For many Americans and even Canadians, Mexico is the escape from their frigid winter climates, it is a place they can find year-round beauty and warmth. While we get to experience a fun-filled week of all you can eat and drink stays on the powdery white beaches of Cancun or the rocky bluffs of Puerto Vallarta there are natives that are hard at work striving to make our stays as relaxing and exciting as possible to persuade us to return frequently. Since it is our holiday, we do not always recognize the amount of work that is going into making our stays so luxurious. The consistent coastal tourism in Mexico has been one of the fastest growing industries and has drastically boosted the local economies that are home to tourism.
Tourist attraction to Mexico has created long-term benefits to not only the local economies but has sprawled to industries that are present in less touristic locations, ultimately benefiting Mexico as a whole. Tourism has strong and direct impacts on the total employment and wages of Mexican citizens. Needless to say, coast tourism has been widely embraced, making it a very successful strategy for Mexico’s development.
Imagine you are at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, there are employees that take care of every single aspect of your stay… including whisking your children away for fun-filled activities so you can relax. There are countless jobs involved in making sure a resort runs smoothly and there are many Mexican citizens to thank for this. Are we to thank as well? By us escaping our drab day-to-day, we are employing hundreds of thousands of people all so we can have a relaxing four to seven-night break. “By 2014, Mexico received 29 million foreign visitors.” (Faber&Gaubert May 2018)
Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s tourism in Mexico really took off, today it has skyrocketed becoming a destination for many families and couples visiting once a year, or even a couple of times a year. Many Americans have even opted out of the traditional wedding and traded them in for destination weddings, Mexico being the top pick. It is no surprise that this type of deluxe travel comes at a cost and has been consistently pricey for decades. The cost is important because today, just one United States Dollar is equivalent to 20.36 Mexican Pesos. When we are spending a few hundred to a few thousand dollars of vacationing in Mexico, there are big gains to be made for the Mexican economy. Not to mention many foreigners are tipping staff in USD, equating to even more individual income.
For every 10% of local hotel revenue, there is a 2.5% increase in total employment and a 3.9% increase in local manufacturing. (Faber&Gaubert May 2018) Therefore, the high demand for resort or hotel reservations leads to an increase in revenue and ultimately an increase in the total employment of the Mexican population. Not only this, but the high demand for hotel resources has allowed Mexico to keep much of their goods produced in their country creating even more economic gain for the country. This also allows Mexico to save on import expenses that they would normally have to pay if they were to outsource for their hotel goods. This has lead to an increase in productivity improvements and greater access to local markets. This has positively impacted the local production GDP. The series of statics listed above have been a consistent pattern throughout coastal tourism in Mexico.
Although many think that tourism is just exploiting the natives it has actually done much of the opposite in Mexico. Tourism has opened many doors for Mexican citizens and has created countless jobs both in and outside of hotels and resorts. Mexican people that are employed by the tourism industry are often allowed a choice of where they become employed. More frequently than most would think, the employees are able to go abroad if they so desire to work in a different region. This could result in working for higher wages. This employment has been faithful to the Mexican citizens and is here to stay. There is no doubt that this industry will continue to grow and evolve as time goes on, according to the desires of their tourists.
It is important to highlight the positive impacts of inter-regional or local tourism and how that has been a result of the country’s development. This means that citizens are now in an economic place to be tourists in their own countries and enjoy the bounties that their nation holds. When local tourists are investing in the in the attractiveness of their own country, this allows their money to be redistributed in the local economy. Having locals invest in their economy aids in the development of infrastructure and further the promotion of both local and foreign tourism.
Tourism expands through the development and restoration of buildings, implementing new attractions such as museums and improves transportation routes. Improving road transportation is something we have seen in various cases being one of the primary indicators of development; improving airport accessibility is another way to attract tourists and create a sense of ease in their travels. The improvement of roads and airports ties into the central circulation of ‘Hotel Zones’ and makes travel time much shorter from the time the tourists touch down in their destination to the time they will arrive at their hotel or resort. Infrastructure improvement has been a key to the development of Mexico.
Mexico has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, and there are three main parts to it: “the roughly 9500 km of Mexican coastline” (Faber&Gaubert May 2018) that is in possession of many sandy white beaches, the islands just off the shore of the country that are known for great snorkeling, as well as the ancient native ruins that take tourists back in time. There are many other developing nations that have capitalized on tourism and have been able to make improvements to their economies, such as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and many more.
Although tourism has been a successful vessel of development for some countries; not all are equipped with the same white sandy beaches, interesting history, or even amazing food. Despite tourism being a great solution for development in Mexico, especially for coastal communities, that does not mean other countries will reap the same benefits. With that being said, tourism is a great option for development for countries that have some sort of tropical quality. It is no secret that those who are wealthy enough to travel, will never stop seeking a holiday in a beautiful setting with a warm climate. Overall, Mexico has done very well with using tourism as a tool for coastal development and has had consistently positive results for their economy. Especially the local economies of the coastal communities.
