Territorial dynamics of cultural tourism in Izamal, Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reveal the organization and territorial dynamics of tourism in Izamal, a town located in the Mayan territory in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatan. Through the analysis of territorial elements such as touristic resources, support services for tourism, infrastructure, communications nets and visitors flows, the structure integrating the tourist destination will be revealed. Special emphasis will be focused on cultural resources. The results show that tourist attractions in Izamal are associated to its history and culture. Despite the great potential of territorial resources for tourism, Izamal is contesting with other close destinations such as Merida, Valladolid, Chichen Itza and Cancun. The nearness to these sites leaves Izamal as a secondary destination limited to 1-day visits. Regarding the global context, the town can be considered an international destination visited by travellers coming from the five continents. Due to the presence of Our Lady of Izamal, important flows of regional visitors (motivated by faith) arrive to Izamal, especially during religious festivities. Thus, non-regional visitors see the town as a secondary destination but the city also keeps a symbolic significance among regional inhabitants. Tourism dynamics inside the historic town appear as limited to a few spots inside a small perimeter where most of tourist services are located, provoking the segregation of large districts of the urban space.

Bibliometric Mapping of Research on Magic Towns of Mexico

“…Figure 1 shows that 2012 and 2015 were the years in which the highest number of designations were granted; there were also some years such as 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019 in which no designations were granted. The aim of the program is to attract visitors to small towns that preserve architectural and cultural characteristics, turning them into an attraction as Mexico's colonial towns [22]. The name Magic Town proved to be an effective brand in terms of tourism development.…”

“…Heritage or privatization?" by J.J. Hernández López [22]. Despite the fact that Scopus has a greater number of indexed journals compared to WoS [34], in this subject of analysis, "Magic Towns", WoS has a greater number of indexed articles.…”

“…Lines of research.Cultural heritage, cultural resources, inherited resources, cultural tourism (13 articles) Hernández[23], Valenzuela[54], Morales & Pérez[55], García & Rivera[56], Pérez Solano & Del Carpio[57], Castillo et al[58],Uhnak[59], García & Méndez[60], De la Rosa et al[45], Alvarado-Sizzo[22], Rivero[61], Rosas[62], Sánchez et al[63] Pueblos Mágicos program as public policy (10 articles) De la Rosa et al[64], Gross[46], Winiarczyk-Razniak & Razniak[65], Madrid[53], Cornejo-Ortega et al[66], Cortes & Velez [67], Rodríguez et al [68], Benavides Cortes [69], Vázquez [70], Paula & Carvalho [71]…”