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Article

Sun and Sand Ecotourism Management for Sustainable Development in Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico

by
Yari Tatiana Meza-Osorio
1,
Gabriela Mendoza-González
1,* and
M. Luisa Martínez
2
1
Unidad Mérida, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Tablaje Catastral N°6998, Carretera Mérida-Tetiz Km. 4.5, Municipio de Ucú 97357, Mexico
2
Institute of Ecology, A.C. (INECOL), Xalapa 91073, Mexico
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(20), 8807; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208807
Submission received: 16 July 2024 / Revised: 29 August 2024 / Accepted: 1 September 2024 / Published: 11 October 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Social Ecology and Sustainability)
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Abstract

:
The promotion of tourism without planning or management can lead the degradation of ecosystems and conflictive social dynamics. This study was conducted in a coastal location where tourism has recently intensified and aimed to reconstruct the preliminary history of tourism and analyze which social groups were involved in tourism and conservation for conducting an ecotourism management. A qualitative content analysis was conducted based on the perceptions of developers, authorities, and tourists in the locality. The results identify social groups involved in the use of ecosystems within the context of local tourism, their interactions, interests, and actions. An analysis of actions contrary to the conservation of these ecosystems that cause land use conflicts and hinder the development of endogenous local tourism was conducted. Social movements and collective actions reveal common interests and values among the inhabitants of Sisal that reveal the potential for transformation into a sustainable tourism project for endogenous local development.

