Tourism Geographies 4(3), 2002, 255–260 1 2 Commentary: geographical research 3 4 on tourism in Mexico 5 6 7 8 9 Klaus J. Meyer-Arendt 10 Department of Environmental Studies, University of West Florida, USA 11 12 13 14 The level of geographical research on tourism in Mexico is high and has 15 been for many years. In a recent synopsis of tourism geography research 16 in Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico was identied as the leading 17 country in the region in terms of the volume of tourism geography publi- 18 cations produced, as well as theses and dissertations (Meyer-Arendt 2002). 19 At least two major reasons account for this: (1) Mexico is close and easily 20 accessible for North American researchers, and (2) geography as a disci- 21 pline is quite healthy in Mexico, and a small contingent of tourism geog- 22 raphers has developed considerable research attention on the major tourist 23 destinations there. 24 Proximity has been a large factor in the popularity of Mexico as a 25 destination for eld research by American and Canadian geographers, 26 especially since the early years of Carl Sauer’s ‘Berkeley school’. While 27 the Berkeley cultural geographers studiously avoided areas impacted by 28 tourism, geographers today are increasingly receptive to understanding the 29 role of tourism – at traditional tourist destinations, at newly created 30 touristic growth poles, and in isolated regions that may have ethnic 31 or wilderness appeal to alternative tourists. Some North American geog- 32 raphers have investigated tourism topics along the US–Mexico border, 33 whereas others venture further and deeper into the interior for their 34 tourism research. Mexico has been a popular venue for thesis and disser- 35 tation research for students at American and Canadian universities, and 36 tourism geography has been well represented among these (Meyer-Arendt 37 2000; Meyer-Arendt & Justice 2002). On average, one thesis or disser- 38 tation on tourism geography is written every year in a North American 39 or Mexican university. 40 41 1142 Tourism Geographies ISSN 1461–6688 print/ISSN 1470-1340 online © 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd 43 http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals 44 DOI: 10.1080/14616680210147418 256 Meyer-Arendt 111 Geography has been, and continues to be, a strong eld of study in 2 Mexico. There are perhaps 700 professional geographers in Mexico, and 3 many belong to various organizations such as the Academia de Geografía, 4 under the umbrella of the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística. 5 A national congress of geographers, held in Mérida, Yucatán in June 2001, 6 attracted nearly 500 registrants (including students). A Latin America- 7 wide geography convention (the 9th Encuentro de Geógrafos de América 8 Latina), to be held in Mérida in April 2003, is anticipating 600 regis- 9 trants. And while tourism geographers comprise but a small percentage 10 of Mexican geographers, they none the less produce a signicant volume 11 of research – primarily on domestic topics. The Institute of Geography at 12 the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is an especially 13 important generator of tourism research. Unfortunately not much of the 14 Mexican tourism research makes its way into international journals but 15 is instead published in a variety of domestic (Mexican) or Spanish and 16 other Latin American outlets. 17 To investigate geographical research on tourism in Mexico, many bibli- 18 ographical sources were consulted. Requests were also made via email 19 distribution lists, including CLAGNET (Conference of Latin Americanist 20 Geographers) and TOURISMGEOGRAPHY (International Geographical 21 Union’s Tourism Study Group). Many responses were received, with the 22 most valuable from Dr Álvaro Sánchez Crispín of the Academia de 23 Geografía (a member of the International Geographical Union’s Tourism 24 Study Group) and Prof. M. René Baretje of the Centre International de 25 Recherches et d’Etudes Touristiques (CIRET) in Aix en Provence, France, 26 both of whom provided many hard-to-nd references. 27 The literature search yielded a total of 37 publications on tourism 28 research by geographers, including 11 theses and dissertations but 29 excluding the two articles in this issue of Tourism Geographies. (One 30 article – Barkin (1999) – was technically authored by an economist, but 31 it was a chapter in a geographical book and is therefore included herein.) 32 In terms of types of research, six categories were identied: descrip- 33 tive/general, spatial aspects, historical evolution, impact analyses, alter- 34 native tourism, and planning/management. 35 36 l Descriptive/general studies comprised overviews of tourism at various 37 scales. National-scale studies included an overview of scientic/cultural 38 tourism (Bassols 1990) and a typology of touristic counties (municí- 39 pios) (Propín & Sánchez-Crispín 1998). Regional-scale descriptive study 40 focused upon the Los Cabos corridor in Baja California Sur (López 41 2001) and attractions along the US–Mexico border (Arreola & Madsen 42 1999). 