Tourism and Recreation

en español

This goal captures the quantity and quality of experiences that people have when visiting coastal and marine areas.

CORE DEFINITION

  • Focus: Value that people derive from experiencing and enjoying coastal areas
  • Not about: Revenue or livelihoods generated by tourism (covered under Livelihoods and Economies)
  • Emphasis: Personal and cultural value of coastal recreation experiences

Key Questions

What is the ideal sustainable state of the tourism and recreation goal?

  • How (ideally) do we measure the quantity and quality of people’s experience from visiting coastal areas? Should certain experiences be prioritized?
  • How do we define the reference point?
  • How do we incorporate sustainability into the assessment?

Goalkeeper Meetings

Meeting Access

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3255055973

Key Team Members
  • Ana Luisa Figueroa
  • AndrĂ©s Cisneros Montemayor
  • Carmina Valiente
  • Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez
Meeting Schedule (Monday 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT)
Meeting Date Focus
1 July 21, 2025 Group introductions, OHI platform overview, goal calculations, define goal
2 August 18, 2025 Finish defining the goal, discuss the ideal way to measure this goal, and the ideal state of it
3 September 22, 2025 Review how to measure the goal, and begin defining open-source data sources available
4 October 20, 2025 Preliminary results and possibly pressure/resilience discussions
5 November 17, 2025 Final analysis plan review
6 December 15, 2025 (tentative) Tentative
Co-authorship Information

This project provides opportunities to collaborate with regional experts and contribute to Gulf of California OHI assessment. Participation will be acknowledged on the website and other products. Additional co-authorship opportunities may be available with extra commitment as outlined here.

Google Calendar

Add the shared calendar to your Google Calendar account using the provided link. It will appear under “Other calendars” and provide access to all scheduled meetings with updated Zoom links.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to working on this initiative with you!

  • TR Goalkeeper Ideas, where you can add your thoughts, ideas, and potential data sources to the ongoing collaborative document.


Meeting Summaries

Thank you to everyone who joined our first Tourism & Recreation (TR) Goalkeeper meeting!
It was a great start to our work together in defining what sustainable tourism and recreation means for the Gulf of California.

Meeting Recap

During our discussion, we identified three main types of tourism in the region:

  • Massive Tourism – Often centered around “sun and beach” resorts, leisure activities, and nightlife.
  • Ecotourism – Structured under formal government categories, this includes nature and conservation-focused tourism.
  • Local Tourism & Recreation – Activities led by or for the local community and residents.

We also highlighted Nautical Tourism — water-based experiences like sailing and marine tours, often taking place entirely at sea. This type could either be its own category or be considered a subset of the three main types above. This remains an open question we’re still exploring.

In addition, we discussed tourism origins:

  • International
  • Domestic
  • Local

And brainstormed potential measures for:

  • Quantity: such as number of hotels, flights, sailboats, and visits
  • Quality: such as user sentiment from TripAdvisor reviews or surveys (e.g., QR surveys at beach entrances — although these are beyond our current project scope).
🌱 What Does “Sustainability” Mean for TR?

We agreed that sustainability in tourism should reflect:

  • Positive social impact – like preserving local culture and community benefits
  • Positive environmental impact – including proper management of protected areas and potential use of mechanisms like conservation bracelets or differentiated tariffs for locals vs. nationals
Next Steps

In our next meeting, we’ll continue discussing how to evaluate:

  1. Quantity
  2. Quality
  3. Sustainability of tourism and recreation in the Gulf of California.

We’ll also start to define the reference point for this goal — our vision of what ideal, sustainable tourism and recreation looks like. In assessment terms, this is the “100” score — our A+ target!

Below are some key themes and insights from this month’s Tourism & Recreation discussion. Even though participation was limited, the conversation provided valuable context, examples, and new ideas for refining our goals and indicators.

  1. What makes “healthy” tourism?
    We explored whether growth in international visitors is automatically beneficial for local communities. While tourism brings jobs, there are trade-offs in terms of real estate pressures and lifestyle changes. The group emphasized that growth is positive only if:

    • local communities benefit,
    • ecosystems remain healthy, and
    • use stays within the region’s carrying capacity (TCC).

  2. Real estate and access
    Tourism-related real estate development strongly affects both community well being and coastal access. In the Gulf of California, beach access is often restricted by resorts or private properties, despite Mexican law requiring public access points. Tracking property patterns and access roads may help us create stronger indicators.

  3. Types of tourism
    We distinguished between different tourism forms:

    • International & domestic: Resorts, nautical tourism (boating/yachting), and most ecotourism.
    • Local: More tied to everyday activities (restaurants, malecĂłn visits).
      Nautical tourism in particular is likely limited to wealthier visitors, given costs and leisure constraints.

