Community-Based Tourism Initiatives as a Tool for Empowering Indigenous Communities: Evidence from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Community-based tourism (CBT) is seen as an opportunity for equitable development and sharing of benefits among host community members. It is an alternative to the mass tourism phenomenon and a way to introduce sustainable management of natural resources. Tourism social enterprises often accompany CBT initiatives, emphasising the social force of tourism as an activity. They enable communities to address social issues while developing market-based activities, deal with injustice in tourism, and respond to the capitalist development strategies applied in the so-called major destinations. In this work, we explore four indigenous community-based initiatives in the hinterland of the Yucatan Peninsula, one of Mexico’s main tourist areas. Through a fieldwork case study approach, we examine the internal governance of these initiatives, the role of external actors and the community approach to developing conscious tourism activities that support local livelihoods, value cultural heritage, and safeguard the natural environment. We find that tourism creates a spill over effect by providing opportunities for the development of complementary economic activities, decreasing the dependence on a single sector. Concurrently, tourism development empowers women and youth members of the communities by creating the possibilities for them to take leading roles in different activities.