the imprints of tourism on puerto vallarta, jalisco, mexico

The imprints of tourism on Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco, Mexico

JOHN EVERITTDepartment of Geography, Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada R7A 6A9 (e-mail: [email protected])

BRYAN H. MASSAMDepartment of Geography, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 (e-mail: [email protected])

ROSA M. CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINOUniversidad de Gudalajara, Centro Universitario de la Costa, Campus Puerto Vallarta, Av. Universidad 203 Delegacion Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco,

Mexico CP 48280 (e-mail: [email protected])

RODRIGO ESPINOSA SANCHEZUniversidad de Gudalajara, Centro Universitario de la Costa, Campus Puerto Vallarta, Av. Universidad 203 Delegacion Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco,


EDMUNDO ANDRADE ROMOUniversidad de Gudalajara, Centro Universitario de la Costa, Campus Puerto Vallarta, Av. Universidad 203 Delegacion Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco,


Tourism is a major economic activity with significantsocial, political and environmental repercussions thataffect people and places in virtually every corner ofthe contemporary world. This study focuses ontourism development in Puerto Vallarta (PV), Jalisco,Mexico. The region has been almost completelytransformed by this industry in a relatively shortperiod of time since the development of the firstmajor hotel in 1948. The article begins by discussingthe development of PV as a place, as a coastal touristresort and also as a set of quite different culturallandscapes. Building on this we specifically identify,describe and discuss some of the major culturalimprints of tourism upon PV, including hotels,restaurants, the gay community, art galleries andInternet cafes as well as ecological imprints of

Les empreintes du tourisme sur Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco, Mexique

Le tourisme est un secteur d’activite economique depremiere importance generant des retombeesnotables sur les plans social, politique etenvironnemental qui touchent les populations et leslieux dans presque tous les coins du mondecontemporain. Cette etude porte principalement surle developpement du tourisme a Puerto Vallarta, villede l’etat de Jalisco au Mexique. Le tourisme a presqueentierement transforme cette region au cours d’uneperiode de temps relativement courte, soit depuis laconstruction du premier hotel d’envergure en 1948.Cet article traite du developpement de Puerto Vallartaen tant que lieu, station balneaire touristique, etcomme un ensemble de paysages culturels

The Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe canadien 52, no 1 (2008) 83–104C© / Canadian Association of Geographers / L’Association canadienne des geographes

84 John Everitt et al.

tourism (using ecological footprint analysis). Theconclusions provide a commentary on the potentialfor and challenges of continued tourism developmentin PV, as a place that is likely to face seriousquestions regarding sustainability as the newmillennium unfolds.

particuliers. De maniere plus specifique, nousidentifions, decrivons et discutons certaines des plusimportantes empreintes du tourisme laissees surPuerto Vallarta, comprenant notamment les hotels,les restaurants, la communaute gaie, les galeriesd’art et les cafes internet, en plus des empreintesecologiques du tourisme (etudiees a l’aide d’uneanalyse de l’empreinte ecologique). Des observationssont presentees en conclusion sur les possibilites etles defis inherents au developpement du tourisme aPuerto Vallarta, qui est un lieu susceptible d’etreconfronte, un jour ou l’autre, a de graves enjeux dedurabilite au cours du nouveau millenaire.

Introduction

Tourism is an economic activity that has social,political and environmental consequences that af-fect every corner of the contemporary world, in-cluding Mexico. As one of the fastest growing in-dustries in the world (Seddighi and Theocharous2003), tourism has attracted increased researchattention (Scott 2007). However, as Boots (2000)suggests, its study is still neglected in Canadiangeography.

In February 2007, the Guardian Weekly re-ported, on UN information, that over 840 millionpeople took vacations in 2006, the largest num-ber ever recorded. Simultaneously, fears of ter-rorism, bird flu, rising oil prices, hurricanes andthreats of personal violence cast shadows overthe travel industry, including destinations suchas Mexico. Clearly tourism is a somewhat frag-ile sector of an economy, yet one that some gov-ernments and private sector investors promoteto serve inter alia local interests and the im-provement of quality of life for local citizens. InMexico, various government agencies have beeninvolved with tourism over the years, and theSecretarıa de Turismo (SECTUR) is now inte-grally connected with all aspects of the industry.The government has intervened more directly intourism since 1974 when Fondo Nacional de Fo-mento al Turismo (FONATUR, the National TrustFund for Tourism Development) was set up toraise capital and promote development in thetourism industry. Yet, there is debate about theexact nature and extent of the costs and benefits

that flow from tourism to a local region, and thesustainability of tourist-related activities as wellas matters concerning ways and means to dealwith issues of fairness and equity in the distri-bution of benefits to citizens.

This article focuses on the impacts of tourismon the growth and development of Puerto Val-larta (PV) in the State of Jalisco in Mexico. Overtwo million tourists visit PV annually according tothe self-proclaimed Top Puerto Vallarta Website(http://www.puertovallarta.net/fast facts/g cityinfo.php), making it the second most visitedresort in Mexico. There is considerable researchliterature on tourism in Mexico (Casado 1997;Clancy 2001; Brenner and Aguilar 2002; Meyer-Arendt 2002; Brenner 2005; Greathouse-Amador2005; Torres and Momsen 2005; Hernandez-Lobato et al. 2006; Lopez-Lopez et al. 2006and Tamborini 2007). However, the systematicstudy of the impacts of tourism in PV is arecent endeavour (Mungia Fregoso 1996; de Ocade Contreras 2002; Chavez et al. 2005, 2006a,2006b; Rodrigues 2006; Sanchez 2006). Thisarticle builds on this growing research effort. Inparticular, this article discusses the development,or the ‘leisurization’, as Hoffman (1992) calls it,of PV as a tourist destination, and as a place. Wedescribe the early growth of PV, and the devel-opment of the contemporary urban area as wellas selected contemporary place characteristicsof and imprints upon the town. Imprints takea variety of forms and this article concentrateson cultural and ecological themes to illustratesome of the diversity of place making and place

The Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe canadien 52, no 1 (2008)

The imprints of tourism on Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico 85

selling developments that have occurred in PVin the recent past, as well as what is occurringat present and might occur in the immediatefuture. We operationalize imprints through avariety of methods and maps as there is no oneway to demonstrate this multiplicity.

This article reports some results from a col-laborative project under the aegis of a formalagreement between the University of Guadalajara,Centro Universitario de la Costa at Puerto Val-larta (CUCOSTA), and Brandon University (BU),Canada. This project is discussed in a seriesof working papers (Everitt et al. 2001, 2004,2005; Massam and Everitt 2001, 2004; Massamet al. 2003, 2007). The Web site of the Ru-ral Development Institute at Brandon University(www.brandonu.ca.rdi) gives access to the Work-ing Papers 2003-01, 2004-01 and 2005-12 that fo-cus on PV.

PV is the subject of this article because Mexicoin general and PV in particular have recently as-sumed a growing importance as a winter touristdestination for Canadians, and because it is ne-glected in the academic literature (Page 2002).Furthermore, PV, as Everitt et al. (2001) argue, ex-emplifies the process of tourist place making inthe contemporary global economy and society, asa way of producing locations that are more plea-surable and interesting (Project for Public SpacesInc. 2002). Also, it is important to know aboutdifferent places, for as Aguiar et al. (2005, 124)point out, ‘different places are reinvented differ-ently’ and knowledge of the processes involvedhelps us understand the order within the cul-tural landscape. Information for this study isdrawn from a variety of primary sources, mostnotably key local informants in the public andprivate sectors of PV as well as various secondarysources. Some local residents have distinct viewsabout tourism and its positive and negative ef-fects on traditional values. We have explored theattitudes of residents of PV as well as thoseof small towns near PV that typically serve assources of labour for the hotels and other tourist-related activities in the town (Massam and Everitt2001). Following this introduction the article isorganized into three major sections that succes-sively examine PV as a place, its evolution, andthe nature of tourist imprints, the latter disag-gregated into cultural impacts, environmental ef-fects, and sustainability.

Puerto Vallarta as a Place

PV is a place, within the literature of human ge-ography a ‘multi-layered and multi-purpose’ topic(Harvey 1993, 4; Cresswell 2004). A layering ofmeanings can be distinguished in PV, like mostplaces, reflecting the ways that this place hasbeen socially constructed by different groups, orfor different social, economic and political pur-poses.

If places have a distinct natural context, theyhave been increasingly constructed or made by acombination of local and outside forces, and assuch can be read by researchers. They have thusbecome a text and a context where social interac-tion takes place (Knox 1995, 215–216), and glob-alization has accelerated this process. One of thechief beneficiaries of globalization has been thetourism industry, and it is probable that largenumbers of in-person interactions between cul-ture groups that would otherwise have no contactwill take place in the future as a result of partici-pation in this industry. Thus it is most likely, ac-cording to McCabe (1998) and Davis (2005), thatthe character of many places is related to and afunction of tourism. This relation is particularlythe case for places that are dependent upon andperhaps would have no significant existence with-out tourism.

