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National Strategy for Tourism in Mexico will have a cultural and community-based UNESCO perspective
UNESCO and the Secretariat of Tourism of the Mexican Government (SECTUR) established a new partnership to strengthen public policy on sustainable, cultural, and community-based tourism in the country by empowering and training local communities to be its main drivers and beneficiaries.
The participating states in the partnership will include Baja California Sur, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, and Puebla, establishing a milestone for the implementation of the National Community Tourism Plan in these territories, respectful to cultural and geographic diversity, and will include the development of the first National Guide to Community Tourism, which will highlight inspiring practices and replicable models from each territory, serving as a resource for both communities and decision-makers.
The agreement was established in the Tianguis Turístico Mexico, held in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, with the participation of Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Josefina Rodríguez Zamora. It was also signed by the Undersecretary of Tourism, Sebastián Ramírez Mendoza, the Representative of UNESCO in México, Andrés Morales, the governor of Morelos, Margarita González Saravia, and representatives of the participating state governments.
The initiative will be guided by UNESCO’s methodology of cultural and community-based tourism, which is based on participatory processes. It begins with the recognition of local territories and their cultural identities and includes training support for communities. It also promotes the creation of sustainable tourism products and concludes with strategies for promotion, evaluation, and public policy advocacy.
“The community-based focus recognizes that tourism cannot keep growing at the cost of local communities, but rather with them and by them—so that the benefits remain local, the rhythms and ways of life are respected, and that through tourism activities, environmental and cultural sustainability are guaranteed,” stated Andrés Morales, the Representative of UNESCO in México.
Tourism significantly contributes to the local Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but its effects should be equitably redistributed. This requires evaluating income, domestic consumption, and employment from a territorial focus, an area in which UNESCO will provide support from a perspective of tourism as a catalyst of social transformation, fostering security, social cohesion, and peace through mutual understanding.
The collaboration also seeks to consolidate a more inclusive and equal tourism model for local development—one that supports the guardians of cultural and natural heritage, promotes gender equality, decent work and economic growth, sustainable and resilient communities, and advances responsible production and consumption practices in harmony with the environment.