1. Introduction

Global tourism has grown steadily during the last decades [1], with sun and sand tourism being the subcategory that has mobilized the largest number of vacationers seeking leisure, relaxation, and outdoor recreation worldwide [2]. Besides attracting tourists, tourism destinations provide services and products that generate important economic revenues. However, tourism also creates environmental, social and economic burdens to society [3]. While it accelerates the growth of supporting industries such as hotels, transportation, and hospitality-related activities, which create more jobs, social inequalities may arise. Furthermore, tourism also causes ecological damage owing to land use change, pollution, and excessive energy and water consumption [3]. Thus, sustainable tourism should consider current and future social, economic, and environmental impacts [4]. Indeed, the uncontrolled expansion of tourism activities has caused social problems impacting community economic development [5].
Mexico is no exception to the above-mentioned trends and, in 2022, the country ranked ninth in foreign exchange earnings from international visitors [6], who were particularly attracted by the beaches of Cancún, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, and Cozumel [7]. Because of its relevance, the Mexican government has developed different strategies to promote and diversify national and international tourism in different types of destinations [8]. For example, the Platinum Beach Certification is a distinction granted at the national level by the Mexican Institute of Standardization and Certification to beaches with high standards of environmental and social quality [9]. Another program to promote tourism is The National Strategy of “Pueblos Mágicos” (Magical Towns) [10], which encourages visitors of large tourist centers to also visit nearby towns and villages (named Pueblos Mágicos-Magical Towns) and thus boost the local economy and competitiveness through sustainable and inclusive local tourism development [11]. Indeed, these strategies show a trend towards increased tourism flow towards these localities. However, there is no evidence of improved social welfare, plural participation, or sustainable tourism development [10,12].
Depending on the development model followed, tourism can have an exogenous or endogenous focus [13]. The first is based on a “top down” development model, whose central elements are the supply and demand market, and depends on stimuli from exogenous forces [14]. This is related mainly to standardized, rigidly packaged and inflexible tourism on a massive scale [15]. On the other hand, a “bottom-up” development model gives rise to tourism with an endogenous focus, places the activity on a smaller scale than the regional or national level, and focuses on the needs, capabilities, and perspectives of the local population [16].
Ideally, the development of tourism needs to address the multidimensional aspects of the environment that are relevant to the different actors involved. To achieve this, it is necessary to promote citizen consultation and participation, which should integrate local or traditional knowledge with the different perceptions of society [17]. It also involves considering the socio-environmental conflicts arising from competing positions regarding the access, use, and significance of natural resources, and different perceptions and assessments of environmental degradation [18]. These socio-environmental conflicts occur because the different local actors who converge on the beach and coastal dunes differ in their actions and economic activities, and interests are in conflict with each other. For example, urbanization and construction on the beach for massive sun and sand tourism industry flattens the coastal dunes and removes the beach and coastal dune vegetation, preventing the local inhabitants from benefiting from the coastal protection provided by natural ecosystems [19,20]. On the other hand, a more natural setting with reduced urbanization may reduce the economic revenues yielded by massive tourism. Indeed, varying interests and perceptions of socioeconomic benefits may become very conflictive, especially when the disputed resources legitimize the demands of the controversial groups and could promote processes of social mobilization and the development of social alliances [18]. These conflicts may escalate and further prevent arriving at solutions that are beneficial to all.
This study took place in Sisal, a fishing port located in the northwest of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The town was designated as a Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) in 2020 in a decision-making process that excluded the local inhabitants [21]. This aroused uncertainty in the community, who feared they could lose their properties and suffer environmental degradation resulting from the ”top-down” model for tourism. The conflicting points of view led to social mobilizations [22], which were reinforced because of the sale of land to the east and west of the town for real estate development of second homes and holiday homes targeted at people with high economic power [22,23]. In consequence, it became difficult for local people with limited economic power, and for their successive generations, to extend territorially over the coastal strip, and they opted, instead, to occupy and fill in the edge of the swamp to gain space and build new houses [22].
The granting of federal concessions to outsiders (Mexican and foreign) for the use and exploitation of the beaches, as well as the irregular sale of land reclaimed from the sea that benefited real estate developers for urban developments, motivated a new social mobilization in May 2021. The local population took over and communally distributed the beaches of Sisal for the construction of architectural structures covered with dry palms and wooden supports, known locally as “palapas”, to offer shelter and food and beverage services for tourism (Figure 1). The increase in infrastructure (improvised bathrooms, changing rooms and palapas) in three years has impacted the landscape including the dunes as a result of a larger number of paths meandering through the dunes and vegetation, and the expansion of existing ones for vehicular passage that has compacted the natural topography, increased garbage volume and reduced plant cover.
This research aimed to analyze the perceptions of different social, governmental and tourist actors as to their influence on the use and conservation of beaches in Sisal, to find opportunities to strengthen Community- and Nature-based Tourism. Community-based and Community-involved Tourism refers to tourism in which the local community has a clear and direct participation [24]. In turn, Nature-based Tourism includes all types of tourism that take place in natural areas and for which natural life exerts a special attraction [25] and which include what is mentioned in the literature as ecological tourism, green tourism, nature tourism, adventure tourism, and ecotourism, among others. Ecotourism also includes slow and proximity tourism.
Specifically, the Mexican Caribbean (the Yucatan Peninsula) has seen the rapid expansion of tourism over the last decades, shifting from a virtually uninhabited borderline territory to a tourism center receiving over six million visitors per year [26]. In the Yucatan Peninsula, besides the development of new cities and areas for urban tourism since the 1990s, successful ecotourism centers were also developed, such as Xcaret (where subterranean rivers are explored) and Xel-Há (for diving). Similar trends are taking place in Sisal.
In brief, because of the recent expansion of tourism in Sisal and the committed participation of the local population in this process, we aimed to answer the following questions: What are the opportunities for supporting local tourism in Sisal? Are the local providers of tourist services related to the care, conservation or sustainable management of the ecosystems that attract tourism? We considered that it would be interesting to explore and analyze the process taking place here, to provide elements that would help promote sustainable Community-based ecotourism in the area. Thus, our hypothesis was that in Sisal there is a social local capital that could lead to sustainable Community-based Tourism. To achieve this, we first constructed a timeline to understand the development and evolution of tourism in Sisal. With this, we searched for existing attributes that strengthen the existing Community-based Tourism. We also built a diagram of actors to understand their influence on the conservation, exploitation, or degradation of the beach and coastal dunes, resulting from the decision-making process. The analysis of the social interactions, opposing interests, and conflicting actions between groups involved in the use of beaches and coastal dunes within the context of tourism in Sisal gave us a glimpse of the conflicts and challenges surrounding tourism in this locality. It also showed how the decision-making process and the balance of powers between the actors who make use of the beaches and coastal dunes occur within the context of tourism in Sisal.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

The coast of Yucatán is classified in the tourist market as follows: (a) local sun and sand tourism subdivided into three modalities: second residences, day trips, and short hotel stays; (b) international tourism for second residence in winter, or on a permanent basis; (c) national and international tourism, which arrives in the state capital of Mérida to visit the cultural attractions and natural resources of the Yucatán coast; (d) national and international tourism, which arrives via Cancún (selected tourist destination and internationally-linked city); and (e) cruise tourism, which arrives in the port of Progreso [27]. Nature-based Tourism (NbT) or ecotourism [28] is the predominant form of tourism in Sisal. In this study, ecotourism encompasses all forms of tourism that take place in natural areas and for which the attraction is wildlife [29]. Local communities and their culture are part of ecotourism. Yearly, the state of Yucatán receives nearly 2.5 million tourists. The majority of the visitors are local (from Mexico), and only 20% are foreign (Datatur3-ITxEF_YUC (sectur.gob.mx). This is significant, considering that the total population in the state is 2.2 million.
Sisal is a town in the municipality of Hunucmá, in the state of Yucatán, Mexico, with a population of 2078 people [30] and is located at latitude 21°09′45″ North; longitude 90°02′56″ West (Figure 2). In the 19th century, the town was originally founded as a fishing port although diverse economic activities have since developed including hunting, the weaving of hammocks and fishing nets, commerce, agriculture, and backyard livestock production. There is no official information regarding the number of tourists visiting Sisal, but it is evident that tourism has increased in the area.
In Sisal, the urbanized area is located on a barrier island, which is a sand deposit that divides the sea from the marsh [31]. The low relief and geographic conditions of the locality place it at latent risk from possible cyclones that could flood the houses, mainly on the edge of the marsh and those facing the sea, as occurred with Hurricane Gilberto in 1988 [32]. The high fragility to erosion, loss of vegetation, sea level rise, and climate change is exacerbated by the construction (increasingly close to the sea) of hotels, holiday homes, second homes for tourism and recently more “palapas” (Figure 3). This removes coastal dune vegetation and modifies the transport of sediment along the coast [33,34].

