Definition of Magical Towns

In recent years the government Mexico has launched a national tourism promotion campaign known as Pueblos Mágicos. In it, those localities that stand out for their historical dimension, their legends and symbols are made known.

Main features of the program

The Magic Towns program has the purpose of relaunching national and international tourism and, at the same time, promoting the economic activity of certain municipalities.

The proposed tourism model is intended to be sustainable. Native traditions are strengthened to promote tourism that is respectful of culture and away from the destruction of the environment and the massification of sun and beach tourism.

The localities that are part of it receive government recognition aimed at preserving their cultural legacy.

For a town to be part of the program, it must meet some conditions:

1) that its inhabitants get involved in the project through social platforms and the participation citizen,

2) that the municipal authorities commit to the project with a strategic plan and

3) every magical town is obliged to have a regulation on the image of the municipality, a series of public services, accessibility measures, plans for small businesses, as well as assistance and safety.

The municipalities that are integrated into the Magical Towns Program stand out for their emblematic buildings, their festivals and traditions, their gastronomy and its artisan production.

In 2001 Huasca de Ocampo, located in the state of Hidalgo, was the first municipality to be classified as a Magic Town.

A tourist plan to recover forgotten areas

As in Spain, the Mexican tourism model has been based on the offer of sun and beach. However, in recent years, plans have been put in place in both countries so that certain Inland towns have a tourist projection that allows to revitalize the activity economical. Pueblos Mágicos de México has a certain resemblance to the approach of the Camino de Santiago in Spain and other cultural proposals that attract a large number of tourists.

Pueblos Mágicos and the Camino de Santiago are two illustrative examples of the tourist potential of some territories far from the coast. Cultural tourism proposals allow the maintenance of the artistic heritage of a nation and represent a source of income significant for nations, as evidenced by the city of Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, the pyramids of Egypt, the Alhambra in Granada in Spain or Route 66 in the United States.

Photos: Fotolia - Byelikova Oksana / Galyna Andrushko