Cancun Tourism - Case Study Example

Cancun Report Introduction The concept of sustainable tourism is embedded at the heart of global tourism initiatives. According to natural scientists, sustainability is the “capacity of healthy ecosystems to function indefinitely” (Unruh 2008). In view of the growing concerns about global warming and climate change, many countries around the world are trying to develop niche strategic infrastructures to address tourism in a sustainable manner. The challenge is not just about formulating ideas, but also to implement them with positive, long-term implications (WTO and UNEP 2008). Considering the intricacies and uncertainties of tourism’s impact on a particular region, it is somewhat difficult to make all-inclusive policies that would address the qualitative aspects grounded on a region’s future prospects in terms of its natural, cultural and social resources (Agarwal and Shaw 2007: 273). Countries in the Caribbean Islands and Central America attract a major portion of the global tourism enthusiasts courtesy of their flora and fauna, ethnic heritage and cosmopolitan demographics (10th Ed 2002 2002: 573). There are numerous external factors that often determine the outcome of tourism business worldwide and also shape the governing policies of various controlling bodies, both from public as well as private sectors. Just as the world economy and international security policies have undergone a remarkable transition after 9/11, so has the 2004 Asian tsunami left a telling impact on the generic worldview on tourism. Following the cataclysmic event in 2004 it was realised that coastal regions are particularly susceptible to social and ecological changes. Environmental governance system in popular tourism destinations positioned in coastal territories needs to be aligned with proactive and visionary measures pertaining to a number of social, economic and ecological factors (Adger et al. 2005). Moreover, biologically diverse regions should always be tendered adequate auxiliary supports to sustain the growth of organisms. Since natural resources play a crucial role in promoting tourism along coastal and peninsular areas, it is imperative to focus on conserving the ecological treasures of such regions (Mowforth and Munt 2008: 311). It is also important to this effect that interests of the local communities, especially those living in poverty, should be given priority while building sustainable tourism infrastructures (UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2009). The government in particular has a crucial role to play in ensuring that tourism actively contributes to scale down poverty (Ashley 2006). From human resource perspectives too it is not possible to disengage the population from welfare means and practices (Kandari and Chandra 2004: 252). Successful implementation of such practices involves huge financial investments and manpower usage (Page and Connell 2006). Moreover, the local residents of a given area get the opportunity of employment during the building phases (Ashley et al. 2001: 14, Fennell 2006: 162, Lew et al. 2008: 174, Miller and Twining-Ward 2005: 32, and Narasaiah 2006: 24). It acts like an incentive for the inmates to be able to contribute to the development of their habitat. This report is going to deal with the strategic and functional aspects of tourism development in Cancun, one of the popular tourist destinations in Mexico. Background Research As a distinguished seat of the ancient Mayan culture, Cancun features prominently in the list of Mexican tourist resorts. A perfect blend of history and modernism dominates the city’s lifestyle and tourism initiatives (Cruz 1996: 145). Traces of the pre-Columbian Maya civilisation are dispersed across Cancun, particularly in places like Chichen Itza, Coba and Tulum (Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau n. d., and Ferguson and Adams 2001: 208). The futuristic vision of developing mass tourism in Cancun has been materialised to some extent by connecting sites in the Mexican-Caribbean region through the Mayan Route (Central American Recovery and Development Task Force et al. 1989: 131). Utilising the heritage of the place as the main transport framework is quite an innovative approach both from economic as well as cultural perspectives. What it also does is outline a macroscopic design which can cope with possible changes in consumer psychologies (Smith and Eadington 1992: 159). There is a mass market concept to be taken into account in this regard, as alternative tourism has been flourishing steadily in the city (Duval 2004: 239). If one looks into the history of tourism development on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, it would be clear that progressive measures to turn Cancun into a major resort were espoused in 1970. It was in 1967 when the Mexican government first recognised the hefty potential for economic growth through tourism development in the city. In fact developmental policies were adopted during the tenure of President Miguel Aleman whose administration focused on building an integrated transport network consisting of railways, roadways and airlines to facilitate seamless connectivity from the eastern coast bordered by the Caribbean Sea. Outlines of these transport policies were drawn in view of the US visitors. Basically the US government extended economic aids to its Mexican counterpart for setting up the required infrastructures in Cancun (Stacy 2002: 128), along with financial supports provided by private enterprises (Stacy 2002: 128, and Shaw and Williams 2004: 228). Once populated by the Mayan fishermen (Rider 2005: 117), Cancun has now come up the ladder by leap and bounds as the most sought after holidaying spot in Mexico (Bloom 2006: 59). Beautiful beaches, great dining and lodging facilities and numerous places of historical interest attract nearly 2.5 million tourists every year (Sterner 2003: 424), generating $8 billion dollars (Stacy 2002: 128). This empirical evidence, when contrasted with the fact that Cancun hosted 1.2 million global travellers until 1992 (Huffadine 1999: 65), goes to show the vertical leap in numbers. The way tourism is viewed at administrative levels is very well illustrated in the mapping of the resort (Veilleux and Baird 2007: 42). Isla Cancun or Cancun Island lying on the coastal areas is built to serve the visitors’ epicurean and hedonistic fantasies. Also known as Zona Hotelera or Hotel Zone, this part is separated from the mainland by two connectors – one at the northern tip of the island and another at the southern tip. The main city, however, is positioned inland with all the modern facilities and amenities. This part, known as Ciudad Cancun or Cancun City, houses the residential and public buildings. Since the international airport is located inland, tourists are advised to put up here for gaining convenient access to a number of facilities such as restaurants, shops, budget hotels, medical and banking services and more (Baird and Cristiano 2007: 78). The Americanisation of Cancun and to that extent, Mexico has always been one of the nodal points related to cross-cultural dissemination of entertainment values. Ideally, this should not have been the case because Cancun’s forte lies primarily in its heritage and not in its modernistic façades. Yet the well-trimmed golf courses, lavishly appointed hotels and the blazing shopping malls somehow remind the visitors of the typical American influence on the provisioning of tourism in Cancun. It is reflected in the luxuriously appointed resorts and hotels, not to mention the nightclubs and pubs (Bloom 2006: 62). However, qualitative research on the development of mass tourism in Cancun makes a paradigmatic shift from the concept of Americanisation because of the pro-poor means Cancun administration should be taking to genuinely address the issue of sustainable tourism in its entirety. Several factors such as organisational capacity and proportionate distribution of revenues among the developmental sectors are responsible for propagating pro-poor tourism in developing countries. The important answer sought in similar initiatives is how far the primordial people and resources are benefitted when the tourism industry grows exponentially (Overseas Development Institute n. d.). Social Sustainability & Tourism The possibility of carving a niche sustainable base for the Yucatan Peninsula can be realised fully from societal angles. But what does social sustainability mean? Buckley et al. (2003) argue that voluminous inflow of tourists no longer has a detrimental effect on the natural surrounding in small islands and coastal locales. This is underscored by tons of empirical evidences that directly connect social indicators to the promotion, practice and outcomes of tourism (12). For instance, the hotel industries in various high-value destinations have adopted renewable measures aligned with upholding the natural cycle of resources. But a careful examination may still give lead us to believe that a lot is left to be researched in this regard, especially as sustainable means are yet to be defined distinctly. McCool and Moisey (2001) enlist 5 important parameters of social sustainability and how it pertains to tourism: 1. The meaning of sustainable tourism – there are several such meanings, which ones are used suggest not only world-views but also have implications for other issues. 2. Integration with the larger economy and linkage with scale of consideration – planners, academics and advocates are increasingly concerned with how tourism development fits in with broader social and economic development goals. 3. The search for indicators – how do we know if sustainable tourism in indeed sustainable without a set of measurable variables that indicate progress? 4. Planning and implementation – sustainable tourism does not just happen, it occurs only with explicit decision-making processes that consider what futures are plausible and desirable and the pathways to them. 5. Forms and knowledge and public participation – achieving sustainable tourism will require a variety of individuals, agencies and programmes, each using different forms of knowledge and each involving those affected by decisions (3). Now in the light of the above factors it is quite conspicuous that building a socially sustainable tourism infrastructure calls for synthesized approach embracing all possible indicators and determinants across different offshoots of management. Weaver (2006) shares similar opinions about sustainability indices that can churn out crucial information related to the nature of tourism (89). When it comes to devising environmental and social sustainability policies, it is a sine qua non that authorities should be evaluating sustainability performance indicators on a regular basis. Moreover, different territories have different sets of environmental regulations. So the onus