2.2. Interviews and Surveys

From September 2020 to July 2022 we used participant and non-participant observation techniques to explore the perception of different social, governmental and tourist actors who have an influence on the use and conservation of beaches in Sisal to find opportunities to strengthen Community and Nature-based Tourism opportunities by conducting: (i) semi-structured interviews, and (ii) surveys (Supplementary Materials). We closely followed the Mexican Laws of confidentiality and personal data, and thus, the anonymity of the interviewed and surveyed people was maintained after acceptance of informed consent (Supplementary Materials) to carry out the recording and academic use of the information obtained.
Prior to this study, three workshops were held with key stakeholders whose work is linked to the management of coastal dunes and beaches. The workshops enabled us to identify five large groups of actors with a clear influence on the development and potential sustainability of the beach in Sisal: (1) government sector; (2) academic sector; (3) local population; (4) tourism sector, which includes external private parties (real estate investors and developers) and tourists (local, national, and foreign); and (5) hybrid actors (local population engaged in some tourist activity). The participants in these workshops were representatives or members of government institutions and organized civil societies, as well as inhabitants of the communities, whose work was linked to the management and administration of the coastal dunes and beaches of Sisal. The identification of key actors was refined using the non-probabilistic sampling technique known as snowball [35], which consisted of asking the first identified key actors in the previous workshops to point out other key actors whose participation they considered relevant. With this technique, we were able to expand the network of actors that were identified as leaders or authorities of each group related to decision-making regarding the use and conservation of beaches and coastal dunes. When the recommendations began to repeat themselves, we stopped doing so; thus, 42 interviews were carried out for this work, which was when no new recommendations were received.

2.2.1. Interviews

We used the results from the workshops to further explore the history and development of tourism in Sisal. The first actors interviewed were selected considering the results obtained by Mendoza-González et al. [36] and, from these first participants, others were reached following the snowball methodology.
The semi-structured interview was chosen as an “access route” to the aspects of human subjectivity [37] because it is more intimate, flexible, and open than the quantitative one to investigate the perspectives of the actors on the phenomena studied [38,39]. A semi-structured interview was defined by Kahn & Cannell [40] as a situation created with the specific purpose of enabling an individual to express, at least in a conversation, essential parts about his past or present references and his anticipations and future intentions [35]. When interviews are semi-structured, they are based on a guide of issues or questions and the interviewer is free to introduce additional questions to clarify concepts or obtain more information. The questions included in the semi-structured interviews followed the qualitative method that emphasizes the vision of the actors, the analysis of their contexts, and the meaning of social relations for the reconstruction of reality, as a technique for collecting information which was later analyzed [37,39,41]. The interviews aimed to explore the opinion, knowledge, background, and perspectives of the current and future condition of the beach in Sisal. To achieve this, 42 interviews were conducted with key actors from groups of tourism service providers (ecotourism guides, palaperos, restaurateurs, artisans, traders, hostel owners, and hoteliers), investors in the tourism sector, real estate developers, and municipal and local government actors (Table 1). Men and women of legal age were selected, looking that they had at least one year of experience as tourism service providers, except for the palaperos who built their palapas in May 2021. In the presentation of the results, reference was made with “(n = #)” to the number of people who mentioned a particular content. Interviews were conducted from December 2021 to March 2022.
Information on the population with summer homes on the coastline of Sisal was taken from the grey literature since most of these houses were temporarily uninhabited at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this event, and because of the high mortality induced by the COVID virus, it was mandatory for the whole population to stay at home from March to August in 2020, and limited movements outside were permitted until 2022 when the population had been vaccinated. Thus, the summer homes of Sisal were uninhabited during this period.

2.2.2. Surveys

The surveys were used to characterize the type of tourism and tourists on the beaches of Sisal. From March to April 2022, a total of 65 surveys were applied to adult tourists who were in the beach area at any time of the day and available and willing to respond. A survey in English, aimed at foreign tourists, also maintained anonymity. The questions asked in the surveys are shown in Supplementary Materials.

