Community heritage activation and sustainable tourism: the case of Etzatlán, Jalisco

Abstract

Tourism has become a possibility for many small Mexican municipalities to keep their communities alive and offer new job opportunities to their population, in the face of changing productive systems and lifestyles. In the case of Etzatlán, Jalisco, this possibility has been explored by different administrations, without success so far. In 2019, a participatory project was proposed to the local authorities to generate a model of sustainable and supportive tourism. This model was to meet two criteria: the role of the tourist in the decision-making process and the mechanisms to redistribute the possible earnings generated by their arrival. From an ethnographic map of potential biocultural heritages, proposals were forwarded to the local community for them to consider. In this paper we present the methodology and the main results of these strategics in local government and planning, as well as the restrictions. The article finishes with a reflection on the possibilities of replicating this methodology in other communities and the role that horizontal methodologies could play to greater success with the objectives set by the populations themselves.