43 l The spatial theme encompassed studies of regional distributions of 1144 tourism, such as Mexico’s Caribbean region (Marchena Gomez & 256 Place: Tourism in Mexico – commentary 257 1 Velasco Martin 1993), touristic municípios of Mexico (De Sicilia & 2 López 1998), Los Cabos (Sánchez-Crispín et al. 1999), and the Mexican 3 Riviera (Sánchez-Crispín & Propín 1996; 2001). 4 l A research focus on historical evolution characterized various regional 5 articles, including those of Gulf Coast resorts (Meyer-Arendt 1990a; 6 1990b; 1993b), highland mining towns (Sánchez-Crispín et al. 1994), 7 and the archaeological site of Chichen-Itza, Yucatán (David 1996). 8 l Research into the impacts of tourism included studies of economic 9 impacts, social/cultural/political impacts, and environmental/physical 10 impacts. Economic development studies were mostly regional in scope, 11 focusing upon Baja California (Propín et al. 1998), Cozumel (Sánchez- 12 Crispín & Luna 2000), ecotourism in highland Mexico (Barkin 1999), 13 Ixtapa-Zihuantenejo (Bravo 1994), and the Mexican Riviera (Sánchez- 14 Crispín & Propín 2000). Social/cultural impact studies included research 15 on population and migration in Yucatán, Mexico (Machaj de Vargas 16 1993), prostitution in Mexican border towns (Curtis & Arreola 1991), 17 agriculture and tourism in Quintana Roo (Torres 2000), language in 18 Los Cabos (Hoffman 1992), and tourism and local populations in Baja 19 California (Young 2000). One study of political impacts addressed 20 tourism, urbanization and political power in Manzanillo (Bianchi 1990). 21 Environmental/physical impact studies concentrated upon coastal 22 environments, especially the Mexican Gulf Coast (Meyer-Arendt 1993a) 23 and Yucatán (Meyer-Arendt 1991, 2001; Savage 1993). One environ- 24 mental degradation case study addressed touristic urban growth in 25 Acapulco (Carrascal & Perez 1998). 26 l Alternative tourism research in Mexico may be divided into ecotourism, 27 sustainable tourism and national parks research. The only ecotourism 28 studies by geographers were conducted in Baja California (Pearson 29 1999; Young 1999). Research on sustainable tourism included one study 30 of Ixtapa-Zihuantenejo, Mexico (Brenner 1999). National parks 31 research focused upon archaeological tourism at Palenque National 32 Park (Lujan 1994) and human impacts in Ixtaccihuatl-Popocatepetl 33 National Park (Marzen 1997). 34 l Although publications on tourism planning and management in Mexico 35 may be found in the older literature, only one was found for the post- 36 1990 period: a geological inventory for tourism planning in Cancún, 37 Mexico (Cervantes Borja & Meza Sanchez 1993). 38 39 The two articles in this issue of Tourism Geographies, by Rebecca Torres 40 and David Truly respectively, are examples of the type of geographical 41 research on tourism conducted in Mexico in recent years. In her article, 42 ‘Toward a better understanding of tourism and agriculture linkages in the 43 Yucatan: tourist food consumption and preferences’, Rebecca Torres exam- 1114 ines food preferences of international and domestic tourism in the Yucatan 257 258 Meyer-Arendt 111 Peninsula to help assess the potential for local agricultural production. 2 She nds that tourists are, in fact, open to trying more of the local cuisine 3 than demanding only the diets of their homelands. David Truly, in his 4 article, ‘International retirement migration and tourism along the Lake 5 Chapala Riviera: developing a matrix of retirement migration behaviour’, 6 examines the changing touristic landscape of the American retirement 7 destination of Lake Chapala, near Guadalajara, and interweaves several 8 models of tourism development to explain such changes. His conceptual 9 matrix of retirement migration is one that warrants testing at other retire- 10 ment destinations. 11 Mexican tourism researchers have been increasingly productive in recent 12 years, and are more and more in attendance at international conferences. 13 Their contributions and perspectives are a most welcome addition to the 14 body of academic and applied literature on tourism development. As 15 tourism research in Mexico further matures, we are sure to see more of 16 their work in the pages of Tourism Geographies and other international 17 journals. 18 19 20 References 21 22 Arreola, D. D. and Madsen, K. 1999. Variability of tourist attractiveness along 23 an international boundary: Sonora, Mexico border towns. Visions in Leisure 24 and Business 17(4): 19–31. 25 Barkin, D. 1999. The economic impacts of ecotourism: Conicts and solutions in highland Mexico. In Tourism and Development in Mountain Areas, ed. P. M. 26 Godde, M. F. Price and F. M. Zimmermann, pp. 157–72. London: CAB 27 International. 28 Bassols, A. 1990. Regiones socioeconómicas y turismo cientíco-cultural. Revista 29 de Geografía 3(4). Aguascalientes, México, INEGI. 30 Bianchi, G. 1990. Turismo, urbanización y poder en Manzanillo. Carta Económica Regional 3(17): 33–8. 31 Bravo, C. 1994. La Política de Impulso Turístico en México: Ixtapa-Zihuantanejo 32 como Polo de Desarrollo Turístico.