Quintana Roo, Mexico has become an internationally acclaimed tourist development area over the past six years. This may be a difficult concept to grasp considering the states economic condition at the end of the 20th, and the first decade of the 21st century. The current status of a tourism haven was not easily accomplished. It took many years of cooperative tourism planning amongst the state, national government officials, and most importantly, the local communities of the areas being developed.
             In the early 1990's, the country of Mexico was searching for untapped tourism resources. The purpose of this search was because popular tourist destinations, like Cancun, were reaching their saturation points and becoming commonplace destinations to the global tourism market. At this point in time, the country's tourism industry was lacking direction and focus (Levin 5). Top tourism officials were beginning to realize that the "traditional products of sun, sea, and sand were losing inherent value in a continually more competitive market" (Levin 3). Essentially, the country was losing the upper-end of the consumer market, which had greater purchasing power. For a few years, Mexico's tourism officials tried to rejuvenate many of their popular tourist destinations through various marketing strategies and additional funding. This was an attempt to prevent decline in tourist arrivals. The rejuvenation process proved to be difficult as many of these areas had no additional land to build upon, and were experiencing environmental problems due to overdevelopment.
             High profile tourists began to seek other international destinations; and as overall tourist numbers began to drop, tourism officials and other multi-national corporations were searching for other areas to develop. The answer lied in the state of Quintana Roo.
             Quintana Roo is situated on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. &qu...