    See draft tourism types matrix below:

  4. Socioeconomic impacts
    High quality jobs in tourism (ex: guides, operators, business owners) often go to outsiders rather than local residents. While progress is being made, with more young locals entering the sector, it remains a key area to monitor to ensure benefits are equitably shared.

  5. Carrying Capacity & Sustainability
    Resource use, particularly water and energy, highlights the inequities between resorts and local households. Assessing sustainability will require balancing visitor numbers with fair allocation of essential resources.

  6. Indicator framework possibility:
    The group suggested structuring indicators into three subcomponents:

    • Quantity (number of visitors, tourism types)
    • Quality (job opportunities, local benefits)
    • Sustainability (resource use, ecological impacts, cultural impacts)

We also noted that some certifications (like Blue Flag beaches) may apply primarily to high traffic tourism areas, which could affect how sustainability indicators are framed.

Resources Shared

Next Steps

We will be discussing the indicator framework (Quantity, Quality, Sustainability), as well as ideal indicators to reflect the intent of this goal. Please come prepared to discuss indicators for each type of tourism’s quantity, quality, and sustainability.

Thank you, and stay tuned for a meeting agenda for Meeting #3!

Thank you all for coming to the third Tourism & Recreation Goalkeeper meeting!

During this meeting, we worked together to identify indicators and their possible data sources for the three components of TR: Quantity, Quality, and Sustainability.

The TR goal “captures the quantity, quality, and sustainability of experiences that people have when visiting coastal and marine areas.”

As a group, we discussed possible data sources and technical benchmarks for each TR indicator.

Below is a synthesis of our meeting discussion and the Activity we participated in as a group, located in the TR Goalkeeper Ideas document under the tab:

Meeting #3 Activity

Quantity

The most consistent and accessible sources across OHI regions are:

  • Programa de Monitoreo de la Actividad Hotelera
  • DataTur from SECTUR (tourist arrivals and overnights)
  • SEMAR data on cruise ship arrivals and passenger volumes

We also discussed localized sources such as:

  • Marina associations for occupancy of boats (ex: San Carlos Marina)
  • Port authorities (# of vessels that have permits for tourism & recreation, obtained via transparency requests)
  • CONANP cobro de derechos visitor fees (as proxies for visitation of coastal protected areas)

Ecotourism proves harder to quantify, but potential indicators include:

  • The number of ecotourism companies (INEGI registry of economic units)
  • INEGI occupations in ecotourism as a proxy for amount of ecotourists (INEGI ENOE)
  • Number of marine ecotourists, SCUBA diving sites (Published research, e.g., Favoretto and Schuhbauer)

Quality

We identified both infrastructure- and perception-based indicators:

  • Rate of return, better than length of stay (state tourism visitor satisfaction surveys)
  • Density of services/activities near coast (INEGI DENUE data)
  • Social perceptions of security (Mexican Peace Index)

Sustainability

We distinguished between environmental and social aspects.

Potential Environmental sustainability indicators:

  • Relative weight of ecotourism vs. mass tourism (expanding ecotourism opportunities, assuming that when ecotourism is done right, it is the gold standard for tourism practices)
  • Stewardship measures (such as Blue Flag beach distinctions)
  • Land-system change (conservation priority areas converted to resorts → accessing data requires transparency requests)

Potential aspects of Social sustainability:

  • Quality of local tourism jobs (INEGI ENOE data to assess job quality, such as benefits, salary)
  • Tourism benefits should be within communities (need indicators for this)
  • Gender equality in tourism employment opportunities


While strong datasets exist for basic visitor numbers, more creative combinations of proxies, state-level surveys, transparency requests, and international research will be needed to capture the full TR goal. The challenge is to balance availability and rigor while avoiding overly normative assumptions, especially when it comes to visitor quality.

This is a great start for the OHI Core Team to continue exploring these indicators and their potential data sources!

Next Steps

We will be identifying reference points for indicators within Quantity, Quality, and Sustainability.

An example of the discussions we will have:

  • If the indicator for tourism quantity is “number of tourist arrivals”, should the reference point reflect Plan MĂ©xico’s goal to increase international tourism by 40% by 2030?
    • These are some targets for 2030 for Plan MĂ©xico:
      • The economic impact of international tourists increased by 46 percent.
      • Hotel rooms by 12 percent.
      • Tourism employment generation by 27 percent.
      • Of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tourism by 9 percent.
      • Of domestic tourism, 9.8 percent.
      • The number of service providers certified in sustainability increased by 31.5 percent.
      • Average spending per international tourist by 3.3 percent.
      • The arrival of international visitors by 30 percent.
      • The DNR’s revenue collection increased by 40.5 percent.


