Natural and Cultural Commons and the Organisation of Community Tourism Projects in Mexico

Abstract

This paper aims to advance the understanding of the link between culture, territory and organisation in Mexico. My analysis considered how legal and customary access to natural and cultural Commons impacts on the governance and cultural control of two tourism projects in rural Mexico, and the products they offer. Using a tourist/quotidian ethnography and critical readings of cultural texts, produced to promote their tourist products, this study highlights tensions that have emerged when the appropriation of the natural and cultural Commons benefits specific groups to the exclusion of others. In this context organisational characteristics associated with territory, land tenure and customs are relevant to understanding the challenges alternative tourism projects have, both in terms of managing multiple pressures and taking advantage of emerging opportunities that nature and culture provide for offering a meaningful tourism cultural experience.