Abstract
Mexico’s tourism authorities once exploited Acapulco’s resources, or capitals, to such an extent that it became a tourism phenomenon, often referred to as the ‘Pearl of the Pacific’; however, ignorance, neglect and competition propelled the destination into a state of decline, and it appears that the ability to exploit its capitals has now dwindled considerably. Sharpley (2009) offers the ‘destination capitals model of tourism development’, which provides a means to assess these capitals in conjunction with a destination’s community needs, development opportunities and external threats. Utilising the case study research method and the associated data collection methods of semi-structured interviewing and document analysis, Sharpley’s model is applied to Acapulco in order to determine the current state of its tourism industry and to consider the destination’s potential to end the chronic pattern of decline and instigate a process of regeneration. It was concluded that while Acapulco’s capitals fail to be exploited for various reasons, it does hold promise due to its impressive legacy, the underlying quality of its natural environment and the potential associated with several undeveloped cultural resources; nonetheless, any hope of regeneration requires a consolidated effort on behalf of all stakeholders to strengthen each capital. The findings offer insight regarding the viability of the model as a development framework for a destination in decline. In this sense, its suitability as both an academic and practical method of analysis is supported.
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Speakman, M., Garay, A.D. (2020). Regenerating the Pearl of the Pacific: A Destination Capitals Approach to Acapulco’s Tourism Development. In: Omran, A., Schwarz-Herion, O. (eds) Sustaining our Environment for Better Future. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7158-5_4
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