The Development of Mexico's Tourism Industry: Pyramids by Day, Martinis by Night (New Directions in Latino American Cultures)

"Today, tourism is one of Mexico's most successful revolutionary projects that played a decisive role in the making of that modern nation. From the industry's birth in 1928 to its boom in 1946, government officials and private entrepreneurs coalesced around tourism to study, develop, and promote it as a development strategy that fulfilled revolutionary goals. Through savvy promotional campaigns that professed goodwill and showcased the modern (martinis) and the traditional (pyramids), tourist boosters refashioned their nation's image from an unruly to a good neighbor successfully attracting U.S. tourists. This pioneering study demystifies the emergence of modern tourism and demonstrates how tourist boosters capitalized on broader shifts in U.S.-Mexican relations."--The publisher Berger argues that tourism was forged by Mexico's government in 1928 as the cornerstone of state-led modernization programmes. 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. Tourism, in Mexico, became official business by 1929. This book presents tourism as the leading and influential facet of the post-revolutionary modernization programme, and examines how it fostered nationalism and unity, and emerged as a form of foreign policy. The book chronicles how the industry emerged and shaped Mexican culture and politics