More than other places perhaps, tourist desti-nations have residents who have little indepen-dent control over their destinies and, as Hutch-ings (1996) has noted, there is often ‘trouble inparadise’ as a result. Perhaps such a place is PV(Figure 1). The Vallarta region is a vernacular re-gion in Jalisco. It consists of the city of PV anda number of other areas around the city. Theterminology has recently been extended by someboosters in the region to include the populatedareas in this part of Jalisco, but also parts ofthe neighbouring state of Nayarit. Sometimes theterms Vallarta and Vallarta Coast are used syn-onymously.

Slaymaker (2006) suggests that the culturallandscape is part of the ‘grammar’ of geogra-phy: we need to be able to read these land-scapes to build a sense of place. Tourism canhave many imprints upon a cultural landscape.Sometimes they are obvious and sometimes moresubtle. Sometimes they are obvious to the local—‘visited’—people, but are taken at face value by



Figure 1The location of Puerto Vallarta

the non-locals—the ‘visitors’. In the case of PV,the situation is complicated, as Everitt and Wel-sted (1999) have reported for another destinationin Jalisco, because many of the locals are them-selves recent migrants, and the non-locals con-sist of tourists of various kinds, including Mexi-cans, who stay for a few days or weeks as wellas ‘snowbirds’ who stay for months, and ‘expats’who call PV home. It is thus more difficult to de-construct the Vallartan sense of place, and this

process is complicated further by the change inthese imprints over time and over space.

The impacts of tourism on PV are extremelysignificant. For example, in terms of the sightsand sounds of the visitors as they join the lo-cal residents and amble, and occasionally jog,along the Malecon, participating in the traditionof the paseo, so common in many Latin coun-tries, partaking of the ‘sun, sand and sea’ at oneof the beach resorts, or arriving from one of the



frequent cruise ships and taking taxis or specialbuses to the shopping areas of the town to spendtheir time, as well as their pesos or (US) dollarsfor the few hours the cruise ship is in harbour.

Distinct land use patterns have emerged thatmirror the influence of the tourists who stayfor long or short periods, and reside in mod-ern large all-inclusive hotel complexes, in thecheaper older small hotels in old PV, in time-share apartments or condominiums. Commercialdistricts have developed and Internet cafes, artgalleries, bars, cafes and night clubs catering toa variety of tastes and budgets are in evidenceand complement the traditional plazas, which areone of the basic land use forms that character-ize a major social and economic feature of mostvillages, towns and cities in Mexico. In additionto particular land use patterns that are evidenton the ground and are readily mapped, thereare perceptual patterns that are superimposed onthe spaces of PV. The common physical place isshared by a number of users, and the types ofusers can vary between the early morning, theafternoon and the late night scene. In this arti-cle we comment on selected elements of thesespaces.1

Clearly there are significant impacts on the lo-cal economy in terms of investments inter aliaby the public and private sectors, on infrastruc-ture such as roads, bridges, sewage plants andwater treatment facilities, as well as health, ed-ucation and cultural facilities, such as the newMuseo Historico Naval and the Centro Cultural RioCuale, which serve to enhance the attractivenessof the place for tourists. Visitors are encouragedto purchase a full range of goods to remembertheir time in PV. Indeed, the growth of employ-ment opportunities related to tourism is a topicworthy of careful consideration in a complete as-sessment of the impacts of tourism. There arealso impacts in terms of personal security andnumerous measures are taken to ensure that vis-itors feel safe. Tourist security services (‘TouristPolice’) and arrangements to protect resorts fromunwelcome visitors are in evidence, and the abun-dance of police and other official uniformed

1 The choice of representative elements was made in concertwith our faculty collaborators as well as local key informantswho were long-term residents of PV and thus cognizant of thechanges that have been stimulated by tourism.

personnel attests to the ways that the local gov-ernment tries to ensure that tourists can roamfreely around the town at all times of the day ornight.

Coastal resorts: The case of Puerto Vallarta

The coastal resort has long been a magnetfor tourists and recreationalists. Although theRomans frequented coastal settlements for recre-ational purposes, the coastal resort of today ac-cording to Hugill (1975) and Pearce (1995, 136)has its roots in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European seaside towns, and the elitesoften chose such locations, for example Biar-ritz in France, for health purposes. Mass tourismbecame a feature of contemporary societies inthe industrialized states in the latter part ofthe twentieth century, and with it came a mul-titude of new coastal resorts such as Cancun,Cozumel, Acapulco and PV, catering in part tonew tourists, such as cruise-shippers. Torres andMomsen (2005) clearly associate these places withthe latest developments in the leisure and trans-portation industries, which can be seen as bothpositive and negative. In 1997 the Council forEnvironmental Cooperation, an agency set up inMontreal under NAFTA, released to the public a‘factual report’ on a proposal to build a cruiseship terminal at Cozumel. This report illustratesthe concerns expressed by many about environ-mental consequences of a growing tourist in-dustry based on cruise ships (http://www.cec.org/files/pdf/COUNCIL/97–9e EN.pdf).

The coastal environment is part of a complexsystem, and problems with this environment af-fect peoples’ perceptions of and thus visitationsto a place. For instance, recently The Globe andMail has drawn attention to the damage of hur-ricanes and the effects on tourism in PV andelsewhere in Mexico and, for example, in Oc-tober 2002 a massive hurricane (Kenna) hit PVand an enormous amount of destruction occurredas well as deaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane Kenna; Massam et al. 2007). The worstof the hurricane’s effects occurred between SanBlas in Nayarit and PV in Jalisco, where over 100people were injured and thousands of homes andbusinesses were damaged or destroyed. Buhasz(2002) reported that a ‘week after hurricaneKenna plowed into Mexico’s Pacific coast near



PV, as many as five resorts and up to 1,600 ho-tel rooms in the city remain closed after sus-taining water damage’. But by the time of ournext research visit in the spring of 2003 mostof the damage had been repaired. Similarly, theCancun region has suffered considerable destruc-tion from hurricanes (Buhasz 2006; Weissert2006). But reflecting the importance of these re-sorts to the Mexican economy, the damage wasalso quickly repaired. Immen (2006) has drawnattention to the reaction of some tourists to theprospect of hurricanes, and he notes, ‘it’s hur-ricane time in the Caribbean. But despite lastyear’s record storm season, cruise passengersdon’t seem to be shying away’. In fact, cruisebookings have been strong, and many fall cruisesin the Caribbean are already full or near capac-ity, says Mary Jean Tully, president of The CruiseProfessionals agency in Mississauga. ‘Truth is, wearen’t seeing clients booking just because thereare deals’, she says.

Although many coastal resorts are quite recent,they are distinctive tourist places. First, they arebased upon, as Pearce (1995, 136) puts it, ‘sun-lust tourism’ and as a consequence have culturallandscapes that differ often markedly from othertourist areas, as they are based upon proximityto and use of the ocean. Second, there are dif-ferent kinds of coastal resorts that reflect differ-ent local factors, and that can give important in-sights into local cultures and the challenges ofand to these cultures. Although tourism promo-tion in Vallarta is not significantly based uponethnicity, there are elements of what van denBerghe (1995) calls ethnic tourism in the localarea. Third, these resorts are located in geomor-phological zones that are commonly more frag-ile than other physical environments, resulting ina series of ecological challenges. Fourth, and asa direct result of the first three points, coastalresorts are often confronted by a series of con-tentious social issues, are usually associated withplanning nightmares, and are often areas whereecological conflicts and confrontations are con-tinually coming to the fore. Many of these issueshave arisen extremely rapidly.

The early growth of Puerto Vallarta

A relatively recent place in the Mexican con-text, PV officially became a municipality of about

3,000 people in 1918 and a city in 1968 (de Ocade Contreras 2002). It succeeded an earlier set-tlement dating from the mid-nineteenth centuryknown as Las Penas (The Rocks). Although it wasassociated with commercial fishing and to someextent agriculture at an early date, its first im-portant connection with tourism is usually datedto the opening of its first true hotel, the HotelRosita in 1948. The first provision of tourist ser-vices by the local population began in 1952. Inthe succeeding years, Americans began to buildhomes along the Cuale River (in what becameknown as ‘Gringo Gulch’), but development re-mained predominantly in the hands of Mexicans(de Oca de Contreras 2002). In 1954 the begin-ning of air transportation made the city more ac-cessible to the rest of the world, and a sport-fishing club began in 1955, but the next majorevent that brought Vallarta to the attention ofthe rest of the world came a decade later. Toquote a Vallarta Web site: ‘In 1963, with the film-ing of “The Night of the Iguana” in nearby Mis-maloya (south of town), PV was mentioned on theworld news and quickly became one of the mostpopular destinations in the Mexican Riviera’ es-pecially for Anglo-Americans (http://www.puerto–vallarta.com). The first cruise ship, the PrincessPatricia, arrived in the mid-1960s, but like mostvessels had to anchor offshore. In the 1970s,government policies to increase population inthis Jalisco coast area coincided with a rapid in-crease in vacation time and disposable income forAnglo-Americans (Hall and Page 2002), and PV be-gan to grow more rapidly as a tourist resort, al-though remaining a very Mexican place in manyways.