2.3. Information Analysis

2.3.1. Interviews

The interviews were faithfully transcribed to conduct the qualitative content analysis, which seeks to understand the perspectives of the interviewees regarding the phenomena studied, based on very varied and unstructured information obtained from the participants’ narratives. The technological tool Atlas ti version 8 was used, which is a program designed for the systematization and analysis of qualitative information in any format (text, image, sound, video). Response trends were sought through systematization, categorization, and coding (in Basic Units of Analysis-BAU) of the information received [42] (Table 2). The number of people who agreed on an idea or argument was shown in the results with an absolute number (n = #).
The reconstruction of the timeline of the history of tourism in Sisal was derived from the qualitative analysis of the interviews and participant observation. This information was contrasted and complemented in order to specify dates or details of the event described by the respondents by consulting different keywords and Boolean keys (e.g., “Sisal”, “Tourism+Sisal”, “Magic+Town+Sisal”) in articles published in scientific journals, using the search engines Google Scholar and Biblioteca Digital UNAM, and in the grey literature (theses, journalistic notes, and government reports) available on Google Scholar and TESIUNAM (https://www.dgb.unam.mx/index.php/catalogos/tesiunam, accessed on 15 July 2024) which is a catalog of undergrad and graduate theses from students who obtained an academic degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Taking as a reference the study of Brenner [43], who carried out a qualitative analysis, the interviews were interpreted in content and form to characterize and group the key actors identified as follows: (1) the sector to which they belonged (governmental, academic, external private (investors and real estate developers) and tourist (local, national and international), local population, and hybrid actors (local population dedicated partly to tourism); (2) the spatial level of their actions (local, municipal, state or federal); and (3) the potential and actual power, decision-making capacity, and influence that these actors have on the sustainability or degradation of the beaches and coastal dunes in Sisal. In order to reveal sets of action, contrary interests and conflicting actions in the use of beaches and dunes within the context of coastal tourism in Sisal, each actor was located within a spectrum of actors with two axes according to the orientation of their actions: (1) from conservation to use of the beaches and dunes; and (2) from acceptance/imposition of environmental laws and regulations to resistance against them. The technological tool used to graphically represent this spectrum was the online platform, Drawio 1.3 [44], which is a free, online diagram software used to create flowcharts, process diagrams, organizational charts, UML, ER and network diagrams.

2.3.2. Surveys

The different activities reported in the surveys were plotted as percentages to find the most and least looked-for activities.

3. Results

3.1. Interviews: History of Tourism in Sisal

A total of 26.1% (n = 11) of the interviewees were female and 73.8% (n = 31) were male, ranging from approximately 20 to 80 years of age. Sisal was the first commercial port in Yucatán from 1811 to 1932 [32], during which time it received many visitors (n = 1). The first tourist activities developed in the locality were migratory duck hunting and sport fishing in 1960 (n = 14) (Figure 4). Following the impact of Hurricane Gilberto in 1988, a sheltering port was built to which fishermen and their families moved the fish-cleaning work they did when they disembarked at the pier, thus leaving the beaches free for tourism (n = 1) (Figure 4). Between the 1990s and 2000s, the construction of second homes for elderly Americans and Canadians (n = 3) took place [32] (Figure 4).
In addition to beach tourism, driven by public economic incentives, fishermen’s cooperatives built viewpoints between 2000 and 2010 without undertaking any project to use them for ecotourism (n = 1) (Figure 4). In the same year, the first concessions were granted for the construction of palapas on the beach, located adjacent to the pier (n = 2) [45] (Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4).
Around 2015, the first functional ecotourism cooperatives were formed in Sisal (n = 2) (Figure 4). In 2018, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) certified 40 Federal Ecotourism Guides and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) authorized the Paraíso Sisal real estate development, constructed by and for people from outside the locality [46]. As of 2019, new real estate developments have been built to the east and west of Sisal (T. Meza, field observations). Likewise, ecotourism guiding became more important (n = 14), adding staff among the fishermen (n = 3) and the sports hunting guides operating in winter (n = 2). To the existing sun and beach and gastronomic tourism were added different ecotourism activities in the beaches, marshes, mangroves, and petenes, as well as bicycle and ATV tours, sailing water sports, visits to monuments, and attendance of religious festivities. All of this increased the complexity of the composition of the social actors interested in exploiting the natural resources with the potential for tourism present in Sisal.
The designation as a “Magical Town” in December 2020 (n = 7) was linked to an increase in tourist arrivals (n = 7) although this, for others, was due more to the widening of the Hunucmá-Sisal highway in 2021 (n = 2) (Figure 4). In 2020, Sisal also received the Platinum Beach certification, which has been renewed annually since that time (https://playaplatino.com/playa-sisal, accessed on 15 July 2024) (Figure 4). Social mobilizations took place during 2021, including the community sharing the beaches for the construction of palapas (Figure 2 and Figure 3). In the same year, the government sector promoted Sisal as a tourist destination (n = 3), particularly during the “Tianguis Turístico (Tourist market) exposition” held in November in Mérida, an event to which the increase in tourist inflow is also credited (n = 1) (Figure 4). Finally, in 2022, repaving began on Sisal’s main roads (Figure 4) and, in 2023, the secondary roads. In 2023, the palaperos received “letters of congruence” with geo-referenced information on the land use where they had installed their palapas (up to that moment), and their formal request for authorizations of concession from Semarnat to legalize their settlements is pending this same year (n = 1).

