IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i6p1760-d216596.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Private over Public Interests in Regional Tourism Governance: A Case Study in Costalegre, Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Marion Riensche

    (Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

  • Alicia Castillo

    (Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

  • Eduardo García-Frapolli

    (Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

  • Patricia Moreno-Casasola

    (Instituto de Ecología A.C., Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, Xalapa 91070, Mexico)

  • Carlos Tello-Díaz

    (Centro de Investigaciones sobre América Latina y el Caribe, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Torre II Humanidades, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico)

Abstract

Since the 1940s, the Costalegre, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, has been recognized as having a high potential for tourism. The aim of this paper is to understand tourism governance in a place where past and emergent luxury tourism co-exists with small-scale tourism in a largely rural and ecologically important landscape. We conducted in-depth interviews with 29 different stakeholders and administered a questionnaire survey to 27 tourist establishment owners and employees. We also held a workshop with 11 families from three rural communities and administered another questionnaire to a further 125 people from the same localities. Policy document analysis and participant observation completed the research. We found there to be strong discrepancies between the federal government’s legal framework for tourism development and local views and attributes for action. Owners and new investors in luxury tourism developments are well organized and have the economic and political power to obtain authorization for their projects, even in cases where the projects have received negative assessments from environmental scientists. We discuss how an ineffective local governance mode enables the wealthy part of the private sector to prevail, jeopardizing the construction of a regional strategy that is socially just and takes into account the needs of local residents.

