Paper short abstract:

After years of building dependency on tourism, what did Xcalakeños do to survive the pandemic? What role did the park and the resources play in their survival? What do Xcalakeños think about intertwining their future with tourism?

Paper long abstract:

In the late 1990s, the community of Xcalak faced a crossroads. Fish populations were in decline, tourism investment and plans were encroaching from the north of the state, and the control of their future was uncertain. After consultation with national and international NGOs, Xcalak’s leaders chose to take a bet on conservation-based tourism as future economic base. In 2000, Xcalak Reefs National Park was declared after a community petition to the federal government. Importantly, the park plans were multi-modal with areas of the coral reef left open for fisheries exploitation. Despite being out of the way, every year many hundreds of divers and fly-fishers came to the community, and thousands more arrived on cruise ships to the Puerto Costa Maya just to the north. With better pay and less harsh working conditions, many Xcalakeños shifted their livelihoods to tourism. In March 2020, at the crescendo of “high season,” it all came to screeching halt. After years of building dependency on tourism, what did Xcalakeños do to survive the pandemic? What role did the park and the resources that remained legally accessible due to their choices back in the 1990s play in their survival? What do Xcalakeños think about intertwining their future with tourism? This paper will present Xcalakeños’ answers to these questions recorded during virtual interviews conducted in June and July 2021. In so doing, this paper will interrogate international, conservation-based tourism’s viability as the basis for community development.