3.2. Surveys: Sisal as a Current Tourism Destination

A total of 57% (n = 37) of the surveyed were female and 43% (n = 28) were male. When the tourists were surveyed on the beaches of Sisal, many were unaware of the wide range of activities currently on offer in the port. When describing the services on offer and asking about their interests, more than 80% of the people surveyed expressed a preference for swimming in the sea, enjoying the scenery, eating, sunbathing, releasing turtles, and touring the mangroves. Between 60 and 80% of people were interested in bird watching and low-impact sports such as snorkeling or diving, and kayaking and cycling. Half of the people were interested in the religious Feast of the black Christ. Between 30 and 50% were interested in crocodile watching, sailing, or renting a quad bike to ride around the populated area. A total of 23.1% were interested in sport fishing, and 14% were interested in hunting (Figure 5).

3.3. Challenges and Conflicts among Social Actors in the Management of Nature-Based Tourism or Ecotourism

Social actors were identified within a spectrum crossed by two axes or gradients with contrasting extremes: (a) their interest in conservation or the use of beaches and dunes (vertical axis); and (b) their resistance or acceptance/imposition of the regulatory framework for sustainability (horizontal axis) (Figure 6). The governmental sector comprises five federal institutions, two state agencies, four municipal agencies, and one local agency. In the first three levels, two groups of actors can be identified by their position on the vertical axis of the diagram: (a) governmental institutions that pursue the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity; and (b) agencies that mainly promote socio-economic development (Figure 6).
Five sets of stakeholders with some common interests (marked with ellipses in Figure 6) were also identified. The differences in interests and conflicting actions between these sets of stakeholders are the cause of conflicts for beach and dune conservation in Sisal:
  • Set “A”: Governmental authorities in charge of federal, state, and municipal environmental protection. They regulate the use of natural resources through mandatory environmental regulations and standards.
  • Set “B”: Local authority, organized and unorganized local population, tourism service providers, traders, and tourists (local, national, and international). They are under the political power of Set “A” and depend to varying extents on the economic resources and information available. They have options to resist pressure and even to apply pressure on Set “A” through social mobilization, a situation that could lead to possible conflicts. Their presence and participation are of particular importance for the conservation of ecosystems of their interest.
This group is mainly dominated by men in collective decision-making spaces, such as the meetings held by the Tourism Cooperative Association. Some women show leadership in the locality, but they are generally not called upon to participate in these spaces. Nevertheless, the groups that convene and lead some ecosystem management and conservation processes (e.g., beach cleaning) are led by women.
  • Set “C”: Institutions and academic groups that operate at the local level and have a strong interest in conservation. Their research performance implies objectivity and impartiality in interlocution with actors from the other sets, without differences in their interests necessarily leading to conflict. This gives them a potential role as generators of evidence-based information with which to address territorial conflicts. Their impact, often demanded by the local actors and authorities themselves, depends on the degree of ethics, commitment, and positioning of academics, as well as the administrative processes of the institution.
  • Set “D”: Organized palaperos and private outsiders (tourism investors and real estate developers). Their interest is the economic exploitation of natural resources, using their physical and moral resources (palaperos) or their economic, social, and information power (private outsiders). It is this group that generally resists environmental regulations and norms for their use, and it has more tools and strategies with which to evade the environmental regulatory influence of Set “A”.
  • Set “E”: Governmental institutions, the activities of which are mainly oriented towards the promotion of socio-economic tourism development and which present tools of political power and information. Their actions can have a major impact on the territory, the management of emerging conflicts, the conservation of coastal ecosystems, the social well-being of the inhabitants, and environmental justice.

