This research analyses an innovative process employed by indigenous entrepreneurs and employees to design new and imaginative products closely related to their cultural, social and natural heritage, values and resources. In the State of Chiapas, home to one of Mexico's largest indigenous population, where poverty has persisted for decades, government and international agencies have promoted the development of many indigenous tourism initiatives. However the employment of top-down strategies focused predominantly towards the provision of tourist facilities have failed to recognize the crucial role of tourism products and activities, thus sustaining and promoting stereotyped ideas of indigenous peoples. This paper will focus on the benefits of collaborative research and knowledge dialogue between scientific and traditional wisdom to overcome some of these limitations through the application of an Indigenous Tourism Product Development Model. Using a participatory research process with the management and staff of four indigenous (Lacandon) owned and operated companies located in the communities of Lacanjá Chansayab and Nahá (Lacandon Jungle) in Mexico, the paper also explores the capacity of this process to revitalize culture while fostering feelings of accomplishment, participation, cultural pride and creative confidence among the co-researchers.

El objetivo de este trabajo es reflexionar sobre las características del crecimiento del turismo mundial y su relación con el desarrollo del turismo cultural. Los próximos años estarán marcados por un aumento constante de visitantes, con perfiles demográficos, geográficos, funcionales y culturales diversos. Bajo el paradigma de que el turismo cultural debe contribuir a la mejora de la calidad de vida de todos los involucrados, este trabajo propone distintas líneas de actuación que contribuyan a la sostenibilidad del sector cultural y turístico. El documento aborda otras tendencias como la necesidad de equilibrio entre marketing y planificación, la construcción colectiva de las imágenes turísticas, la importancia actual del patrimonio inmaterial o la creciente presencia de las nuevas tecnologías en todos los aspectos del turismo cultural.

Employing resilience as the theoretical and methodological framework and focusing on governance, this long-term anthropological study analyzes the socio-ecological system of a small indigenous community, with community-based tourism development. After 10 years of ethnographic and participatory work with the Lacandon Maya of Nahá, Mexico, our anthropological research explores the complexities of community governance and its role in protecting the socio-ecological system. The processes of land restitution initiated by the Mexican government and the arrival of migrants from different ethnic groups in the surrounding areas have resulted in significant socio-ecological adjustments being made at the community level. A self-regulated governance system is evaluated to understand the drivers and variables that generated vulnerabilities in the system, as well as the factors that fostered resilience in the establishment of the Nahá’s Natural Protected Area of Flora and Fauna. Our results show that although the current Lacandon political organization is fairly recent, pressures from neighboring communities have fostered resilience responses. To protect their space from such pressures, the Lacandon, convinced of their ethnic legitimacy as guardians of the Lacandon Jungle, have internalized the official political-environmentalist discourse. This role has had critical implications for the birth and development of the Indigenous tourism system.

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This research analyses an innovative process employed by indigenous entrepreneurs and employees to design new and imaginative products closely related to their cultural, social and natural heritage, values and resources. In the State of Chiapas, home to one of Mexico's largest indigenous population, where poverty has persisted for decades, government and international agencies have promoted the development of many indigenous tourism initiatives. However the employment of top-down strategies focused predominantly towards the provision of tourist facilities have failed to recognize the crucial role of tourism products and activities, thus sustaining and promoting stereotyped ideas of indigenous peoples. This paper will focus on the benefits of collaborative research and knowledge dialogue between scientific and traditional wisdom to overcome some of these limitations through the application of an Indigenous Tourism Product Development Model. Using a participatory research process with the management and staff of four indigenous (Lacandon) owned and operated companies located in the communities of Lacanjá Chansayab and Nahá (Lacandon Jungle) in Mexico, the paper also explores the capacity of this process to revitalize culture while fostering feelings of accomplishment, participation, cultural pride and creative confidence among the co-researchers.