How Many tourists are too many/ Are there limits to tourism growth?

San Miguel de Allende  – too much success?

I spent the last week in San Miguel de Allende Mexico, one of the most wonderful places on the planet.  A World Heritage Site, a colonial town with cobblestone streets, wonderful cuisine, beautiful vistas and which has just been rated by Conde Nast traveler as one of the ten best places in the world to retire.  It also boasts very friendly and helpful people, excellent restaurants and a climate which is normally about 25-30C in the day and about 12-15C at night.

 

The challenge is to help them keep all of the things which are valued , while limiting overtourism which could ruin all that is most important to those who live there. Traffic jams the centre and has affected the “carrying capacity” for tourism  – or the limits to how many can visit without harming those attributes most valued by the inhabitants and their visitors.

 

The central area of the City is overwhelmed with all the cars of tourists who wish to visit, as well as those who wish to work in , eat in or walk around the precious central ares.

We are working with them to try to eliminate traffic from the core, manage the impacts of tourist  and help them keep it as a World Heritage site for all to visit but also to help to sustain.

San Miguel and the nearby Heritage Site, Atotonilco are like many other precious sites in the UNESCO World Heritage list and need work to make certain that they and the key assets for the world are sustained.  More in the future as we try to establish with them a model planning and sustainable tourism program.. We will put another article on this site when the project now under way is finished.

Ted Manning