Land (Dec 2021)
Are Pueblos Mágicos Really Magic? Tourism Development Program in the Context of the Quality of Life of Town Residents
Abstract
Among the countless attractions awaiting tourists in Mexico are towns characterized by an exceptional atmosphere, which in conjunction with natural environmental attractions, leads one to believe that these places are magical. The promotion of tourism in Mexico rests on the principle of cultural and environmental diversity and includes a development program called Pueblos Mágicos. This program is designed to help expand small towns’ tourism offering and to create new jobs in the service sector that normally accompanies tourism. This growth in the employment level is supposed to produce a direct impact on the lives of members of the local community in terms of their standard of living and quality of life. The aim of the present paper is to examine the effects of the implementation of this program in a comprehensive manner. The viewpoint examined is that of the local population and its living conditions. Employment levels in towns designated Pueblos Mágicos are examined in the paper, as is the rate of business development. A comprehensive index is used in the study to analyze these issues. The index of exclusion in the study also varies from town to town—both statically and over time. The paper also examines a number of other studies that have focused on the benefits and downsides of this program. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of the introduction of the tourism development program Pueblos Mágicos (PPM) from the perspective of its impacts on the quality of life of the residents of the affected towns, based on statistical data such as job growth rates and marginalization, as well as a review of existing studies. Research has shown that the Pueblos Mágicos program has not substantially improved the quality of life of residents in Mexican towns designated Pueblos Mágicos. In fact, in some cases, the quality of life has, in some respects, declined over the course of the program’s functioning. However, it is conceivable that with a proper town vetting process the program may yet produce better results in terms of improvements in the quality of life of Pueblo Mágico town residents.
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