Linkages between tourism and agriculture in Quintana Roo, Mexico

In the 1960's the Mexican government targeted isolated Quintana Roo (QR) as the linchpin for what has become one of the country's most successful economic strategies---Planned Tourism Development (PTD). Cancun, the result of this initial effort, has grown to become one of the world's leading mass tourism destinations. Planners hoped, PTD would promote "regional development" through backwards linkages to other economic sectors---most notably agriculture---to benefit marginalized QR Maya peasants. This dissertation contends that the "top-down," statist PTD model has failed to stimulate local agricultural development or improve the welfare of QR's rural populations.; This research explores the complex relationship between global tourism and local agriculture in QR by addressing four fundamental questions: (1) What is the impact of global tourism on local agriculture? (2) What is the structure of demand and supply of food for the tourism industry? (3) What factors constrain development of linkages between international tourism and local agriculture? (4) What alternatives exist for fostering linkages between tourism and local agriculture? The study employs data from surveys of 615 Yucatan Peninsula tourists, 60 Cancun hotels, 333 Cancun immigrant households, and depth interviews with 14 QR ejidos and 11 farmers. Analysis draws on theories of the Fordist---post-Fordist dialectic, Butler's tourism resort life cycle model, transnationalism, political economy and uneven development.; Cancun, the product of PTD, is a standardized, undifferentiated Fordist mass tourism resort with little variation in food demand across hotels. Differences in linkages to local agriculture by hotel characteristics are not evident as has been shown in studies of more diversified Caribbean tourism landscapes. Most Cancun hotels obtain required foods through a common monopolistic supplier network which imports most products from Mexico City, and to a lesser extent, emerging agro-industries based in neighboring Yucatan. Unlike other Caribbean resorts, Cancun has gradually reduced dependence upon foreign imports. Linkages to Quintana Roo agriculture remain weak, nevertheless, due to various endogenous and exogenous constraints and specific barriers erected by PTD.; Despite the Fordist nature of Cancun tourism, ongoing industry diversification in QR is creating increasing demand for products that can be grown competitively by local farmers. Study results suggest the most appropriate form of agricultural production for tourism in Quintana Roo to be intensive, small-scale, specialized family-based farming employing alternative technologies characteristic of post-Fordist or "sustainable rural development" models of production. PTD is recognized as a potential force for stimulating local agriculture were it truly integrated into MIP (master integral plan) and PTD processes. The study concludes that enhancing tourism and local agriculture linkages represents an important mechanism for stimulating local production and improving distribution of tourism benefits to rural QR populations.