Suggested Citation

  • Marion Riensche & Alicia Castillo & Eduardo García-Frapolli & Patricia Moreno-Casasola & Carlos Tello-Díaz, 2019. "Private over Public Interests in Regional Tourism Governance: A Case Study in Costalegre, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1760-:d:216596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1760/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1760/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vatn, Arild, 2018. "Environmental Governance – From Public to Private?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 170-177.
    2. Ludger Brenner & Hubert Job, 2012. "Challenges To Actor‐Oriented Environmental Governance: Examples From Three Mexican Biosphere Reserves," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19, February.
    3. W Neil Adger & Katrina Brown & Jenny Fairbrass & Andrew Jordan & Jouni Paavola & Sergio Rosendo & Gill Seyfang, 2003. "Governance for Sustainability: Towards a ‘Thick’ Analysis of Environmental Decisionmaking," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(6), pages 1095-1110, June.
    4. Dianne Dredge, 2015. "Tourism and Governance," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Gianna Moscardo & Pierre Benckendorff (ed.), Education for Sustainability in Tourism, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 75-90, Springer.
    5. Dredge, Dianne & Jamal, Tazim, 2015. "Progress in tourism planning and policy: A post-structural perspective on knowledge production," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 285-297.
    6. Wan, Yim King Penny & Bramwell, Bill, 2015. "Political economy and the emergence of a hybrid mode of governance of tourism planning," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 316-327.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shafinar Ismail & Mohammed `Izzudin Ismail & Putri Aliah Mohd Hidzir & Suharni Rahmat & Suzila Ismail, 2023. "Moderating Effect of WAQF for Tourism Sustainability in Malaysia: A Mixed-Method Approach," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(4), pages 16-30.
    2. Liu, Shidong & Geng, Yuhuan & Zhang, Jianjun & Kang, Xiufen & Shi, Xuelian & Zhang, Jie, 2021. "Ecological trap in tourism-urbanization: Simulating the stagnation and restoration of urbanization from the perspective of government incentives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    3. Natalia Restrepo & Salvador Anton Clavé, 2019. "Institutional Thickness and Regional Tourism Development: Lessons from Antioquia, Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-25, May.
    4. Francisco Antonio dos Anjos & James Kennell, 2019. "Tourism, Governance and Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-6, August.
    5. Shafinar Ismail & Mohammed Izzuddin Ismail & Putri Aliah Mohd Hidzir & Suzila Ismail, 2023. "WAQF and Tourism Industry Sustainability: Post-Pandemic COVID-19," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(3), pages 429-440.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kalyan Bhandari, 2019. "International development ideology and two tourism policies of Nepal," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(3), pages 558-576, May.
    2. Bhandari, Kalyan, 2019. "Tourism and the geopolitics of Buddhist heritage in Nepal," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 58-69.
    3. Keith B. Matthews & Ansel Renner & Kirsty L. Blackstock & Kerry A. Waylen & Dave G. Miller & Doug H. Wardell-Johnson & Alba Juarez-Bourke & Juan Cadillo-Benalcazar & Joep F. Schyns & Mario Giampietro, 2021. "Old Wine in New Bottles: Exploiting Data from the EU’s Farm Accountancy Data Network for Pan-EU Sustainability Assessments of Agricultural Production Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-26, September.
    4. Mariani, Marcello M. & Giorgio, Luisa, 2017. "The “Pink Night” festival revisited: Meta-events and the role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 89-109.
    5. Neil M. Dawson & Michael Mason & Janet A. Fisher & David Mujasi Mwayafu & Hari Dhungana & Heike Schroeder & Mark Zeitoun, 2018. "Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, May.
    6. Suno Wu, Jenny & Barbrook-Johnson, Pete & Font, Xavier, 2021. "Participatory complexity in tourism policy: Understanding sustainability programmes with participatory systems mapping," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Crabolu, Gloria & Font, Xavier & Eker, Sibel, 2023. "Evaluating policy complexity with Causal Loop Diagrams," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    8. Rose Ann A. Villarias & Kristin Iris G. Estores, 2021. "Resort Management Practices and Tourism Impacts of an Island Resort in Negros Occidental," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 23(1), pages 823-845, September.
    9. Tek B. Dangi & Tazim Jamal, 2016. "An Integrated Approach to “Sustainable Community-Based Tourism”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-32, May.
    10. Roos M. Den Uyl & Martin J. Wassen, 2013. "A Comparative Study of Strategies for Sustainable Development of Multifunctional Fen Landscapes: Signposts to Explore New Avenues," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 801-837, June.
    11. Navneel Shalendra Prasad & Nikeel Nishkar Kumar, 2022. "Resident Perceptions of Environment and Economic Impacts of Tourism in Fiji," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Nicholas A Cradock-Henry & Joanna Fountain & Franca Buelow, 2018. "Transformations for Resilient Rural Futures: The Case of Kaikōura, Aotearoa-New Zealand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, June.
    13. Lin, Dan & Simmons, David, 2017. "Structured inter-network collaboration: Public participation in tourism planning in Southern China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 315-328.
    14. Andrea Yanes & Seweryn Zielinski & Marlenny Diaz Cano & Seong-il Kim, 2019. "Community-Based Tourism in Developing Countries: A Framework for Policy Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, April.
    15. Songtao Xu & Zhifang Zhou & Ke Liu, 2020. "Multi-Evolutionary Game Research on Heavy Metal Pollution Control in Soil: Based on a Third-Party Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-20, June.
    16. Blackstock, K.L. & Novo, P. & Byg, A. & Creaney, R. & Juarez Bourke, A. & Maxwell, J.L. & Tindale, S.J. & Waylen, K.A., 2021. "Policy instruments for environmental public goods: Interdependencies and hybridity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    17. Qianwen Wu & Qiangqiang Wang & Yongwu Dai, 2023. "Analysis of Strategy Selection in Third-Party Governance of Rural Environmental Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    18. Diana Kvasnová & Tomáš Gajdošík & Vanda Maráková, 2019. "Are Partnerships Enhancing Tourism Destination Competitiveness?," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 67(3), pages 811-821.
    19. Calidon Costa Conceição & Francisco Antonio Dos Anjos & Sara Joana Gadotti dos Anjos, 2019. "Power Relationship in the Governance of Regional Tourism Organizations in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Gwenole Le Velly & Céline Dutilly Diane & Driss Ezzine de Blas & Chloë Fernandez, 2015. "PES as Compensation ? Redistribution of Payments for Forest Conservation in Mexican Common Forests," Working Papers halshs-01226800, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1760-:d:216596. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.