Successive governments have promotedtourism as a mechanism for encouraging eco-nomic development (Pearce 1989), and tourismhas become the driving force behind the overallgrowth of the Vallarta region. The local physicalgeography has been a major factor in shapingthis growth. PV is located at the head (east end)of Banderas Bay, the ‘Bay of Flags’ (Figure 2), firstexplored in the early 1500s by Francisco Cortesde San Buenaventura, nephew of the famous Con-quistador Hernan Cortes. He so named the Baybecause he was received by 20,000 Indians bear-ing feather flags. Banderas is the Spanish wordfor flags. The town itself was founded in 1851and was named after Ignacio L. Vallarta in 1918.



Figure 2The Vallarta Coast of Banderas Bay

It became a city in 1968 (http://www.pvconnect.com/map.html). It is located in the northwestcorner of the State of Jalisco, but is adjacent tothe border of the State of Nayarit, the bound-ary of which runs along the valley of the RioAmeca. However, this natural boundary hasrecently proved to be a source of political andsocial challenges, particularly associated with thetourist industry. The Old Town of PV is backedby a series of highlands (up to 2,000 metres inheight), which give considerable scenic value toVallarta in addition to affecting the local weather

and climate. However, these mountainous areasalso cause challenges for the process of urbangrowth by restricting the amount of easilyserviceable land that can be used for buildingconstruction, as well as for transportation. As aconsequence, traffic congestion is a major andgrowing negative characteristic of PV, and isa continually growing challenge in this region(Chavez Arce, personal communication). Thesesite characteristics are particularly important tothe understanding of recent growth patterns inthe Vallarta region. At one time poorer housing



was concentrated in these hills, but recentlyexpensive tourist villas have been taking overthis scenic landscape, and the indigenous orat least local population has been impelled tomove elsewhere, along with newer in-migrants.This movement has been further inland, as wellas to satellite settlements in the greater urbanregion and is important to an understanding ofthe development of tourism in the Banderas Bayregion.

The Making of Puerto Vallarta

Clearly, the people in this region have been dra-matically affected by tourism. It is hard to ex-amine precisely these effects, in part because itis difficult to decide exactly who has been af-fected and to what degree. However, interviewswith key informants over the last 8 years on anannual basis consistently support this assertion.These key informants also assisted the authorsin the identification of important developmentsin tourism that have affected PV (that we werelater able to map), as well as the most appropri-ate variables to be included in the questionnairesurveys.

The indigenous Indian groups have been im-pacted, but they may have had little historicalcoastal presence. Many Mexicans who have beenaffected are later arrivals; many of whom maythemselves be products of, and players within,tourism. Vallarta has many immigrants and theyare by no means all Anglo-Americans. To a greatextent these subgroups can be seen to live in dif-ferent social spaces (Figure 32) and to some ex-tent have different and unpredictable reactions totourism (Harrison 2001; Iroegbu and Chen 2002).Cultural integration of these different groups hasnot, of course, been equal and various socialstrata have been produced. To a large extent,these appear to be reproductions of social sec-tors found elsewhere in Mexico, with the tourist,snowbird and expat groups as an added ingredi-ent to the mix. Thus although Indians are foundin the Vallarta area they tend to be less afflu-

2 This map was produced from key informant interviews thatincluded simple cognitive mapping questions based upon thework of Lynch (1960), Orleans (1973) and Everitt (1976), aswell as site verification using field research over an 8-yearperiod.

ent and less well integrated than other groups.They are commonly represented as street orbeach sellers of goods that have been made com-mercially or in traditional ways using traditionaltechniques. Other less well educated groups actas taxi drivers, construction workers and ser-vice workers. Most of these occupations are rel-atively poorly paid, and are clearly affected bythe seasonal nature of tourism. Although someof the locals voice concern about the threats thattourism may constitute to their quality of life(Massam and Everitt 2001; Massam et al. 2003),most residents of the Vallarta region, as has beenfound elsewhere by Gjerald (2005), still seem tobelieve that tourism benefits will outweigh itscosts.

As noted earlier, Vallarta was originally an agri-cultural centre and a fishing village, and wasisolated from the rest of Mexico. The first dirtroad to Guadalajara (the state capital) was builtin 1941. Even after its incorporation as a mu-nicipality PV retained its earlier functions, withsome tourist activities being grafted onto theoriginal Mexican settlement. Despite the influenceof air travel, Hollywood and tourism, growth hasbeen (until recently) quite slow. From 12,500 in1964, by 1970 (when development in Cancun be-gan) the population of the settlement had risento only 24,115. However by 1990 the popula-tion of PV had grown to 111,457 and that ofthe Jalisco coast, which can be viewed as greaterPV, now has an estimated population of over350,000 (Jimenez Martınez, 1998; http://www.pvconnect.com/map.html), has at least 15,000 ho-tel rooms (http://www.puerto–vallarta.com), andreceives over two million visitors annually. PVnow receives about 30 percent of the totaltourists of Jalisco State. Between 1970 and 1990,the tertiary sector of the economy (principally atourist-oriented sector) increased in value from59 to 82 percent, with the primary sector drop-ping from 10 to 2 percent, and the secondarysector from 24 to 16 percent (Jimenez Martınez1998).

Arguably the most noticeable recent develop-ments along the Jalisco coast have been the cul-tural landscape changes that, as is often the case,provide primary sources of information that en-able us to understand the evolution of a region.Over the past 20 years the urban area has growndramatically, and what was once a Mexican centre



Figure 3Social Areas of Puerto Vallarta

with tourism grafted onto it, has become a popu-lar resort, a ‘leisure product’ (Hall and Page 2002,114; Shaw and Williams 2002) with a Mexicancharacter. However, the relatively slow and recentpopulation growth has meant that the retention

of ‘character’ has become part of the charm ofthe settlement and this has become official policyin the city, which for instance restricts buildingheights and controls other elements of the cul-tural landscape. There is evidence, however, that



this character is eroded when the demands of in-creasing tourism conflict with traditional values.Thus one hotel on the coast that was constructedin 2006 is exceeding the official height limits,apparently because of the political connectionsof the developers, and three of the four historiccity plazas are being transformed to accommo-date car parking.

Arreola and Curtis (1993, 133) suggest thatfive traditional functions, notably plazas, relativecompactness, core versus periphery traditions,distinctive barrios and small neighbourhoodstores and stands, have persisted in many Mex-ican cities despite significant cultural landscapechange. Although all five are characteristic ofPV, the plaza is particularly indicative of cur-rent events in the region and nowhere ‘is theimpress of tradition more evident than in theplazas of El Centro’. The main plaza (Plaza deArmas) was the principal public space and wascommonly surrounded by institutions such as thechurch and government offices. It was often ahub of commercial activity, as well as for so-cial and recreational activities (Figure 4). WhatArreola and Curtis (1993, 45) term ‘proper Span-ish colonial towns’ also had smaller secondaryplazas that had different functions and were re-lated to different patterns of urban activities. Toa greater or lesser extent these spaces and placeshave maintained themselves as the urban formshave grown and developed and ‘modernized’, andtaken on different functions such as modern-day industry and commerce, and recreation andtourism. Everitt et al. (2004) and Massam andEveritt (2004) have described the four importantplazas within the old city of PV. One is clearly themost important, with the other three having al-ways been subordinate to it as public spaces andplaces, but just as obviously all contained manyelements of a common model. Although plazasin PV are very traditional, they are also subject tochange. Over the period 2005–2007 one had beenconverted to a parking garage, and undergroundparking had been added to two others (Massamet al. 2007).

