Students Boost Ecotourism in Quintana Roo Community

Cancún — Students of Alternative Tourism and Heritage Management from the University of the Caribbean updated the Business Plan for “Tres Lagunas Pueblo Perdido,” along with other materials and products, which will help promote the ecotourism services of the Beel Aakaalche Cooperative in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas.

Students Delivered Final Projects

Students from the Community Planning and Tourism course, in their 7th semester under the guidance of Professor Claudia Inés Martínez, delivered the final projects completed for the Beel Aakaalche Cooperative, which manages the community tourism venture “Tres Lagunas Pueblo Perdido.”

As part of the course, the students interviewed the cooperative’s president and treasurer in the classroom and conducted a field trip in November, where they applied participatory planning techniques and tools to carry out a diagnosis of the venture and propose development and improvement ideas for community tourism activities.

Work Performed

As a product of this learning experience, jointly with members of the cooperative, the students updated the Business Plan for “Tres Lagunas Pueblo Perdido,” created a catalog of its services, designed a proposal for specialized signage and posters, which included a catalog of drawings, and developed a Marketing Strategy and a Benchmarking analysis of the venture, along with a phrase manual and a repository with photos and videos for digital marketing.

Additionally, they created two further proposals: for a Community Interpretation Center and for cycling tourism activities, with two proposed bicycle experiences along with their specialized guides.

The Activity Was Enriched by Other Collaborations

This academic activity is enriched by the Participatory Action Research (PAR) work being carried out jointly by members of the Tourism and Sustainability Academic Body (CATS), along with the Node for Promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy (NODESS) “Selva Mar y Comunidad” and volunteers from the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) in Spain.

We thank the members of the cooperative from the El Cedral Community for allowing learning experiences in real environments, which connects students with the problems and challenges of tourism cooperatives in rural areas of Quintana Roo.