4. Discussion

4.1. Conflicts and Challenges for the Development of Sustainable Local Tourism in Sisal

The results in this study reveal the contrasting changes in tourism in Sisal that have occurred since the late 19th century, described by García de Fuentes & Xool-Koh [27] and López-Maldonado [47]. The specialization of tourism in Sisal with new typologies such as ecotourism or NbT has emerged since approximately 2000 when the government declared Sisal a tourist destination.
A relevant feature of the development and promotion of tourism in Sisal is the absence of popular consensus in the designation of Sisal as a Magical Town and the tourism development plans. The exclusion of the original settlers from the decision-making processes induced social mobilizations through the installation of illegal palapas along the beach and coastal dunes in response to the fear of losing autonomy in the territory. These findings are in contrast with other case studies of NbT or ecotourism in Latin America [48,49,50,51], Africa [52,53], and India [54,55] which show how the success of these projects depends largely on transparency and effective local participation from the design phase onwards. For Ford et al. [56], these two aspects are promoters of adaptive governance processes.
The interviews and surveys revealed that, despite being the main users of the territory, the local actors involved in tourism services did not feel they were considered in the decision-making processes. Paradoxically, the natural ecosystems are the most relevant attractors of tourism, and the local inhabitants are the more knowledgeable to guide the ecotourism tours. In brief, local inhabitants play a key role in ecotourism, but they were the most affected by the governmental plans and decisions because they were not considered in the decision-making process. In coincidence with our results, Törn et al. [57] explored studies that investigated the views of the original residents regarding nature conservation and tourism development, finding that most had been conducted in developing countries. This is an important aspect of sustainable local tourism planning since it helps to focus the discussion on the risks and benefits that most closely affect the residents, facilitating a deeper understanding of the issues that lead to sustainable policies [57]. This shows that the attention of the authorities to integrate local organized groups into development plans is a priority for the success of sustainable tourism development projects.
The different (and sometimes contrasting) perspectives of the local actors involved in tourism in Sisal should be considered before promoting a sustainable tourism that enables endogenous local development strategies. For instance, there is a clear and expressed will of the local population to prepare themselves to practice it, which translates into steps actively taken by them to self-organize and self-regulate (for example, through cooperatives or as a guild of irregular palaperos). According to Tosun [58], this self-determination is the main requirement for undertaking any local development project since it is the local people who must decide on their actions and participate effectively in all the processes of planning, operation, supervision, and management of their development. In contrast with the local inhabitants, exogeneous investors started the development of real estate projects to take advantage of the natural beauty and attractions of the area. Nevertheless, local social development did not improve, but deteriorated instead.
In the framework of collective action and governance issues, “social capital encompasses the concepts of trust, norms of reciprocity, networks of civil participation, rules and laws” [59]. In the case of Sisal, a solid relationship and collaboration between the different local public and private actors would indeed favor its touristic development [60]. The nomination of Sisal as a “Platinum Beach” (“Playa Platino”) destination (https://playaplatino.com/playa-sisal, accessed on 15 July 2024) is an example of collaboration between the local community, the state government, and the private initiative. The local community holds the leadership through a beach cleaning committee that organizes cleaning actions which are accompanied by the state government and private initiative. They have managed to maintain the certification since 2020. While the committee made up of a community organization, sometimes accompanied by academic sectors and civil society organizations, carries out the cleaning actions, the government and private initiative manage and, respectively, sponsor the certification (https://playaplatino.com/, accessed on 15 July 2024).

