Ecotourism in the Reserva de la Biosfera de Los Tuxtlas (Veracruz, Mexico)

Ecotourism aims at protecting the natural environment while at the same time bringing benefits to the local population. Therefore, it is often used as a conservation strategy in protected areas all over the world. However, the ways ecotourism is implemented vary greatly not only between different regions, even within one region there can be a large range of different approaches. The kind of strategy used subsequently determines its success regarding ecotourism’s central goals of environmental conservation and development. Almost three decades ago, ecotourism was introduced to the area of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Veracruz. This was mainly driven by efforts of the public sector, which especially promoted community-based ecotourism initiatives. On the other hand, there have been several private attempts as well. Finally, ecotourism companies in the region also tried to network among each other ? although to date with only little success. In this study, the authors take a look at how ecotourism developed in the area from its beginnings until now. This is carried out basically by indepth interviews with local actors involved in ecotourism as well as by direct observation. The main purpose of this research is to analyse and evaluate the steps in the region’s ecotourism development and the different strategies used by the ecotourism companies. Furthermore, the authors try to identify ecotourism’s effects in the region on the whole.