  • Or should the number of tourists be relative to the local population in the area (tourist_arrivals : locals_residing_in_tourist_centers)?
    • In that case, the reference point could be:
      • Historical (e.g., the 2019 proportion between tourists and locals, with the goal of keeping it stable), or
      • Theoretical/Expert-based (what you, as experts, deem ideal for the GoCA).

Please come prepared to discuss these types of questions for:

  • Quantity
  • Quality
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Social sustainability

Thank you, and stay tuned for the Meeting #4 agenda!

Have a great rest of your month, and please don’t hesitate to reach out via email or add to the TR Goalkeeper document if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join. Even with very low participation, we made progress discussing the Quantity and Quality indicators.

If you could not make the meeting, please review the updated slide deck:
TR Meeting #4 Slides

Meeting Recap

1. Quantity Indicators

We focused on the two indicators proposed for the TR Quantity component:

  • Tourist Arrivals (SECTUR)
    • Includes domestic and international visitors.
    • Some OHI regions lack data because they are not part of SECTUR’s monitored tourist centers.
  • Employees in Accommodation Services (INEGI DENUE)
    • Serves as an alternative proxy for visitor presence where tourist-center data is missing.
    • We will evaluate the relationship between visitor arrivals and accommodation employees to see if there is a relationship. If so, this relationship can be used to help fill mid-Gulf data gaps.

2. Quality Indicators

We reviewed the current Quality indicators and next steps for data gathering:

  • Rate of Return / Visitor Satisfaction
    • Based on municipal or state visitor satisfaction surveys.
    • Data currently incomplete; have not received the needed responses to transparency requests, so this may likely be an unrealistic indicator.
  • Crime Affecting Tourists
    • Possible approach: a crime-per-capita rate with a scoring system where lower crime increases quality.
    • Reference point is zero crime per capita.
    • We need to evaluate which crimes from the SESNSP we will consider “affecting tourists”.
  • Availability of Activities & Food Services (DENUE)
    • Counts of food, recreation, cultural, and related establishments relative to tourist arrivals.
    • We discussed possibly incorporating ecotourism-linked services if feasible.
    • CONANP replied with cobro de derechos revenue from 2012 - 2024, which we could use to quantify visitors to protected areas.

3. Sustainability Indicators (not discussed during the meeting)

Although we did not reach this topic in the live meeting, the slides include an overview of potential Sustainability indicators, such as:

  • Distintivo S and other sustainability certifications for hotels and tourist establishments
  • Ecotourism participation and activity diversity
  • Environmental and social dimensions (resource use, local job quality, gender equity)
  • Protected area visitation, vessel permits, and other potential data sources

Because we did not have time to discuss these indicators, we encourage everyone to look at the Sustainability section of the slide deck for details and visual examples.

Next Steps

  • Finalize reference point options for Quality indicators.
  • Continue exploring data for activity availability, to help determine the reference point.
  • Review the Sustainability section of the Meeting #4 slides to prepare for deeper discussion.
  • Meeting #5 will have preliminary current status scores for: Quantity, Quality, and Sustainability.

Thank you all – especially during such a busy season – and please continue adding questions or ideas to the shared TR document!

Stay tuned for Meeting #5 resources.


Additional Insights & Examples

These are some of the points discussed by the Expert Working Group.

Tourism Types Mentioned:

  • Massive Tourism:
    Large-scale government-promoted developments
  • Community Tourism:
    Includes efforts like:
    • Resilience MPAs with island communities
    • CONAP collaboration
    • Guaymas community-led initiatives
  • Ecotourism:
    Even NGO-led efforts can cause unintended harm

Key Issues Identified:

  • Government Promotion: Strong push for large-scale tourism throughout the Gulf
  • Environmental Regulation: Weak regulation, especially around beach development
  • Community Impact:
    • Need to balance economic benefits (e.g., jobs) with environmental and social costs
    • Highlight alternatives to mass tourism

Additional Considerations:

  • Job Creation vs. Social Costs
  • Local vs. External Benefits
  • Cultural Impact
  • Organized Crime
  • Social Stability (e.g., drug-related problems, institutional breakdown)
Reference Point Type Example
Government-defined objectives Increase tourism by 20% by 2050
Local preferences + Desire for quiet vs. busy beaches
Carrying capacity Maximize tourism relative to carrying capacity
Stable tourism levels No net losses or gains in tourism over time
Tourist density comparisons Compare tourists/km² with other regions

+ Often a policy tension: governments promote tourism for jobs, while communities experience social and environmental impacts

Contact via email

OHI Core Analytical Team Tourism & Recreation Goalkeeper Group