4.2. New Perspectives of Sustainable Ecotourism in Sisal

The intense and rapid growth of tourism in Sisal may lead to the problematic condition of extractivism, in which the physical extraction of materials (including water and energy) is associated with environmental degradation and high economic and social costs [61]. This is particularly a burden for the development of tourism when there are few, or no, benefits to the local population. Furthermore, as the environment is degraded, the touristic relevance and economic revenues decrease.
Besides the risks of extractivism, a gentrification process may also threaten Sisal. This means that old houses may be bought and remodeled by new owners (mostly outsiders and foreigners) which leads to the eviction of the original low-income tenants [62]. The transition from lower to higher socio-economic status residents is accompanied by a shift in housing tenure, from rental to owner occupation. The above leads to new social organization, as well as changing culture and consumption patterns. These patterns may be regulated when the community participates in the development of tourism in their area. Sustainable tourism will definitely need such regulatory activities to prevent social inequalities.
Our results show that the original residents of Sisal (ecotourism cooperatives, merchants, and palaperos) have the capacity and resources to provide their services to tourists by using the beach and adjacent ecosystems as one of the main attractions and find an alternative for local economic income. According to Rosado-Varela & Castillo-Villanueva [60], when community actors have the power to select and manage their development projects based on their strategies and worldviews, investments have better results, social capital grows, and the self-esteem of these actors increases. The management of sustainable tourism focused on endogenous local development must be a project that is shared by the agents of the activity, assumed by the actors of society, and consented to by the inhabitants of the locality [63].
Besides social organization and cooperation, sustainable and Nature-based Tourism would largely benefit from transdisciplinary actions. An example of this is the development of the “Localiza Sisal” (Find Sisal) app developed by an academic effort linked to local ecotourism service providers (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=unam.umdi.localizasisal, accessed on 15 July 2024). This maps the different activities for tourists that take place in Sisal, as well as the emblematic places identified in this work, with the aim of developing tools that support Community and Nature-based Tourism. The variety of ecotourism activities that interest the tourists surveyed in this study provides an opportunity for tourism in Sisal to develop in a sustainable, nature-focused manner that is developed by and for the local community. At the same time, this approach provides an alternative solution to the challenges posed by the reorientation of the sun and beach tourism that could be spreading in Sisal with the construction of palapas on both sides of the pier, on the coastal dunes, and as an extractive and unsustainable tourism activity.
Advances in the recognition and analysis of local stakeholders are essential elements to consolidate adaptive governance for Integrated Coastal Zone Management based on the reality of the locality [64]. Effectiveness is determined by the establishment of a widely accepted framework for action to institutionalize interaction between stakeholders, negotiate competing interests, and mitigate conflicts to find ways in which decisions are made and power is exercised [65]. In the words of Romero-Tarín & Canales-Aliende [66], the real and non-symbolic participation of citizens will make them feel like co-owners of their destiny and co-participants in decision-making, which avoids the dangers of possible citizen distrust that can corrode the foundations of democracy. The results of this study can contribute to the planning of sustainable local tourism as a strategy for endogenous local development in Sisal.
Ideally, all actors should be involved in making Sisal a sustainable ecotouristic town: the local culture and perception should be respected; economic gains and social improvement should benefit all, both local and incoming inhabitants, and tourists; scientific information could support the development plans while protecting the environment; and the authorities should coordinate all actors involved. The decision-making process should be a collaborative, flexible and interactive process to co-produce a context-specific ecotourist town.

5. Conclusions

Tourism development in Sisal has intensified since its designation as a Magical Town, with a greater offering of activities related to nature tourism and in parallel with the promotion of sun and beach tourism practices. The attempt to implement tourism in Sisal as an exogenous development project has been reflected both in the governmental encouragement of private investment in real estate development and in the exclusion of the local population from the decisions regarding the development of the town, especially the tourism sector. This exclusion and the advance of the private sector into the territory promoted the emergence of social movements and collective actions that served to assert identities and practice group solidarity in Sisal. In this laboratory of citizenship, the social capital of the locality is revealed, with common interests and values, cooperativity, associativity, and belonging among the original inhabitants. Government, academia, and civil society organizations with a local presence have the responsibility to help raise the level of popular understanding of complex issues to enable the community to intervene in informed decision-making spaces for sustainable local development. The government must provide guarantees for effective community participation in decision-making and guide adaptive governance processes, paying special attention to the inclusion of vulnerable groups in these areas, including women, children, and older people. Local perspectives should be linked to decisions made regarding the use of beaches and coastal dunes to ensure the conservation of natural contributions to social well-being and the conservation of these ecosystems in Sisal.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/su16208807/s1.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; methodology, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; software, Y.T.M.-O.; validation, M.L.M. and G.M.-G.; formal analysis, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; investigation, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; resources, G.M.-G.; data curation, Y.T.M.-O.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; writing—review and editing, M.L.M. and G.M.-G.; visualization, Y.T.M.-O. and G.M.-G.; supervision, G.M.-G.; project administration, G.M.-G.; funding acquisition, G.M.-G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Project 4660CONAHCYT and student scholarship number 810993 of CONAHCYT. The APC was funded by Project ECO IE-521, UNAM.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Postgraduate degree in Sustainability Sciences, ENES-Morelia, UNAM which trained Y.T.M.-O. for her Master’s degree, and CONAHCYT for her scholarship No. 810993. Also, the projects: PAPIIT: DGAPA-UNAM-IV300123; and IINGEN-GII, UNAM-3117. We also thank Rafael Eduardo Pacheco Góngora for his work in programming “Localiza Sisal” app, and Maribel Badillo for her valuable technical support throughout the process.; Carlos Cruz Vázquez and Pavel E. Popoca Cruz for aerial images analysis and mapping; Gabriela Esqueda for diagram design (Figure 4), Lizbeth Márquez Pérez for helping in reference edition, as well as Keith MacMillan for the revision of the English text. We especially acknowledge the contribution of the respondents and focus group participants who were so generous with their time during the interviews.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

