in tourists in 2009 over 2008-- making it the fastest-growing travel destination. Other up-and-coming Latin American destinations include
Mariachi capital Guadalajara, Mexico (really?); cheap travel destination San Jose, Costa Rica; and Guatemala City, Guatemala, which filled out the remaining top four spots.

Los Angeles, CA; San Jose, CA; and Syracuse, NY experienced a zero increase in tourist visits, while around 80 cities, including Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA and Washington, D.C., all saw a decrease in visits. The increase in foreign travel and decrease in domestic U.S. vacation getaways could speak to an increase in overall travel spending.

One surprise on the list? Despite a ubiquitous marketing campaign, Las Vegas saw a whopping -19 percent downturn in visitors in 2009. Perhaps what happens in Vegas ... has lost its thrill for travelers.

[Photo by Flickr user gripso_banana_prune ]

Former guests at a Michigan hotel got a nasty surprise on their credit card statements this month. Around 150 guests at the Doherty Hotel and Convention Center in Clare, Michigan, found fraudulent charges on their credit card statements after staying at the hotel. Victims' average fraudulent charges were around $2,500.

Authorities say they're not sure whether the hotel's system had been hacked or whether the cards were accessed by a criminal employee, but the hotel is cooperating with the investigation. This isn't the first time a hotel has been targeted: LA's Westin Bonaventure and the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, have both experienced similar crimes.

According to credit experts, hotel guests are at particularly high risk for identity theft, and travelers are encouraged to be extra vigilant when checking credit card statements while traveling and after.

[photo by Flickr user Andres Rueda]

Bad news for those of you planning on renting an apartment for your next trip to San Francisco: it's illegal. It seems the city's long forgotten ordinance against residents renting out their apartments to tourists has of late been reinforced. The 1981 ordinance prohibits landlords from renting out to a tenant for a period of less than 30 days.

Why would San Fran care if landlords rent their apartments out as vacation rentals? Well, the city argues, the vacay rental market takes valuable housing off the rental market, making it more difficult for people to find affordable places to live. A recent survey of one of the city's largest vacation rental services found around 500 properties available.

San Francisco's enforcement of the vacation rental policy mirrors a decision earlier this year from New York state governor David Paterson to ban short-term vacation rentals in New York, and could signal the beginning of an anti-vacation rental legislative trend. And that could have a big impact on vacation rental industry companies like HomeAway and VRBO.

Tourists have gravitated to the vacation rental market in recent years in part because it's more economical than staying a hotel: Prices are typically around half as much as hotels -- and with added living amenities like kitchens and living spaces.

[photo by Flickr user permanently scatterbrained]

Irate JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater has gone from controversial hero to marketing tool, thanks to a new campaign from JetBlue competitors Spirit Airlines. Their new promotion advises, "don't be blue, slide down to low fares with our $35 coupon."

This isn't he first time Spirit's done some cheeky advertising: In 2007 they held a "MILF" sale -- claiming the acronym stood for "Many Islands Low Fares." Sure. And more recently, they attempted to capitalize on the BP oil spill with a campaign encouraging people to "Check out the oil on our beaches." Blech.

While a $35 coupon isn't really enough for us to travel on Spirit Airlines, it could spell good things for Steven Slater. After all, we know that Mr. Slater wants his old job back, but perhaps he should give Spirit a ring.

Where was this photo taken: Condesa neighborhood, Mexico City

Where do you live now: Brooklyn, New York

Scariest airline flown: I'm of the opinion that flying is part of the travel experience -- not just a means to an end. I find flying to be exciting and glamorous and do my best to elevate the experience however I can.

I'm lucky to never have had a truly bad flying experience. That said, my scariest flying experience was the flight I took to sky dive in New Zealand (with fellow Gadling blogger Mike Barish). Nothing is more frightening than taking off in a plane you KNOW you won't be landing in.

How did you get started traveling?
I worked all through college and never had the time or money to travel. When I graduated, a boyfriend and I had lofty plans to head to Cuba via Mexico. But when we got to Mexico we fell in love with the place and couldn't leave.

This was during the historic 2000 Mexican election, and my travel partner and I decided to become international observers during the election. We were stationed in a small Zapatista village for two weeks in the remote mountains of Chiapas. So I went from no travel experience to roughing it pretty hardcore in a short amount of time.

Favorite city/country/place: Mexico City is magical to me. I love its wild energy and gritty charm -- and tacos. But it's really hard to pick just one place. I love the bike culture of Amsterdam, the quiet beauty of Croatia and the maniacal "Blade Runner"-ness of Tokyo.

Most remote corner of the globe visited: I went to Salta region of Argentina, which is the Andean Northwest of the country -- and traveled through the Quebrada de Cafayate. It's so remote that most people don't have cars -- and even the POLICE hitchhike to get in between towns.

Favorite guidebook series: For sheer aspirational living, I love the "Wallpaper" city guides. But for real down and dirty details, I tend to stick with "Lonely Planet."

Favorite foreign dish or restaurant? I love eating. I'm a strict vegetarian -- so eating while traveling can be challenging and sometimes boring, depending where you are (pro tip: Buenos Aires is a terrible place to be veg!)

A surprisingly fun place to eat -- Ljubljana, Slovenia. It continues to emerge as a travel destination -- and that means more and more varieties of ethnic food can be found there. I ate some really good Mexican in Ljubljana.

Favorite travel book
By far, my favorite travel book is Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari." It chronicles his overland journeys from Cairo to Capetown over a six month or so period. Theroux heads into deeply uncharted -- and in some cases -- unsafe territory in order to experience the wealth of culture and beauty Africa has to offer.

Traveler's resume -- where have you been? So far, I've been to around twenty countries on four continents. But I'm itching to travel even more. In the 70s, my dad traveled the Hippie Highway across Turkey and down to India through Iraq and Afghanistan. He's gone places most of us couldn't even think of traversing now, and I'd love to someday, somehow follow in his footsteps. Up first though: expanding my traveling repertoire to Africa -- the cave churches of Addis Ababa sound like a must-see and I'm dying to check out Botswana.