However eroded by perceived necessity, thisconcern for the traditional continues to con-trast with manufactured resorts such as Cancunand Los Cabos as reported by Hoffman (1992)and Torres and Momsen (2005), and as we shallsee, the ‘integrally planned resort’ that is being

Figure 4Generic Plan of a Mexican Plaza

built at Nuevo Vallarta. One result is that thecore/downtown of the city (Viejo Vallarta) still re-tains many older buildings, of traditional archi-tectural style, although many of these have been



converted from upper status housing to restau-rants, art galleries and Internet cafes. Despitethese recent changes, which include the ‘popular-ization’ of the town with the standard fast foodchains and clubs of Anglo America (such as Mc-Donald’s, Wendy’s, Hooters, Domino’s and PlanetHollywood), PV is considered by many to be the‘most Mexican’ of all the beach destinations inMexico. Its home state of Jalisco is known as the‘most Mexican’ of all the states, due to its richtraditions and folklore.3

In part the retention of this character reflectsthe position of Vallarta within the Mexican urbansystem. For the Vallartan urban area is clearlydominated by the primate city of Guadalajara asthis latter centre is itself dominated by MexicoCity. Several million people live in and aroundGuadalajara, and many Puerto Vallartans accessthis urban area on a fairly regular basis for manytraditional urban functions (such as health care,higher education, shopping and entertainment).As a consequence, the Jalisco coast area has nottaken on some of the urban functions that mightotherwise be associated with a central place for350,000 people, and the CBD is still noticeablylow-rise and non-metropolitan in form, and hasbecome in essence a recreational business district(RBD) with true CBD functions being few and farbetween.

Today the greater PV region can be seen as aseries of zones (Figure 2). Not surprisingly, thesecorrelate well with social areas within the city(Figure 3), that are important, as will be discussedbelow, in terms of the making of the tourist land-scape. Although traditionally three (Viejo Vallarta,the North Hotel Zone and Marina Vallarta) havebeen recognized within PV, nowadays at leastthree others (the South Hotel Zone, South PV andNuevo Vallarta) directly related to tourism areclearly identified within the larger region. Outsideof these are areas of population (such as squattersettlements) that are functionally tied to tourism,but which rarely are used by tourists. They areessentially removed from the ‘tourist gaze’ (Nor-ton 2006, 372) and rarely even appear on the

3 PV claims to have given to Mexico its traditional costume,the charro; its national beverage, Tequila; and its most rep-resentative music, that of the Mariachi (http://www.puerto–vallarta.com).

popular maps given to tourists (Massam et al.2007).

Tourist Imprints on Puerto Vallarta

The effects of tourism on the Vallarta region areboth broad in scale and deep in consequence, andare briefly illustrated by a selection of what weterm the tourist imprints. A number of culturalimprints are discussed that fit into the urbanlandscape context elucidated above. These cul-tural imprints were not selected at random, butrepresent some of the most important tourismimprints on PV. Although some of these imprintsmay be found throughout the Vallarta region, ourillustrations are particularly drawn from the his-toric urban zones immediately to the south andnorth of the Cuale River: the commodified his-toric landscapes. This is where they are betterdeveloped, and have had a more widespread andprominent influence. The data that produced thediscussions of these imprints were gathered fromthree sources. First, published vernacular litera-ture, of which there is abundance in Vallarta, wascollected and surveyed over an 8-year time pe-riod. This data source was supplemented by field-work over the same time period, as well as keyinformant interviews.

In addition to the cultural imprints, an eco-logical imprint, popularly known as an ecolog-ical footprint, is developed in more detail toemphasize the environmental effects of tourism,which Everitt et al. (2005) suggest have beenneglected in the tourism literature. These datawere collected by using a standardized question-naire (in Spanish or English depending upon thesub-sample), which was downloaded from the In-ternet. The questionnaires were applied by theresearch team to a series of different sub-samplesto build as complete a picture as possible of thisfootprint.

Cultural imprints

Five cultural imprints—hotels, restaurants, thegay community, art galleries and Internet cafes—were selected to demonstrate the influence oftourism upon place making in Vallarta. Thefive were chosen after discussions with our key



informants. In addition, our field research indi-cated that they were representative of the ma-jor developments of tourism in the Vallartan cul-tural landscape, and were imprints that were rec-ognized by both locals and non-locals. In socialterms these important symbolic spaces include allmajor kinds of visitors, as well as many locals.At the same time they represent both small andlarge groups, both traditional and modern activ-ities, as well as activities that are acceptable tothe majority of people and those that representspaces of resistance to the dominant social order.

Hotel imprints. Hall and Page (2002, 114) notethat hotels are a critical part of the ‘leisureproduct’ that characterize places such as contem-porary PV. The hotel industry is now a globalindustry, with significant internal differentiationthat in PV comprises traditional and modern ho-tels. Traditional hotels are locally owned and in-expensive, whereas modern hotels are owned bylarge companies and in many cases by interna-tional hotel chains. Both have a number of im-portant place characteristics, which are relatedto their location, landscape characteristics, andclientele. First, the traditional hotels are locatedaway from the beach and are mostly on the in-land side of Insurgentes, a major street in thezona romantica. Second, they are smaller, havea lower vertical profile, and follow traditionalarchitectural styles. Third, the clientele is dis-tinctive. As this area is generally more peaceful,more ‘Mexican’, and of course a lower-rent dis-trict, it attracts tourists who cannot afford, orwho do not wish to live in the more expensivehotels in PV. These tourists tend to be what Co-hen (1972) has termed ‘explorers’ or ‘drifters’,and what Plog (1974, 2004) identified as ‘ventur-ers’. Pearce (1995) points out that these differenttypes of tourist seek different destinations thatwill change over time. Our research indicates thatthey also seek different areas within a destina-tion. These also are likely to change over time.For instance, the Hotel Rosita was once a mem-ber of the traditional category, but rebuilding andrenovation have now moved it into the moderncategory.

Modern hotels are found in Nuevo Vallarta,the Marina, and in the North Hotel Zone. Theseare commonly owned by chains such as Holi-day Inn, Sheraton, Marriott, Four Seasons and

Figure 5Hotels in Historic Puerto Vallarta

Mayan Palace. They are also increasingly foundalong with their functional cousins, the high-rise condominiums, in the coastal areas of thezona romantica (Figure 5). These hotels are over-sized, and sell themselves in large part by being



close to or adjacent to the high-rent beach areas,as well as often being ‘all inclusive’ but at thesame time exclusive of the local Mexican popu-lation.4 In addition to their size they are char-acterized by modern architectural styles and arecommonly high-rise buildings. The modern hotelsin the zona romantica attract a different kind oftourist from the traditional hotels, but also a dif-ferent kind from the chains found elsewhere inVallarta. The chains tend to cater to what Co-hen (1972) termed the ‘organized mass tourist’,with the modern hotels in the old town cateringmore commonly to the ‘individual mass tourist’who wants upscale physical facilities, but wishesto design their own social agenda and choosetheir own patterns of recreation. These ‘nearventurers’ or ‘centric venturers’ as Plog (1974,2004) calls them often try to deliberately distancethemselves from the more so-called dependabletourists in the hotel chains. They do this both intheir activity spaces as well as in their minds. Ininterviews they like to make it clear that they aredifferent. In many instances these tourists begantheir foreign experiences in hotel chains but havenow graduated (as they see it) to a more prefer-able level of tourism. They are commonly regularvisitors to PV, often booking similar accommoda-tion from year to year. They tend to avoid or-ganized mass tours and plan their own trips—albeit often to locations also frequented by masstourists. They thus exhibit another important as-pect of modern tourist behaviour, the ability tobe in the same space as other tourists, but in adifferent place.

Restaurant imprints. Although many restau-rants are found within hotels, particularly in thehotel zones, El Centro and the romantic zonealso contain a variety of eating establishmentsthat cater particularly to the non-local population(Figure 6). These eating-places are varied in size,both small and large, and range from ‘five star’to ‘no star’ as well as the street stands that typi-cally cater to local demand. There are, of course,many Mexican food restaurants, but also others

4 On one occasion, one of our research colleagues who is moreAnglo-American in his features entered one of these hotelswith Everitt and Massam with no problem. His brother, fol-lowing a few paces behind, and with more Indian features,was initially refused entry by the security personnel.

Figure 6Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta



catering to a variety of tastes including Chinese,French, Italian, Spanish and nouveau cuisine style,as well as pizza and hamburger style places(Arana 2004). Some generalizations can be madeabout this footprint. The popular food restau-rants of Anglo-American origin (e.g., McDonald’s,Wendy’s, Domino’s and the No Name Cafe) aremostly close to or in the Malecon area of down-town. This is the area frequented most com-monly by the mass tourists, and particularly theyouth and families. The higher priced restaurantsare usually farther from the seashore and far-ther uphill in El Centro, away from the maddingcrowds. The romantic zone is more mixed, butshows little evidence of North American chains:there are hamburger and pizza places, but theyare more upscale in their architecture and foodpresentation, and locally owned. This area con-tains a variety of restaurants, many of which arequite expensive, with the cheaper restaurants andthose catering to the local population and Co-hen’s (1972) explorers, usually being found far-ther inland (east of Insurgentes).

