Ana Piña is a tour guide from Tekit, Yucatán, who discovered her calling through a dream she had since childhood: tourism that brings people together despite their differences, directly benefiting her community. Just like with firewood and fire in traditional cuisine, with caution.
The most recent data from INEGI (2020) estimated that tourism contributed over 6% to the total GDP of the Mexican economy, with 90% of tourist production attributed to services. While it is understandable that hotels and other accommodation services generate the highest income from this activity, the second-highest profits came from excursions and travel agency packages, followed by nightclubs, bars, and taverns. This trend presents an opportunity to reshape dynamics towards sustainable and equitable development through cultural revaluation.
Community tourism involves visitors participating in the daily life activities of the local population, with the goal of exchanging experiences, knowledge, and cultures. It also engages more people than mainstream models, promoting a direct, redistributive, and circular economy. Therefore, the benefits are primarily collective.
Despite her doubts and fears stemming from a lack of formal education and confidence in her technology skills, Ana took a course years ago and discovered community tourism. She persevered and embarked on a journey of learning that continues as she welcomes tourists into her home and community.
Ana opens her heart and shares that she did not initially appreciate rural life, for instance, having farm animals at home like chickens, pigs, and bees, or her father's agricultural work. However, she explains that her horizons expanded thanks to community tourism.
The Yucatecan tourist guide also mentions that she has reconnected with her ancestral culture, recognizing that her community is Maya, which she shares with those who visit Tekit and take the tours and experiences offered by the Yaax Tekit cooperative, which is a member. She also explains that the benefits of these activities reach up to fifty families, some of whom do not have any other source of income.
Most of the groups received by Yaax Tekit are foreigners, with French tourists being the participants in Ana's tourism experiences. She believes this is because it is often more challenging to appreciate more familiar cultures, for instance, between one state and another in Mexico or even between different municipalities. This reveals a profound challenge: a shift in the mindset and dynamics of national tourism.
Ana comments that national or local tourists often expect service and attention like that found in conventional leisure tourism and resorts. This exposes a clash of paradigms when compared to tourism based on collaboration in daily activities. For example, it entails not only integrating with host families but also participating in meal preparation, harvesting work, or setting the table.
Mexicans sometimes do not visit nearby places because they think it's the same as what we have in our own area, but we are different in terms of dishes, clothing, language, [...] If we give ourselves that space to learn about other cultures and other ways of seeing life, we will become better every day because we will connect in different ways.
Ana will bring this perspective on tourism as a Model Experience to the Capacity Enhancement Program for Community Tourism in Yucatán, coordinated by UNESCO, the Union of Community Tourism Cooperatives Co'ox Mayab, Airbnb, and the Tourism Promotion Secretariat of the State of Yucatán (SEFOTUR).
The project's aim is to promote tours and tourist activities within a rural and community-based framework, involving communities that are already implementing them in Yucatán municipalities. While the starting point is to strengthen their exposure and reach through Airbnb's global platform, the goal is to enhance the competitiveness of local initiatives in a durable manner, utilizing several tools, strategies and partnership networks.
Financial and business proposals will be provided and collectively constructed to use technologies such as social media and marketing tools. Additionally, the project will focus on valuing and promoting cultural heritage, both material and immaterial. The goal is that communities improve and share strategies among themselves, so they can compete equitably in the current and future tourism sector, preventing the risks associated with conventional or mass tourism.
Ana recalls an analogy from her grandparents to emphasize that tourism is like firewood and the fire itself: necessary for cooking but requiring proper management to prevent a conflagration. Thus, she emphasizes the need to manage visitor flow and mitigate the negative impacts of mass tourism, which demands ongoing training and analysis, a focus also addressed by UNESCO's project.
With mass tourism, we risk losing the essence of the connection with the people who visit us, including the warmth of hospitality and service.
The tourist experience offered by Ana Piña is a gastronomic tour that begins at her home. Visitors then travel by motorbike taxi to a mill and the local market, where they purchase ingredients to prepare typical dishes of Tekit. The Yaax Tekit is also a member of Co'ox Mayab Cooperative Union and offers activities such as visits to a traditional bakery, where visitors can bake bread while learning about the history of the family business, as well as engage in embroidery and beekeeping activities, among other experiences.