lies on policymakers to comply with valid legislative provisions that are entailed to sustainability-related issues. Additionally, they should be promoting the causes of local people as much as possible in order to encourage localised products and services, thus creating a social harmony (Harris et al. 2002: 2005). Environmental issues are very closely associated with the practical approach of sustainable tourism. The already endangered state of ecotourism calls for emphatic revisions of prevailing practices and effectuation of probable recuperative measures simultaneously on the part of governing bodies, agencies and visitors (Pfister and Tierney 2008: 182). In order to facilitate such actions, concerned authorities, as Bramwell and Lane (2000) argue, should espouse collaborative means to develop tourism policies (3). What is required for research is contextual analysis of a number of social factors, including mass receptivity of tourism, economic capacities of the local people, traditional practices and their normative patterns, prevalence of eco-labelling and so on. Economic Sustainability & Tourism The rigorously competitive market of modern day tourism demands a constant monitoring of various economic slides. The basic challenge here is to define the altering concepts of economy in specific contexts. For instance, the economic status of a city like Los Angeles is bound to differ from that of Tenerife. Some regions tend to undergo rapid transitions in terms of economic and related developments. Decentralisation of power at the top levels of government often propels such brisk changes as stakeholders do not feel crippled to invest more under such systems. Multiplicity of political interferences only acts as an impediment to seamless growth of tourism (McCool and Moisey 2001). As far as coastal tourism is concerned, the sustainable factors are very much included in the geographic features. To illustrate furthermore, renewal of natural waste materials becomes significantly easier with big water bodies in the vicinity of a seaside tourist resort. Similarly, hotels and other lodging venues can operate in tandem with local sewage removal administration to get rid of the regular dumps. But this part of action plan is only feasible as long as other economic factors are paid due importance. Mowforth and Munt (1998) argue that economic sustainability conveys the simplified notion of profit. They suggest a dichotomy of purposes for substantiating their argument. Theoretically, profit may be generated from economic practices “either to cover the cost of any special measures taken to cater for the tourist and to mitigate the effects of the tourist’s presence or to offer an income appropriate to the inconvenience caused to the local community visited – without violating any of the other conditions – or both” (111). As is clear from this claim, economic sustainability is quite self-sustaining in the etymological sense of the term. However, Phillimore and Goodson (2004) purport another viewpoint which radically overrules the argument propounded by Mowforth and Munt. Whereas the former authors view economic sustainability to be a potent indicator of sustainable tourism, the latter entail a weak link to it, stressing more on ecological and human resource aspects (313). But in the purview of this discussion, it won’t be justifiable to entirely discard the economic sustainability factor, as it would have a methodological bearing later in the paper. Another very significant aspect of economic sustainability is how this factor contributes to the organic development of tourism, especially in places such as Cancun. Duval partly agrees with the argument made by Mowforth and Munt and further analyses that the working principles behind economic sustainability are more farsighted than other modes of sustainability. On one hand, forging a concrete action plan to generate more revenues helps in the long run by ensuring uninterrupted tourist inflow. On the other hand, it is analogous to keeping the tourism industry vibrant in the peak seasons so that the economy of the nation can capitalise on the opportunities (Duval 2004: 74). In case of the Caribbean Islands, it is particularly important to consider the role of economic activities. The competitive nature of the tourism sector in the Caribbean is an important consideration in this regard. Moreover, shipment and importation charges are higher in coastal and island regions, compared to the same charges inland. So in order to optimise revenues, production and other service charges need to be scaled up, which, in turn, does not often augur well for the tourism industry as a whole (Tewarie 2002). The same applies for resorts in Cancun as well. Environmental Sustainability & Tourism Deemed a topic of increasing academic interests (Butler 2006: 80), literature on environmental sustainability and its bearing on tourism primarily deal with environmental management studies and developing awareness among the local communities (Scott and Gough 2003, and Swarbrooke 1999). It goes without saying that inbound tourists are generally well aware of the sustainable practices that are required to be adhered to. It is the local communities who need to be educated thoroughly. But there is a risk of financial as well as political subversion, depending on the ‘inherently limited knowledge’ of threshold capacities and ‘irreducible uncertainty’ about the prospects of profitable returns (Coccossis