Seeking solutions against socio-economic apartheid in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is a resort town known for spectacular beaches, marine life, and water sports and activities. Here in this vibrant destination, travelers can enjoy traditional Mexican dishes, rich culture and art, historical landmarks and the dual landscape of mountainous hills rolling into the vast ocean. Each year, millions of tourists flood the city center of Puerto Vallarta to explore the offerings of this spectacular city; a majority of which do not wander away from the large tourist traps. These tourists fail to witness and enjoy the true, authentic offerings of the local communities within Puerto Vallarta. The purpose of People-First Tourism is to help bridge that gap between visitors and hosts. As a partner for NC State’s Alternative Service Break (ASB) trips, People-First Tourism helped organize a week-long experience for students to engage with local communitarian microenterprises and work and live alongside under-resourced local people.

My co-leader, Becca, is a well-seasoned ASB leader having gone on an ASB trip every year during her undergraduate studies. Due to Becca's experience and familiarity with the components within an ASB program, I was able to tag team with her and focus on contributing with knowledge about sustainable tourism, equitable community development and microentrepreneurship. The two of us made a great team and successfully helped our peers understand social responsibility towards our hosts on this trip and how to apply that ethic in the future. As leaders, Becca and I were responsible for a group of 10 students and one faculty advisor. Our team was diverse in age, gender, and previous travel experience.  Moreover, our team had students from a range of majors including Biological Sciences, Business Administration, Industrial design, Engineering, and Environmental Sciences, which allowed for extensive, rich and multifaceted conversations about sustainable tourism and equitable community development.

Prior to our departure for Mexico, we organized a retreat to allow our group to develop team rapport. We spent an afternoon with Farmer Jennifer, a People-First Tourism microentrepreneur that owns Chickadee Farms in Clayton, North Carolina. This small farm strongly values “sustainable agriculture that protects the environment, human communities, public health, and animal welfare,” as stated on their website. The retreat served as a tutorial designed to provide our group a sense of what the service would look like once we were in Mexico and to get a look into the work of tourism microentrepreneurial development. Our afternoon with Farmer Jennifer was spent spreading compost in rows, mending a lattice fence, broadcasting wheat and providing extra hands to complete tasks outside the daily upkeep and responsibilities of the farm. During our work, we provided a few prompts for our group to reflect on regarding Farmer Jennifer and microentrepreneurship. We later discussed topics with Farmer Jennifer regarding her motivation to be a microentrepreneur, the constraints and challenges she faces, and her measure of success. 

[Becca (Co-Leader) and advisor Dr. Gene L. Brothers helping to scoop compost to spread in the planting rows.] 

[Becca (Co-Leader) on the left and a team member helped fix a broken wagon.]

Microentrepreneurs face a multitude of challenges and constraints that limit their visibility within the public sphere. Oftentimes, microentrepreneurs thrive on innovative thinking, creativity, and flexibility to address the hardships they face despite their limited resources. Flexibility and patience were critical mindsets for our team to embody during our week in Mexico as we were the first organized group to visit and work with these People-First Tourism microentrepreneurs. Not only were we the guinea pigs of the program but we were also the first group that our accommodations had hosted. We stayed at the Ejido Playa Grande Ecopark, a beautiful ecological park with a river running along the property and surrounded by lush green trees, hiking trails, and a zip line course traversing the mountains. Ejido Playa Grande is a relatively new, small ecopark that was built from community members who have put together savings to construct a hub where community members can provide a number of services to tourists.

[We were generously welcomed by the Ecopark staff with warm smiles and a delicious meal.]

Our week spent in Mexico was full of activities of service, learning opportunities, personal growth, and new experiences. Our hosts were local tourism microentrepreneurs somewhat exploited by tour operators that hold a monopoly on access to the tourists that visit local resorts.  In addition we visited with small local artisans who aren’t able to showcase and sell their art to affluent tourists in the main tourist drag because of unfair regulations and high costs. The sheer size of the Ejido Playa Grande requires a lot of labor in terms of maintenance, improvements and monitoring of the flora and fauna. The purpose of our trip was to allow students to be involved in activities like trail maintenance and reconstruction, collecting data (photos) and changing batteries from camera traps (jaguar, deer, many species of birds), wildfire watch, and community infrastructure beautification. As the first group to serve, we assisted in tracking wildlife through the arrangement of camera traps throughout the ecopark. Additionally, we helped construct a dam in the river alongside the ecopark to create a swimming pool for the locals and future guests.

[We assisted in setting up camera traps to track the wildlife within the Ecopark boundaries.]

We spent one afternoon with Human Connections, a non-profit social enterprise that connects local people with international audiences through travel programs and curated experiences. Similarly to People-First Tourism, Human Connections’ goal “is to empower local communities while fostering conversations that shift perspectives and increase understanding.” The tour with Human Connections took us to visit three different microentrepreneurs to hear their stories and better understand their work. The first microentrepreneur, Leonarda, was a woman struggling to receive publicity in the markets for her genuine and authentic Chaquira jewelry and artwork. We visited the Lopez Lopez family who run a small business creating handmade wool art like children's toys, clothes and bags. Our last stop was a visit to Nallely and Omar, a couple who invites guests into their home for cooking experiences. During our time with each microentrepreneur we learned about their motivations, constraints, and perseverance to sell authentic, signature experiences. The afternoon tour with Human Connections was a crucial piece to our trip as our participants truly witnessed the negative impacts that the tourism industry can have on local cultures. Even after our tour, our group held deep and insightful discussions about privilege, tourism, and being mindful travelers moving forward.

[A student taking a turn brushing the wool with the guidance of the Lopez Lopez daughters. Just one step out of 10 in the process of preparing the wool to create stuffed animals or wool art.]

[Students taking turns making pineapple habanero salsa for lunch at Nallely and Omar’s house.]

[Our group with Lenoarda in front of her display of beautiful handcrafted, traditional Chaquira artwork.]

Overall, the itinerary for our trip as the first group only had one “tangible” service opportunity, which was building the dam. However, Becca and I emphasized to our participants that our biggest service was to learn how to travel as discerning guests in the future. In addition, our service can be detailed as being the “guinea pigs” for the ecopark and providing them the experience of hosting guests without judgement. Most importantly, we were able to provide constructive feedback to improve the sustainability of the park, meet the comforts and needs of international travelers, and refine the experience for future guests.

I am incredibly thankful for the generosity of Mr. Tom Hines in making this leadership experience possible to me through the support of a scholarship. I am also grateful for the continual support and encouragement of Dr. Duarte B. Morais and Dr. Gene L. Brothers of P1tLab who have enhanced my education through a number of research opportunities. Through this experience, I was able to advocate the value of responsible tourism that produces equitable prosperity to the host community and enhances the well-being of the locals. As I prepare to embark on my next life journey,  I hope to leverage my expertise in tourism microentrepreneurship to support communities in carving their desired benefits from this industry, and I intend to continue to develop my understanding on gender and social equity to more broadly seek solutions for an increasingly more fair, healthy and prosperous world. 

By: Alyssa Stroker, B.S. in Sustainable Tourism, P1tLab undergraduate research assistant

       NC State, May 2020