Holiday in the sun: The impacts of tourism on Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico

Tourism is a major economic activity with significant social, political and environmental repercussions that influence people and places in virtually every corner of the contemporary world. This study focuses on tourism development in Puerto Vallarta (PV), Jalisco, Mexico. The region has been almost completely transformed by this industry in a relatively short period of time, since the development of the first major hotel in 1948. The paper begins by discussing the development of Puerto Vallarta as a place, as a coastal tourist resort, and also as a set of quite different cultural landscapes. Building on this we specifically identity, describe and discuss some of the major cultural imprints of tourism, including hotels, restaurants, the gay community, art galleries and internet cafes, as well as ecological imprints of tourism (using ecological footprint analysis) upon PV. The conclusions provide a commentary on the potential for, and challenges of, tourism development in Puerto Vallarta as a place that is likely to face serious questions regarding sustainability as the new millennium unfolds