Paper short abstract:

Many of those that work in tourism in Puerto Escondido have suffered exploitation at home in Mexico and in the USA as undocumented migrants. This paper looks at the blurring of leisure and labour, pleasure and pain, under the guise of ethical tourism and development.

Paper long abstract:

Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico has grown dramatically over the last few decades from a tiny port to a thriving tourist town. For many of the locals tourism offers a vision of limitless wealth that always seems to be just over the horizon. This echoes the experience many have of crossing over to, and/or having family in, the USA. In many cases the exploitation is replicated on both sides of the border, no matter how hard they work it is never enough. The growing wealth divide is clear in the rapid change from a tourism of backpackers to luxury stays. Without huge increases in capital it is simply impossible for locals to compete in the luxury tourism marketplace. While on the one hand this uneven development starkly juxtaposes leisure and labour, pleasure and suffering, on the other, the boundaries begin to blur through ethical tourism and the increase in those who combine work and travel (digital nomads). Rather than being hidden away, the suffering and endless labour of the locals proves to the ethical tourists the value of tourism and becomes part of the development spectacle. To explore this I will look at the case of a mother and daughter from Puerto, who crossed to the USA and are now back renting out rooms and cooking for the construction workers of the new hotels. Their story of ceaseless labour (wage and care) across borders illustrates how the promises of capitalism and tourism as development are endlessly deferred for some.