The gay community. It has long been notedby Norton (2006) and Knox (1995) among oth-ers that minority groups identify with and livewithin segregated spaces that are diverse andheterogeneous. In recent years Vallarta has de-veloped a large gay community, which has con-centrated in the commercial and residential ar-eas of the zona romantica, in particular, butalso in El Centro (Figure 7). Such concentrationshave been shown to exist in other cities suchas San Francisco, Philadelphia and Vancouver,BC (Clift et al. 2002; Norton 2006). Businessesowned by, or catering to, the PV gay popula-tion are rarely obvious to most passers-by, buta guide to this ‘place’ has been produced andpublished, and is readily if not widely available(Gay Guide Vallarta 2005). A related website alsoexists (http://www.gayguidevallarta.com/). Usingthe terminology discussed by Knox (1995), thegay space of Vallarta constitutes an ‘enclave’where the community has clustered together inorder to maintain internal cohesion and pro-vide mutual support for its members. The busi-nesses advertised in the gay guide are commonlyoriented to both heterosexual and homosexualcommunities, with this being most true of restau-

Figure 7The gay community imprint in Puerto Vallarta



rants. In other instances they are clearly orientedto the gay community alone (Jordan-Bychkov etal.. 2006). Thus ‘Blue Chairs’ is a well-known gay-oriented hotel on the Playa Los Muertos. Its bluebeach chairs and its advertising (‘The largest gayand lesbian beachfront resort in the world!’) makeclear statements as to the sexual orientation ofthe clientele. Similarly Diana’s Tours advertisesPV’s Gay Cruise. The large majority of the adver-tising is aimed at gay men rather than lesbians,which according to Norton (2006, 306–313) ap-pears to be the usual state of affairs in thesesexual landscapes. Colloquially PV is said to bethe largest gay community outside of San Fran-cisco, although no way to quantify this assertionhas been found.

Art galleries. PV has long prided itself as a cen-tre for the arts, including the performing arts,fashion, jewellery, sculpture, writing and more re-cently gallery art (de Oca de Contreras 2002). Inrecent years PV has attempted to sell itself as an‘intriguing’ art destination (Gallery Guide 2004),and this has produced an important and distinc-tive imprint on the landscape. Although aimed inpart at tourists, this form of expression has be-come more associated with Mexicans, snowbirdsand expats—particularly from Anglo America. Itis claimed that PV has ‘more important galleriesthan anywhere else in Mexico with the exceptionof the capital’ (Gallery Guide 2004). The first pro-fessional gallery (Gallerıa Uno) was founded in1971 (Old Town Art Walk 2004–2005), and to-day at least two dozen are in operation at anyone time, with the vast majority being located inEl Centro or the romantic zone (Figure 8). Manyof these are located in ‘character’ buildings, mostof which were previously large houses, often ofthe old elite. Artists from around the world nowcall PV home, but the majority come from theUnited States. Some of these have become long-term residents in PV. Self-guided ‘Art Walks’ (withbrochures and maps) combined with cocktail artexhibitions are now regular features in PV, asare art classes and training workshops. The cul-tural plaza (Centro Cultural Cuale) is a fine ex-ample of a space devoted to the teaching of thearts including, sculpture, drawing, painting, folkdance, photography, theatre, the guitar and otherLatin American instruments. Interviews in 2007

Figure 8Art galleries in Puerto Vallarta



confirmed that most of the clients in the studiosthat surround the plaza are Mexicans.

In the same vein are public sculptures, partic-ularly those along the Malecon, including ‘TheSeahorse’ which has become one of Vallarta’smost recognized place-making symbols withinthis artistic symbolic space. Recently ‘Indian Art’has been promoted and many stores and stallsnow sell Huichol artifacts. Attempts to pro-mote this through official stores, which gave theHuichol a greater presence in the trade, werequickly circumvented by entrepreneurs, and Hui-chol crafts are now widespread throughout com-mercial Vallarta. Strangely Mayan art and artifactsare also sold in PV, presumably capitalizing uponname recognition rather than historical authentic-ity, as the Mayan homeland is far removed fromcoastal Jalisco.

The Internet cafe. The last cultural imprint thatwe recognize is arguably the most recent, namely,the Internet cafe (Figure 9). Although somewhatconcentrated, it represents a major addition toVallarta’s tourist landscape, as well as a dramaticdevelopment in PV’s connectivity with the outsideworld. PV, for most of its existence, was charac-terized by poor external communications (de Ocade Contreras 2002). Although land and air trans-portation have improved in recent years, otherforms of communication infrastructure, which arecritical to tourism (Harrison 2001), such as tele-phones, have lagged behind. Landlines have beenpoor and even cell phones are unpredictable(Richter 2001). The Internet began to have an im-pact in the last decade and this was acceleratedby the beginnings of broadband connections andby the Internet cafe. The Cyber-C@fe, one of thelonger-lasting operations, promotes itself as hav-ing offered the Internet since 2001! Modern ho-tels (such as the Krystal) sometimes supply thisform of communication to their patrons but formany visitors, and especially those staying forlonger periods of time, the Internet cafe has be-come their lifeline to the outside world. Many In-ternet cafes have had a short lifetime, but thereare usually a dozen or more operating in El Cen-tro and the romantic zone at any particular time,as well as others in the North Hotel Zone. Somehave become fixtures in the landscape and theactivity patterns of the visitors, and now the NetHouse asks travelers, “Have you e-mailed your

Figure 9Internet cafes in Puerto Vallarta

mother today?” (Gay Guide Vallarta 2005). Al-though the non-local population probably stimu-lated the opening of many cafes, there are nowoperations that mostly serve the local people, and



particularly the youth of Vallarta. PV’s tourist im-prints are now firmly in and of the twenty-firstcentury.

Ecological imprints. In concert with much ofthe rest of the world, ecotourism has becomea major player in the tourist scene in Vallarta,although as elsewhere, there are debates aboutwhether ecotourism can deliver economic bene-fits, or whether it is just ‘green greed’ (Duffy2002). Certainly, the impacts of the modern daytourist upon the environment have increasinglybecome central to life in Vallarta, and as Ryan(1991, 95) has suggested, it ‘is not difficult tomake the case that tourism is damaging to theenvironment’. Within the Vallarta urban area traf-fic, air and water pollution have perhaps been themost commonly voiced areas of concern. But out-side of the geographic city, there are differentimprints as the rural environments are increas-ingly affected, and surrounding small towns suchas El Tuito and Las Palmas (Figure 1) see a steadyincrease in tourist numbers. Although many ofthese are Plog’s (1974, 2004) venturers, with aconcern for environmental preservation and eco-tours, others are more dependable, going on or-ganized trips to the wilderness in safari buses,rented jeeps and four-wheel ATVs.

These qualitative changes in tourism have,as discussed earlier, occurred in tandem withthe quantitative changes in tourist numbersand their consequent environmental impacts. Al-though such developments can be mapped inthe way that we showed the cultural imprints,it was decided to use a different, more variedmetric to demonstrate the ecological imprint oftourism. This work is part of an ongoing researchproject in Jalisco and is known as ecological foot-print analysis. Although pioneered in Canada byWackernagel and Rees (1996), and having an ar-guably Anglo-American bias in its methodology,it has now been used in many parts of theworld as a means of measuring human impacton the earth (e.g., Barcelona 1998; Wackernagel1998; Santa Monica 2004; Chavez et al. 2006a,2006b). More recently efforts have been made topromote the use of a carbon footprint survey(www.climatecare.org) to make citizens aware ofthe damage being done to the environment andto promote responsible behaviour by citizens tocontribute to the reduction of global warming,

and the adverse effects that are now being feltaround the world and which have attracted muchpublicity, such as Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth(http://www.climatecrisis.net/). Many tourists ar-rive in PV by air and the carbon footprint of suchtravel is disturbing. The prospect of the imposi-tion of a carbon tax on plane tickets could havenegative repercussions on the number of touristswho could afford to fly to this place.

Ecological footprint analysis is a simplified ac-counting tool that enables us to estimate theresource consumption and waste assimilationrequirements of a defined human populationor economy in terms of a corresponding pro-ductive land area. We suggest that its usehelps to encourage a debate among citizensregarding sustainability, as it raises conscious-ness about the impacts of particular life styleson the environment. This indeed was one ofthe overall findings of this exercise. A de-tailed report on the work undertaken in PV onthe ecological footprint is available in Everittet al. (2005) and draws upon a question-naire that allows calculation of the consumptionthat relates to specific types of human activity(www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp). The eco-logical footprint quiz is structured around a setof 16 questions that focus on four basic cat-egories of human activities each of which con-tributes to demand for land: food, mobility, shel-ter and goods and services. Scores are calculatedthat give the ecological footprints of the indi-vidual filling out the quiz. Although there aremethodological challenges to this quiz technique,and some of our sub-sample sizes are problem-atic, interesting and consistent data can result.For instance, the number of planets (a rough ver-nacular guide to resource use on ‘planet earth’,with a score of 1.0 meaning that all of thepresent resources would be accounted for) thatwould be needed to sustain groups of similar in-dividuals can be calculated. Two hundred strati-fied random interviews were conducted in PV in2005, and the selected results indicated that

1) Tourists need 8.5 planets, if everybody livedlike them (n = 22).

