What’s in a name? Chapala mayor Javier Degollado recently acknowledged that he has scrapped hopes of getting the municipal seat designated as a Magic Town to trade up for an unique label as Mexico’s Cuna del Turismo (Cradle of Tourism).
The about-face came on the heels of a recent visit by Jalisco Tourism Minister Enrique Ramos. Facing questions from the press, he stated that Chapala doesn’t meet criteria for getting on the Pueblo Mágico roster. He indicated that the main stumbling blocks are the lack of an identifiable urban image and the prevalence of unsightly ambulantaje (informal street commerce).
For local government heads, the underlying appeal of the Pueblo Mágico title is gaining the handle on a magic wand to conjure juicy state and federal funding to enhance infrastructure and launch promotion schemes to attract a lucrative tourist trade. But the program money comes with numerous strings attached regarding requisite organizational structures and operating rules.
According to figures from the state tourism ministry, federal investment in Jalisco’s seven Pueblos Mágico destinations has skyrocketed from 12 million to 31 million pesos over the last three years. Last year the state pumped an additional 20.8 million into those locales. The town of Tequila alone captured close to half of the total, with the remainder spread out between Lagos de Moreno, Mascota, Mazamitla, San Sebastián del Oeste, Talpa de Allende and Tapalpa.
On the downside of all that new wealth, media outlet Reporte Indigo recently revealed that crime rate and incidents of violence coincidentally spiked in several of these places, with Lagos de Moreno, Mascota, San Sebastián and Tequila standing out on the list.
Mayor Degollado appears to have changed his mindset on the premise that his administrativon is capable of rustling up government funds to pursue his dreams of building a tourist mecca without being forced to adhere to Pueblo Mágico restrictions.
While the Cradle of Tourism moniker wouldn’t necessarily translate into opening the coffers of specific tourism agency funding packages, the concept is not all that far-fetched. Experts on the history of Mexico’s tourism industry recognize that Chapala probably qualifies as the country’s first strictly leisure destinations.
By the middle of the 1800s adventurers from abroad had started discovering Chapala’s natural attributes: its benign climate, abundant wildlife, spectacular lake and mountain views and the soothing waters of thermal springs. Well-heeled families from Guadalajara and the nation’s capital soon began to build vacation mansions along the shoreline.
By the end of the century a flow of travelers gave impetus to businessman Ignacio Arzapalo to open the town’s first luxury hotel. The handsome structure still standing at the waterfront now houses a restaurant, a convenience store and an ice cream shop.
A tourist boom and the town’s short-lived glory years are attributed to President Porfirio Díaz who brought his family and cronies to Chapala for the Easter holidays around the turn of the 20th century. No other place in the nation is known as such an early magnet for pleasure travel.
The budding tourist industry collapsed with the 1910 outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and Diaz’s exile to far off France. Chapala has had its ups and downs ever since.
The current mayor envisions a new golden era on the horizon, reflecting his optimism in the slogan Chapala está de Moda- Chapala is once again in fashion.