A Peso for Your Thoughts: How Tourism Impacts the Integrity of Mexican World Heritage Sites
Grossing approximately $19.6 billion dollars in revenue and totaling 35 million visitors since 2016, Mexico has moved up in ranks as one of the most visited countries in the world and becoming a top tourist destination. Tourist arrive in Mexico to experience its rich cultures, history, cuisine, and visit famous World Heritage Sites. As of 2016, 34 sites (27 Cultural, 6 Natural, and 1 Mixed) in Mexico have been inscribed to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (WHS) List. Of these sites the Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan and The Historic Center of Mexico and Xochimilco, specifically Xochimilco, have become two of Mexico’s top tourist destinations. Although the money generated by tourists is exceptional, it does come with a cost. Through this post I will discuss how tourism has impacted these two sites and if the integrity of these sites are compromised due to tourism demands.
Thoughts on Mexico’s World Heritage Sites and the Impact of Tourism:
The Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan
Inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site List on 1987, this site is home to El Templo de Quetzalcóatl and Las Pirámides del Sol y la Luna, which are popular with the tourists who visit this archaeological site. The site is opened 365 days a year for 8 hours a day and visitors are permitted to climb on the pyramids and surrounding structures. Climbing the pyramids is popular among visitors and an Instagram search resulted with over 300,000 public posts with people on both pyramids as well as the other smaller structures within Teotihuacan. Additionally, to “enhance” the experience at Teotihuacan, the Mexican government wanted to create a night show on the site grounds with various technological elements. It is important to consider these factors as it helps establish why this site’s integrity is endangered. Due to the popularity of the site, visitors are contributing to the deterioration of the pyramids from climbing. El Templo de Quetzalcóatl has also sustained a series of human made damages by people climbing on it, as well as through the installation of a hand rail used to aid visitors on their climb and descent. Furthermore, in 2009, an attempt to install a light and sound show at the site caused controversy among locals as well as some visitors. To create this show drilling was done on some of the pyramid stones causing humidity to penetrate inside the stone and increase the rate of weathering. Not only was structural damage caused, but for some tourist this work decreased the site’s integrity and their experience. As a result the show was pulled. Although tourism is important to a country whose economy is greatly impacted by it, it is pertinent that the sites which people visit not be damaged or compromised.
The Historic Center of Mexico and Xochimilco
The use of trajineras, gondolas of sort, provide transportation to visitors and vendors alike through the canals of Xochimilco. This World Heritage Site, known as the Venice of America, is located approximately an hour and a half south of Mexico D.F. For years Xochimilco has mesmerized tourists with the colorful chalupas, the legends of the canals themselves, and the opportunity to be entertained by musicians, eat, and shop without having to set foot on land. This site originated as an agricultural landscape where the local indigenous people, the Xochimilca, cared for the land, however, with the growing tourist population the site has been compromised from its original use to better suite the needs of the tourists. Locals now focus on tourism rather than focusing on their crops, thus compromising the site’s (Frederic et al. 2017).
Conclusion
The role tourism plays in Mexico’s economy is important as it is a large contributing factor to its economic growth. World Heritage Sites located within Mexico, such as Teotihuacan and Xochimilco, are examples of locations that have contributed to the economy due to their popularity. These sites welcome thousands of visitors each year, however, due to their popularity their integrity as World Heritage Sites is questioned. How much strain from tourism can these sites handle before losing their integrity? For Teotihuacan, the pyramids and temples that are the main focus of the archaeological site have already faced structural damage due to tourism and the canals of Xochimilco are being used less and less for their original purpose of agriculture and locals are focusing more on tourist. Only time will tell how much tourism is too much tourism for these sites.
References:
Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Mexico.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed April 4, 2018. https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/mx.
Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed April 5, 2018. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/414.
Landy, Frédéric, Nadia Belaidi, Karl-Heinz Gaudry Sada, and Sharon Moren. “Urban Protected Areas: Forces of justice or injustice for Indigenous pop-ulations? The cases of Xochimilco and the national parks of Mumbai and Cape Town.” justice spatiale-spatial justice 11 (2017). 1–19.