2) Mexican visitors need 5.8 planets (n = 15).3) Seniors in PV need 2.6 planets (n = 16).4) Middle-aged PV residents need 1.6 planets (n =

15).



5) Younger PV residents need 1.3 planets (n =30).

6) Expatriate school teachers need 1.7 planets(n = 8).

7) Poor PV residents need 1.9 planets (n = 30).

Clearly tourists, especially visitors to PV fromCanada and the United States have very large eco-logical footprints compared with the others weinterviewed. And those who arrived by plane willtypically have large carbon footprints.

With respect to these results it is clear thateven at the scale of PV, if many others followedthe general pattern of life style and consumptionbehaviour then a heavy strain would be placed onthe carrying capacity of Jalisco and PV. The sam-ple of teachers also has some members with highecological footprints; typically they are expatri-ates working as visitors in PV. Two other groups,Mexican visitors to PV and the middle-aged peo-ple, have fairly high ecological footprints. It isnot surprising that the poor have among the low-est footprints, but even their lifestyles are unsus-tainable in the long term. An extension of thisanalysis to other areas of Jalisco in 2005 pro-duced similar results. In this case respondents intwo localities to the south of Vallarta, Cabo Corri-entes and Tomatlan, would need 1.5 and 1.6 plan-ets, respectively, and residents in the rural areasaround PV would need 1.5 planets, whereas thepeople in the Bahıa de Banderas region in gen-eral would need 2.4 planets. Obviously the con-centration of tourists in PV adds enormously tothe ecological footprint and their high levels ofconsumption will inevitably place a strain on thesupply of resources in the region. The inequali-ties in size of footprints between locals and visi-tors are evident and this may have serious socialconsequences in the future as the inequalities be-come more widely known and understood by res-idents of PV.

As Hall and Page (2002) have noted, the eco-logical imprint of tourists in the PV region, aselsewhere in the world, is both important andunsustainable and undoubtedly increasing. Al-though further research needs to be completed,our preliminary analysis demonstrates the impactof tourism upon all aspects of life, and earlier re-search by our team in Jalisco showed that manylocals believe that this will reduce their qualityof life (Massam and Everitt 2001; Massam 2002;

Massam et al. 2003). Whale watching, kayaking,snorkeling and scuba diving may not in them-selves be as environmentally unfriendly as someof the other tourist activities, but they cannot belooked at in isolation. When combined with food,lodging and transportation they can have a sig-nificant threatening imprint upon this study re-gion.

Conclusions

In its vision statement, SECTUR, the Secretarıa deTurismo of the Mexican government, whose mis-sion is to take the lead in developing tourism inMexico, predicts that the country will be one ofthe world’s leading tourist destinations in 2025(http://www.sectur.gob.mx/wb2/secturing/sect 2home). Indeed PV’s specialization on tourism andits impacts are sources of concern. The diversifi-cation of the local economy should be sought andencouraged by government and private initiativesrather than an excessive dependency on revenuesand employment from tourism. These points,along with environmental protection, shouldarguably be part of the efforts of FONATUR onthe Vallarta coast with its planning of the NuevoVallarta area in Nayarit into what they call an‘integrally planned resort’, (www.therealmexico.com/fonatur.htm). So far, however, this agencyhas been principally concerned with raisingcapital and promoting new infrastructures. Thearea of the PV region within Jalisco has not asyet been the focus of attention of this stateagency, but given the very significant role oftourism in PV, and its potential role to enhancethe standard of living of citizens, we hope thatenvironmental sustainability does become aregional concern, and perhaps one of the aimsof FONATUR.

We argue that monitoring the quality of lifeof citizens of PV as well as in the communi-ties within the hinterland of PV should be partof the ongoing evaluation of tourism. This couldbe complemented by systematic evaluations ofthe changing ecological footprints and the car-bon footprints of residents and visitors to thecity, as well as for citizens in outlying places.This type of analytical work yields specific indica-tors and measure of impacts to complement thedescriptive mapping exercises of land use pat-terns. We suggest that both types of results are



necessary to encourage public debate about theimpacts of tourism and assist government offi-cials in finding appropriate policies to implement.

The public spaces are working well in PV andthe recent plans in three of the four originalplazas to accommodate parking needs have been,for the most part, successfully designed to blendthe old with the new. Attractive public spacesthat link the Malecon to the main retailing areasand restaurants provide a milieu that is part ofthe basic character of PV, and further this pro-vides appropriate separation of pedestrians andtraffic. However, the increasing congestion due tocars, buses and taxis in the centre of the city isa serious problem that must be addressed. Theconstruction of more parking places in the cen-tre of PV is a measure that will not alleviate thisgrowing problem. Perhaps a plan for the devel-opment of improved mass transit on dedicatedtraffic lanes along the strip from the North Ho-tel Zone to the central city could be considered,and restrictions on the use of private vehicles incertain parts of PV at certain times.

The cruise ship business is firmly establishedin PV and is increasing globally. One topic offuture research that has been brought to our—attention by the key informants concerns thedistribution of benefits from the cruise shipbusiness: to what extent do local businesses andresidents benefit from the arrival of cruise ships?Information about the fees charged by PV to thecruise lines that dock in PV are not readily avail-able, and the balance sheet of costs and bene-fits deserves to be developed to encourage publicdebate and appropriate policy making. The gen-eral perception is that while the city has investedheavily in port and docking facilities and associ-ated water systems and sewage treatment plantsfor the ships, the financial benefits to the major-ity of citizens are difficult to discern. This topicdeserves closer examination.

Mathieson and Wall (1982, 177) suggested overtwo decades ago that ‘it is inevitable that the de-velopment of tourism will induce some impacts’.Although the leisurization of the Bahıa de Ban-deras region has been increasing for some time,the recent developments have led to more criti-cal debate than did the earlier developments. AsGunn and Var (2002) have suggested, the sacredcow of growth is being questioned increasinglyby both observers and researchers of tourism. In

PV, this scrutinization partly reflects the magni-tude of the recent changes, and thus its poten-tial impact locally, regionally, and even nation-ally, and partly the increasing landscape impactof tourism upon the older character areas of thecity. As Ryan (1991, 64 and 204) indicates, it isto be expected that tourist zones change overtime, as the tourist experience is bound withina psychological, social and cultural milieu that isevolving. Although Lea (1988) suggests it is im-portant not to let the industry expand beyondthe local capabilities to control it, such a devel-opment has occurred in PV. The ecological foot-print analysis clearly indicates that the size of thearea needed to sustain PV in terms of food andwater supply, waste disposal as well as energyproduction is several times larger than the mu-nicipality. Also, the footprints of long-term visi-tors are much larger than the poorer members ofthe local community, giving rise to questions ofequity and leading to tensions among the variousgroups in PV. In addition, as Pearce (1989) shows,tourist expansion is cyclical and there are likelyto be both ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ in the overall pro-cess over time. The big question is whether thisprobable growth and change can be maintainedand sustained in PV, and what form this mighttake. Can the various imprints be controlled sothat they do not lead to irreversible negativeimpacts?

Butler (1980) suggests that growth might beseen to prove to be beneficial or deleterious topre-existing developments. For PV it could beseen as beneficial if it allows Vallarta to retainthe character that has been part of its essence,and leads to a reduced negative impact, or evento a positive, planned, rejuvenation of the olderarea. It could be negative if it drains investmentfrom the areas of original growth, or if it leadsto the stagnation or decline of the place that wasthe initial attractive feature, and to environmen-tal degradation. It is vitally important to assessstrategically how many tourists are wanted in theVallarta region, and how many can be sustainedsocially, economically and environmentally withinthis area (Ryan 1991).

Although data limitations remain, and are likelyto continue into the foreseeable future, it hasbeen possible to identify a number of general pat-terns within Vallartan tourism, and the processesthat underlie these patterns. It is thus possible to



at least hypothesize some of the impacts of re-cent tourist developments in the Vallarta region.However, as major developments are still in anembryonic stage, scope exists for important re-search in this area. In particular there is a needto monitor the changes in morphology that arecurrently taking place so that the processes in-volved can be better understood, and further de-velopments in this area can be better plannedin order to allow for social, economic and envi-ronmental carrying capacities (Pearce 1995, Chap-ter 9). It is hoped that such research will enableus to better understand the impacts and chal-lenges of tourism in the Vallarta region as wellas give clues to similar activities on a larger na-tional and international scale.