and Mexa 2004: 21). Coming back to the grooming of the local communities, the most challenging task for the authorities is to compensate for the losses incurred upon them due to land acquisition, temporary joblessness and other reasons (López and Toman 2006). It might be noted that most of these reasons are implicitly linked with social and economic dimensions. Since Cancun boasts of a longstanding heritage, the ordeal is even more perilous because of the region’s intrinsic culture. McKercher and Cros (2002) argue: Issues such as (…) the misappropriation of cultural assets for profit, and abuse from inappropriate use in tourism promotion, development (…) are a concern for most indigenous groups. Intangible heritage particularly in the form of oral culture and local knowledge, is becoming increasingly important in the environmental management side of sustainable development (98). This cultural dimension can be held as a subset of environmental factors. In broader sense, sustainable tourism development focuses on retaining environmental balances (Noble et al. 1999: 198) and ecological equilibrium to their untainted forms. Cancun is renowned for its tantalising marine resources and other landscapes (Sterner 2003: 424, and Buckley 2004). Another important goal of environmental sustainability is implementing plans on a long-term basis (Butler 2006: 80). Since the natural world takes its own time to settle into a stable state, it is just as difficult to tamper with natural resources as it is to bring back the natural order, if disturbed. So in order to have a well defined objective that would ensure environmental sustainability, it is imperative to undertake integrated research initiatives covering multidisciplinary fields of enquiries ranging from social, ethnic and economic studies on a regular basis (Ritchie and Crouch 2003: 49). As mentioned earlier, environmental contexts are changeable with time and other factors. So the 1995 WTO guidelines on measuring the impact of environment on tourism are considered very important in the policymaking for environmental sustainability (Baud-Bovy and Lawson 1998, Holden 2000, Lennon 2003, and Lubbe 2005). Tourism Industry in Cancun The tourism industry in Cancun operates under a framework inclusive of regional, national and international controllers and variants. Cancun first appeared on the global tourism map in 1967 when the Yucatan Peninsula was brought under the Federal Program for Tourist Development. The basic idea was to beef up the economy of Mexico and that of its fringes. The coastal location of Cancun was the chief selling point in the promotional campaigns. The area, apart from its Mayan heritage, has magnificent white sand beaches and coral reefs, and most importantly, cost-effective human labours. Additionally, Cancun is also blessed with congenial climatic conditions for resort vacations to thrive. Leisure and adventure activities such as snorkeling and diving are encouraged in places like Isla Mujeres and Cozumel (Wong 1993: 55). Moreover, the eastern and southern parts of the United States of America are not very far away from this part of the world. The ensuing growth of tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula is quite staggering. From a paltry number of 600 people inhabiting Cancun in the 1960s, today it has become one of the pioneering resorts in the country, pulling in 25-28% of visitors touring Mexico. But what is relevant to the regional developmental framework is the fact that Cancun, a leading international gateway, also attracts migrants from other parts of Mexico. Statistical analyses reveal that cost of tourism development in the Quintana Roo area has grown exponentially from $337 million in 1986 to $2464 million in 1999, a figure which has only been surmounted by the Dominican Republic. As for domestic travelling, Cancun enjoyed a steady inflow of visitors from other parts of Mexico too. The year 1999 witnessed a rush of Mexican vacationers estimating up to 26% (Pugh et al. 2003: 157). Considering the blending of domestic and international visitors in Cancun, it is worth observing that this region is delimited by a Fordist stature. In an age of globalisation where production and consumption of goods and services are diffused among a broad demographic quarter, there is no justification to throw a uni-dimensional insight into the nature of business in a given locale. Hence, the necessary shift in perspective from regional parameters and outcomes to more global ones has been purported by eminent scholars like Rebecca Torres. She argues that tourism in Cancun in recent past has been more akin to a post-Fordist model, courtesy of the region’s mass tourism practices (Torres 2002). Similar viewpoints are also shared by Hoffman et al. (2003: 193), Prideaux (2009: 183), Lew et al. (2004: 104) and Duval (2004: 239). What the Fordist point of view underscores is that developmental procedures need to be taken in tandem with pro-poor means. As discussed earlier, the availability of cheap labour forces acted as a catalyst for the initial growth of tourism in Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula. But with the emergence of mass tourism that expedited the process of internationalisation of an otherwise regional tourism framework, it is imperative that the local people living under poverty lines should be incorporated in the developmental programmes as well. 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