Development of Mexico's Tourism Industry

While many believe the tourism industry emerged during and after WWII, Berger argues that it was forged by Mexico's government in late 1928 as the cornerstone of state-led modernization programmes. Tourism became official business by 1929 when government officials, private investors, bankers and transportation companies agreed that tourism presented Mexico with an ideal way to rebuild after a prolonged period of political violence and instability, shaky relations with the US, economic underdevelopment and social revolution. Berger presents tourism as the leading and influential facet of the post-revolutionary modernization programme. She also examines how tourism fostered nationalism and unity, and emerged as a new form of foreign diplomacy. Berger's approach is different from most accounts of tourism, rather than looking at the 'simulacra' Disneyworld presentation of a culture, which is the subject of much postmodern/postcolonial criticism, she chronicles how the industry emerged and how it shaped Mexican culture and politics in the first half of the twentieth century.