Tourism as Wilks et al. (2005) have noted is achallenge in our turbulent times, and its imprintshave been the subjects of increasing criticismin recent years (South 1985; New Internationalist1993; Hall and 02). As we argue in thearticle, the global tourist industry is enormousand the Mexican component is growing rapidly,and moreover the impacts in PV are very signifi-cant for citizens in the state of Jalisco. The fieldof tourism in PV and the study of impacts de-mands increasing attention from academics, pub-lic agencies and concerned citizens. We hope thatour work on PV will contribute to this initiative.At a more general level of concern about con-sumerism, sustainability and tourism, we wouldhope that if lively civil conversations can be en-couraged among all stakeholders including citi-zens, investors, NGOs and public agencies, overtime the rise of Homo economicus as the driv-ing force of growth and social change will bereplaced by Homo susteins, and the way commu-nities reconcile economic change and growth withenvironmental sustainability. This challenge facesPV and many other tourist destinations.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many people of PV who helped inthis research. In addition, several faculty members from PVwere instrumental in the data collection process, and have ap-peared as coauthors on earlier publications. This research wassupported by York University, the Rural Development Instituteat Brandon University, the SSHRC through its Small Universitygrants to Brandon University, and by Universidad de Guadala-jara, Centro Universitario de la Costa, campus Puerto Vallarta.Many thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their valuablecomments, as well as the editor of TCG, Roger Hayter, and

Elaine Mandrish for the suggestions they offered. Any short-comings that remain are of course our responsibility.

References

AGUIAR, L. L. M., TOMIC, P., and TRUMPER, R. 2005 ‘Work hard, play hard:selling Kelowna, BC, as year-round playground’ The Cana-dian Geographer/Le Geographe canadien 49(2), 123–139

ARANA, J. ed. 2004 Social Vallarta Map Guide: Pocket Concierge(Puerto Vallarta: Social Vallarta)

ARREOLA, D. D., and CURTIS, J. R. 1993 The Mexican Border Cities: Land-scape Anatomy and Place Personality (Tucson: The Univer-sity of Arizona Press)

BARCELONA. 1998 La Petjada Ecologica de Barcelona: Una aproxi-acio (Barcelona: Barcelona City Council)

BOOTS, B. 2000 ‘Canadian Geography: 1996–2000’ The CanadianGeographer/Le Geographe canadien 44(1), 2–3

BRENNER, L., and AGUILAR, A. G. 2002 ‘Luxury tourism and regionaleconomic development in Mexico’ The Professional Geogra-pher 54(4), 500–520

BRENNER, L. 2005 ‘State-planned tourism destinations: the case ofHuatulco, Mexico’ Tourism Geographies 7(2), 138–164

BUHASZ, L. 2002 ‘Hurricane still hurting in Puerto Vallarta’ TheGlobe and Mail, November 2

—. 2006 ‘Back to the beach in Cancun’ The Globe and Mail,May 3

BUTLER, R. W. 1980 ‘The concept of a tourist area cycle of evo-lution: implications for the management of resources’ TheCanadian Geographer/Le Geographe canadien 24(1), 5–12

CASADO, M. 1997 ‘Mexico’s 1989–94 tourism plan: implicationsfor internal political and economic instability’ Journal ofTravel Research 36(1), 44–52

CHAVEZ, R. M. D., ROMO, E. A., SANCHEZ, R. E., and GONZALEZ, L. F. 2005 CaboCorrientes: Patrimonia Natural Y Cultural (Universidad deGuadaljara, Centro de la Costa)

CHAVEZ, R. M. D., ROMO, E. A., and SANCHEZ, R. E. 2006a ‘Patrimonio, tur-ismo y desarrollo sustentable: caso costa de Jalisco’ Teoriay Praxis 2(2), 9–23

CHAVEZ, R. M. D., CIFUENTES, J. L. L., ROMO, E. A., and SANCHEZ, R. E. 2006b ‘Huellaecologica y tourismo’ Teoria y Praxis 2(2), 137–156

CLANCY, M. 2001 ‘Mexican tourism: export growth and structuralchange since 1970’ Latin American Research Review 36(1),128–150

CLIFT, S., LUONGO, M., and CALLISTER, C. eds. 2002 Gay Tourism, Culture,Identity and Sex (London: Continuum)

COHEN, E. 1972 ‘Towards a sociology of international tourism’Social Research 39, 164–182

CRESSWELL, T. 2004 Place: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell)DAVIS, J. S. 2005 ‘Representing place: “deserted isles” and the

reproduction of bikini atoll’ Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers 95(3), 607–625

DE OCA DE CONTRERAS, C. M. 2002 Puerto Vallarta: My Memories, En-glish edition (Puerto Vallarta: Universidad de Guadaljara,Centro Universitario de la Costa)

DUFFY, R. 2002 A Trip Too Far: Ecotourism, Politics and Exploita-tion (London: Earthscan)

EVERITT, J. C. 1976 ‘Community and propinquity in a city’ Annalsof the Association of American Geographers 66(1), 104–116

EVERITT, J. C., and WELSTED, J. E. 1999 ‘Way down Yonder, down Mex-ico way: tourists, snowbirds and expats in Mexico’ PrairiePerspectives: Geographical Essays 2, 179–189



EVERITT, J. C., CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINO, R., CORTES, L. C., CUPUL-MAGANA, A., ESPINOSA

SANCHEZ, R., FERNANDO GONZALEZ-GUEVARA, L., GARCIA DE QUEVEDO-MACHAIN, R.,

and RAYMUNDO-HUIZAR, A. R. 2001 ‘Viva Vallarta! Impacts of there-definition of a tourist resort in Jalisco/Nayarit, Mexico’Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays 4, 186–204

EVERITT, J. C., MASSAM, B. H., ANDRADE ROMO, E., CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINO, R. M., ESPINOSA

SANCHEZ, R., ESPINOZA ORTIZ, A. F., GOMEZ DELGADO, A. B., DEL CARMEN NAVARRO

RODRIGUEZ, M., MEDINA COVARRUBIAS, P. E., RAYMUNDO-HUIZAR, A. R., GONZALEZ-

GUEVARA, L. F., HERNANDEZ CACHOU, L. G., CHAVEZ ARCE, J. R., and MUNGUIA

FREGOSO, C. 2004 Perceptions of Spaces in Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco, Mexico. Working Paper 2004-01 (Brandon University,Rural Development Institute)

EVERITT, J. C., MASSAM, B. H., ANDRADE ROMO, E., CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINO, R. M., DEL CARMEN

CORTES LARA, M., CUPUL-MAGANA, A., ESPINOZA SANCHEZ, R., GONZALEZ-GUEVARA, L. F.,

GARCIA DE QUEVEDO-MACHAIN, R., DEL CARMEN NAVARRO RODRIGUEZ, M., RAYMUNDO-

HUIZAR, A. R., HERNANDEZ CACHOU, L. G., CHAVEZ ARCE, J. R., HERNANDEZ CACHOU,

R., and MUNGUIA FREGOSO, C. 2005 Footprints on Puerto Vallarta:Social Spaces and Environmental Impacts. Working Paper2005-12 (Brandon University, Rural Development Institute)

GALLERY GUIDE. 2004 (Puerto Vallarta: Producciones Viva)GUARDIAN WEEKLY. 2007 ‘Tourism fears dent US economy’ February

9–15, 176(8), 2GAY GUIDE VALLARTA. 2005 (Puerto Vallarta: Carlos Alberto Romero

Dıaz)GJERALD, O. 2005 ‘Sociocultural impacts of tourism: a case study

from Norway’ Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 3(1),36–58

GREATHOUSE-AMADOR, L. M. 2005 ‘Tourism: a facilitator of socialawareness in an indigenous Mexican community?’ Reviewof Policy Research 22(5), 709–720

GUNN, C., and VAR, T. 2002 Tourism Planning: Basics, Concepts,Cases (London: Routledge)

HALL, C. M., and PAGE, S. J. 2002 The Geography of Tourism andRecreation: Environment, Place and Space, 2nd ed (NewYork: Routledge)

HARRISON, D. 2001 ‘Afterword’ in Tourism and the Less DevelopedWorld: Issues and Case Studies, ed. D. Harrison (Wallingford,Oxon: CABI) 251–263

HARVEY, D. W. 1993 ‘From space to place and back again: reflec-tions on the condition of postmodernity’ in Mapping theFutures. Local Cultures, Global Change, eds. J. Bird, B. Cur-tis, T. Putnam, G. Robertson, and L. Tickner (London: Rout-ledge) 3–29

HERNANDEZ-LOBATO, L., SOLIS-RADILLA, M., MOLINER-TENA, M., and SANCHEZ-GARCIA, J.

