Navigating touristification through social entrepreneurship: Community-based tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula,Mexico

Abstract

Touristification has emerged as a defining feature of contemporary tourism development, often subordinating social and economic life to market-driven imperatives. This article examines how Indigenous community-based tourism (CBT) in the highly touristified Yucatan Peninsula articulate alternative tourism models grounded in collective organization and diversified livelihood strategies. Drawing on a qualitative multiple-case study based on semi-structured interviews with leaders of four Indigenous tourism cooperatives, the study analyzes governance arrangements, economic rationalities, and approaches to growth. Findings show that tourism is not conceived as a standalone development strategy, but as part of broader pluriactive livelihood systems. While the cooperatives advocate for culturally grounded and socially embedded forms of tourism, they do not categorically reject growth; rather, they frame it as socially negotiated and collectively bounded. The article contributes to debates on Indigenous tourism, social economy, and limits to growth by showing how alternative tourism models are pragmatically constructed within highly touristified regions.