Tourism in Mexico: Its Development, Dependency, and Spatial Patterns

Abstract

This paper examines tourism in Mexico. The research questions concern the long term role of the Mexican federal government in developing and stimulating tourism, the extent of tourism dependency of Mexico on the United States, and the extent of regional differences in tourism within Mexico. The method is simple economic trend analysis. The research results are illustrated by a case study of a leading Mexican hotel chain. Findings are interpreted in terms of world systems theory. The paper shows that Mexican tourism has a large variety of forms and is tied to processes of globalization.