2006 ‘Tourism destination image, satisfaction, and loyalty:a study of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico’ Tourism Geographies8(4), 343–358

HOFFMAN, P. R. 1992 ‘Tourism and language in Mexico’s Los Cabos’Journal of Cultural Geography 12(2), 77–90

HUGILL, P. J. 1975 ‘Social conduct on the golden mile’ Annals ofthe Association of American Geographers 65(2), 21–22

HUTCHINGS, C. 1996 ‘Trouble in paradise’ The Geographical Mag-azine 68(1), 20–22

IMMEN, W. 2006 ‘Sun seekers choose cruises during hurricane sea-son’ The Globe and Mail, August 26

IROEGBU, H., and CHEN, J. S. 2002 ‘Urban residents’ reactions towardstourism: do subgroups exist?’ Tourism Analysis 6(2), 155–161

JIMENEZ MARTINEZ, A. DE J. 1998 Desarrollo Turıstico y Sustentabil-idad: El Caso de Mexico (Edotorial Miguel Angel Porrua:Amargura 4, San Angel, Alvaro Obregon, C.P. 01000, MexicoD.F.)

JORDAN, T. G., DOMOSH, M., NEUMANN, R. P., and PRICE, P. L. 2006 The Hu-man Mosaic: A Thematic Introduction to Cultural Geogra-phy, 10th ed (New York: W.H. Freeman)

KNOX, P. 1995 Urban Social Geography: An Introduction, 3rd ed(Harlow, Essex: Longman Scientific)

LEA, J. 1988 Tourism and Development in the Third World (NewYork: Routledge)

LOPEZ-LOPEZ, A., CUKIER, J., and SANCHEZ-CRISPIN, A. 2006 ‘Segrega-tion of tourist space’ Tourism Geographies 8(4), 359–379

LYNCH, K. 1960 The Image of the City (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)MASSAM, B. H. 2002 ‘Quality of life: public planning and private

living’ Progress in Planning 58(3), 141–227MASSAM, B. H., and EVERITT, J. C. 2001 ‘What the People say: a study of

quality of life in three towns in Jalisco, Mexico’ CanadianJournal of Urban Research 10 (2), 293–316

MASSAM, B. H., EVERITT, J. C., ANDRADE ROMO, E., CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINO, R. M., DEL CARMEN

CORTES LARA, M., CUPUL-MAGANA, A., ESPINOZA SANCHEZ, R., GONZALEZ-GUEVARA, L. F.,

GARCIA DE QUEVEDO-MACHAIN, R., DEL CARMEN NAVARRO RODRIGUEZ, M., RAYMUNDO-

HUIZAR, A. R., and HERNANDEZ CACHOU L .G. 2003 Quality of Life inthe Puerto Vallarta Region of Jalisco State, Mexico. Work-ing Paper 2003-01 (Brandon University, Rural DevelopmentInstitute)

MASSAM, B. H., and EVERITT, J. 2004 ‘The plaza as a public good: civicspaces in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico’ Prairie Perspectives: Geo-graphical Essays 7, 96–113

MASSAM, B. H., EVERITT, J. C., CHAVEZ-DAGOSTINO, R. M., ESPINOZA SANCHEZ, R., andANDRADE ROMO, E. 2007 Holiday in the Sun: The Impacts ofTourism on Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Discussion Pa-per 58 (York University, Canada: Department of Geogra-phy).

MATHIESON, A., and WALL, G. 1982 Tourism: Economic, Physical, andSocial Impacts (New York: Longman Scientific/Wiley)

MCCABE, S. 1998 ‘Contesting home: tourism, memory, and iden-tity in Sackville, New Brunswick’ The Canadian Geogra-pher/Le Geographe canadien 42(3), 231–245

MEYER-ARENDT, C. J. 2002 ‘Commentary: geographical research ontourism in Mexico’ Tourism Geographies 4(3), 255–260

MUNGIA FREGOSO, C. 1996 Puerto Vallarta; el paraiso escondido (Ed-itorial Agata S.A. de C.V. Guadaljara, Mexico)

NEW INTERNATIONALIST. 1993 ‘Wish you . . . were here’ Special Issueon Tourism 245 (July)

NORTON, W. 2006 Cultural Geography: Environments, Landscapes,Identities, Inequalities, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Oxford UniversityPress)

OLD TOWN ART WALK. 2004–2005 (Puerto Vallarta: Viejo Vallarta)ORLEANS, P. A. 1973 ‘Differential cognition of urban residents: ef-

fects of social scale on mapping’ in Image and Environ-ment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behavior , eds. R. M.Downs and D. Stea (Chicago: Aldine) 115–130

PAGE, S. J. 2002 ‘Urban tourism: evaluating tourists’ experienceof urban places’ in The Tourist Experience (2nd ed.), ed. C.Ryan (London: Continuum) 112–136

PEARCE, D. 1989 Tourist Development, 2nd ed. (New York: Long-man Group/Wiley)

—. 1995 Tourism Today: A Geographical Analysis, 2nd ed.(New York: Longman Scientific and Technical/Wiley)

PLOG, S. C. 1974 ‘Why destination areas rise and fall in popularity’The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly15, 13–16

—. 2004 Leisure Travel: A Marketing Handbook (Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall)



PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES INC. 2002 How to Turn a Place Around: AHandbook for Creating Successful Public Spaces (New York:Project For Public Spaces)

RICHTER, L. K. 2001 in Tourism and the Less Developed World: Is-sues and Case Studies, ed. D. Harrison (Wallingford, Oxon:CABI) 47–59

RODRIGUES, BERTHA MARIA MORENO. 2006 Propuesta de desarrollo sus-tentable a partir de las relaciones economico, social y cul-tural entre turismo de crucero y residents, Maestria en De-sarrollo Sustentable y Turismo (Universidad de Guadalajara,Centro de la Costa)

RYAN, C. 1991 Recreational Tourism: A Social Science Perspective(New York: Routledge/Chapman and Hall)

SANCHEZ, R. E. 2006 Aproximacion a un modelo de studio de cali-dad de vida para la planeacion sustentable municipal, Meas-tria en Sustentable y Turismo (Universidad de Guadalajara,Centro de la Costa)

SANTA, M. 2004 Santa Monica’s Ecological Footprint 1990–2000(Santa Monica: Santa Monica Sustainable City Program)

SCOTT, D. 2007 ‘Climate change and sustainable tourism in the21st century’ in Tourism Research: Policy, Planning, andProspects, ed. J. Cukier (Waterloo: Department of Geogra-phy Publication Series, University of Waterloo)

SEDDIGHI, H. R., and THEOCHAROUS, A. L. 2003 ‘A model of tourism desti-nation choice: a theoretical and empirical analysis’ TourismManagement 23, 475–487

SHAW, G., and WILLIAMS, A. M. 2002 Critical Issues in Tourism: A Ge-ographical Perspective, 2nd ed. (Malden, MA Blackwell)

SLAYMAKER, O. 2006 ‘Why are so many geographers complicit indiscipline-cide?’ in a special session ‘Geography as the In-tegrative Discipline: The Big Lie’ at the annual meeting ofthe Canadian Association of Geographers, Thunder Bay

SOUTH: THE THIRD WORLD MAGAZINE. 1985 Special Project on ‘Tourism’54 (April), 55–66

TAMBORINI, C. R. 2007 ‘Work, wages and gender in export-orientedcities: global assembly versus international tourism in Mex-ico’ Bulletin of Latin American Research 26(1), 24–49

TORRES, R. M., and MOMSEN, J. D. 2005 ‘Gringolandia: the constructionof a new tourist space in Mexico’ Annals of the Associationof American Geographers 95(2), 314–335

VAN DEN BERGHE, P. L. 1995 ‘Marketing mays: ethnic tourism pro-motion in Mexico’ Annals of Tourism Research 22(3), 568–588

WACKERNAGEL, M., and REES, W. 1996 Our Ecological Footprint: Reduc-ing Human Impact on the Earth (Gabriola Island, BC: NewSociety Publishers)

WACKERNAGEL, M. 1998 ‘The ecological footprint of Santiago deChile’ Local Environment 3(1), 7–25

WEISSERT, W. 2006 ‘Cancun still a shadow of itself’ The Globe andMail, January 11

WILKS, J., PENDERGAST, D., and LEGGATT, P. 2005 Tourism in Turbu-lent Times: Towards Safe Experiences for Visitors (Oxford:Elsevier)

Websites

http://www.brandonu.ca.rdi/ (visited February2007)

http://www.cec.org/files/pdf/COUNCIL/97–9eEN.pdf (visited February 2007)

http://www.climatecare.org/ (visited February2007)

http://www.climatecrisis.net/ (visited February2007)

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp(visited June 2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane Kenna(visited February 2007)

http://www.gayguidevallarta.com/ (visited June2006)

http://www.puerto–vallarta.com (visited 2005now defunct)

http://www.puertovallarta.net/fast facts/g cityinfo.php (visited January 2007)

http://www.pvconnect.com/map.html (visited2005 now defunct)

http://www.sectur.gob.mx/wb2/secturing/sect2 home visited February 2007).

http://www.therealmexico.com/fonatur.htm(visited February 2007)


the imprints of tourism on puerto vallarta, jalisco, mexico

Documents