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Figure 1. Palapas along the beach in Sisal.
Figure 1. Palapas along the beach in Sisal.
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Figure 2. Geographic location of Sisal, Yucatán (red dot). The area within the red polygon corresponds to the official area of the locality.
Figure 2. Geographic location of Sisal, Yucatán (red dot). The area within the red polygon corresponds to the official area of the locality.
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Figure 3. Increment in beachfront infrastructure between 2020 and 2024. 74 Pre-existing palapas, 202 new palapas, 82 pre-existing paths (6986 linear meters), 24 broadened (1024 linear meters) and 14 new paths (653 linear meters). Above image (a) West side of the dock, Bottom image (b) East side of the dock.
Figure 3. Increment in beachfront infrastructure between 2020 and 2024. 74 Pre-existing palapas, 202 new palapas, 82 pre-existing paths (6986 linear meters), 24 broadened (1024 linear meters) and 14 new paths (653 linear meters). Above image (a) West side of the dock, Bottom image (b) East side of the dock.
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Figure 4. Timeline of tourism in Sisal according to the perceptions of and information provided by the interviewees, contrasted and completed with a documentary review to specify dates or details of the event described by the respondents.
Figure 4. Timeline of tourism in Sisal according to the perceptions of and information provided by the interviewees, contrasted and completed with a documentary review to specify dates or details of the event described by the respondents.
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Figure 5. Frequency of tourist interest in the different activities offered in Sisal.
Figure 5. Frequency of tourist interest in the different activities offered in Sisal.
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Figure 6. Spectrum of social actors involved in the conservation and use of beaches and dunes, resistance or acceptance of regulatory framework (arrows show increment of variable) within the context of tourism in Sisal, Yucatán: (A) governmental authority in charge of environmental protection; (B) local actors such as authorities, organized and unorganized population, tourism service providers and tourists; (C) institutions and academic groups; (D) organized palaperos and private outsiders (tourism investors and real estate developers); (E) government institutions aimed at promoting socioeconomic tourism development. Source: Author’s own production, based on Brenner [43].
Figure 6. Spectrum of social actors involved in the conservation and use of beaches and dunes, resistance or acceptance of regulatory framework (arrows show increment of variable) within the context of tourism in Sisal, Yucatán: (A) governmental authority in charge of environmental protection; (B) local actors such as authorities, organized and unorganized population, tourism service providers and tourists; (C) institutions and academic groups; (D) organized palaperos and private outsiders (tourism investors and real estate developers); (E) government institutions aimed at promoting socioeconomic tourism development. Source: Author’s own production, based on Brenner [43].
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Table 1. Interviewees divided into the sector to which each belongs.
Table 1. Interviewees divided into the sector to which each belongs.
SectorCharacteristicNo. of Participants
WomenMen
GovernmentalLocal and municipal authorities1 (25%)3 (75%)
SocialLocal providers of tourism services: ecotourism guides (15), palaperos (5), restaurateurs (6), hoteliers (4), hostel owners (3), artisans (2), merchant (1)10 (27.7%)26 (72.2%)
PrivateInvestors in tourism and real estate developers 0 (0%)2 (100%)
Total4211 (27.5%)31 (72.5%)
Table 2. Codes per interview sections, assigned to each category of analysis of the responses received by the participants. “Post” refers to the position in the government, and “period” the time frame occupying such a position.
Table 2. Codes per interview sections, assigned to each category of analysis of the responses received by the participants. “Post” refers to the position in the government, and “period” the time frame occupying such a position.
SectionInformation Analyzed
1. Characterization of the social actors and corresponding activities.Focal groups: government decision-makers; key investors and service providers.
Information gathered: Decision makers (Post and period; relationship with tourism; coastal dunes conservation activities); service providers (type of services; years of activity).
2. Reconstruction of the history of tourism in Sisal.Timeline: understanding the beginning, development, current events, and perspectives of tourism in Sisal.
3. Formal and non-formal knowledge and future perspectives on the conservation of beaches and coastal dunes in Sisal.Conservation: determining the knowledge of coastal dunes and their function, estimating and understanding their conservation status, exploring perspectives on conservation.
4. New tourism in Sisal.Magical town designation: knowledge about this designation, opinion, perspectives.
Social groups: Actions for conservation and sustainable tourism and the social influence in each group.
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Meza-Osorio, Y.T.; Mendoza-González, G.; Martínez, M.L. Sun and Sand Ecotourism Management for Sustainable Development in Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico. Sustainability 2024, 16, 8807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208807

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Meza-Osorio YT, Mendoza-González G, Martínez ML. Sun and Sand Ecotourism Management for Sustainable Development in Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico. Sustainability. 2024; 16(20):8807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208807

Chicago/Turabian Style

Meza-Osorio, Yari Tatiana, Gabriela Mendoza-González, and M. Luisa Martínez. 2024. "Sun and Sand Ecotourism Management for Sustainable Development in Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico" Sustainability 16, no. 20: 8807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208807

APA Style

Meza-Osorio, Y. T., Mendoza-González, G., & Martínez, M. L. (2024). Sun and Sand Ecotourism Management for Sustainable Development in Sisal, Yucatán, Mexico. Sustainability, 16(20), 8807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208807

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