Tourist destinations with asymmetrical local development: The 'integrally planned tourist centres' of Los Cabos and Loreto, Baja California Sur (Mexico)

Abstract

The Centros Integralmente Planeados (Integrally Planned [tourism] centers, CIPs) are tourism development poles established in Mexico during the 1960s and 1970s so as to promote economic growth in (then) little - developed but natural resource and landscape - rich peripheral coastal regions. In this paper we look at the effects of tourism on local development in two CIPs, those of Los Cabos and Loreto, located in the state of Baja California Sur (BCS), in north-western Mexico. We employ an analytical- descriptive methodology, specifically principal-component analysis, which allows the contextualization of tourism evolution and development trajectories. Our results indicate the presence of asymmetrical development paths, even though both regions started from the same developmental initiative, with FONATUR (the Mexican government´s tourism board) in charge in both cases. Forty years after its inception, the government´s tourism policy yields differentiated results. Los Cabos has become a world-renowned destination, associated with sports fishing activities, golf, and residential tourism. In contrast, the Loreto- Nopoló- Puerto Escondido tourism corridor has stagnated and is still awaiting take-off into sustained development.