Tourism and water as axes of accumulation, in Ixtapan de la Sal, México

Abstract

Water has been declared as a commodity and has become an object of appropriation for accumulation, limiting the supply of products and services. This study analyzes the domination dynamics arising from the use of water in the tourism activity of Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico with the purpose of explaining the accumulation process by private companies. The theoretical-methodological proposal followed was based on Political Economy through historical materialism with the interpretation of the three dynamics of domination and its relationship with tourism. In penetration dynamics it was observed that the external agents deprive the native inhabitants of natural resources, modifying and substituting the productive activities. This was due to the concession of thermal water in 1944 and fresh water in 1951 valid until 2021, benefiting a single owner and concessionaire. From 2016, the water resource has been paid for with the replacement of the open-pit channel with underground piping, a fact determined in the dynamics of subsumption. In the dynamics of accumulation, it was detected that water is offered as a commodity and the profits gained from its exploitation are no longer for the municipality. It is concluded that the privatization of water or the management of the resource goes against the proper functioning of tourism, giving rise to the failure to meet the principal needs of the local population.