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This study aims to reveal the potential for ecotourism of a locality with high marginalisation index in the municipality of Tlalpujahua, a Magic Town in the State of Michoacán, Mexico.

This case study was based on several methodologies. First, socioeconomic, environmental, sustainability, geographic and institutional variables were used in the evaluation of 62 localities of the municipality. Geographic information systems identified study areas and determined their potential for ecotourism. Second, participatory diagnosis was used to collect specific information about the locality regarding their organisational aspects, development strategies, current socioeconomic problems, land use and resources availability and interest in developing projects related to ecotourism. Finally, the authors adapted the FAS Model (factors, attractors and support systems) to include environmental and organisational variables contributing to a theoretical approach to ecotourism. To identify attractors, they applied a questionnaire to determine the profile of tourists visiting Magic Towns and their potential interest in ecotourism.

The authors conclude that ecotourism is a possible alternative to highly marginalised localities within Magic Town municipalities and would be able to expand the benefits engendered by the program. Ecotourism can therefore represent a new option for tourists visiting marginalised communities in Mexico.

A diverse methodology applied key elements to identify localities suitable for ecotourism, characteristics of marginalisation and endowment of natural heritage. The authors conclude that the benefits to localities included in the Magic Towns Program can be expanded to surrounding spaces through strategies such as ecotourism.

THERE IS SIGNIFICANCE, perhaps, in the fact that in 1876, the year the first library in Moberly, Missouri, probably disappeared, a Wizard came to town. Professor Macallister, the Prince of Magic Performers, gave ‘great entertainments’ for three days, April 3rd, 4th and 5th, at Morgan's Opera House. ‘Without a peer in his line of business’, and ‘a gentleman whom it is a pleasure to know’, wrote the editor of the Moberly Enterprise‐Monitor (the first daily published in Moberly, its first issue dated 3 April 1873). ‘Do not be misled by classing the great East Indian magician with inferior traveling concerns, styling themselves Fakirs, etc. They not only injure reputations of first class magicians, but they give their patrons snide jewelry and sham watches for presents.’ Not so Professor Mac‐allister, who, in addition to his first‐class performance, distributed one hundred costly and valuable presents each evening: china tea sets, chamber sets, tête‐à‐têtes, chairs, marble‐topped tables, bureaus, American watches. Wisely, too, these articles were not brought out of the Wizard's hat but were purchased by his canny manager, Mr Harry Weston, from the business houses in the town. Any resident—or visiting drummer—for 25 cents (50 cents reserved seat) could see a true Wizard perform and also have a chance of winning atête‐à‐tête or a chamber set.

Purpose: This chapter investigates how researchers assemble market research test towns as hybrid sociotechnical arrangements. Researchers use various strategies in order to purify such hybrids into simplified representations of a fetishized imaginary, namely the average consumer.

Methodology/approach: The chapter is based on an analysis of secondary sources such as company documents. Theoretically, it draws on the concept of consumption assemblages and on anthropological theories of fetish.

Findings: Fetishization is a powerful way for both researchers and their clients to purify the hybrid assemblages they are part of into easily digestible categories such as “the real” and “the average.” In that process, the test town and its consumers emerge as a fetish that allows corporate clients to alleviate decision-making anxiety. Because of the nature of fetish, purification as a process remains incomplete.

Research Implications: These findings call for more social studies of market research as a set of practices that shape the identities of those who do the testing and forecasting. This chapter thus opens up test marketing and so-called test towns in particular as a field for consumer culture theory research.

Originality/value: This chapter provides insights into how market research creates test sites to simulate purchase behavior and pre-test consumer products. This chapter maps how different groups of actors and different technologies are enrolled in order to enact an ideal-type consumer averageness on an ongoing basis in a particular test town.

This chapter focuses on the Pueblos Mágicos (Magic Towns) Program to determine the social and economic benefits of a public tourism intervention with governance characteristics in small towns with cultural and natural resources. The chapter examines the evolution of social development through indicators that measures the lack of this development, and also analyzes information collected from the residents about their perceptions. At first glance, there are elements to affirm with the insights from final beneficiaries, that the governance action really improves their living conditions.

This article identifies the major problems currently facing our world and raises pertinent questions. The issues discussed are population dynamics, urbanization and land occupancy, water and food, energy and climate, technology and society, info‐rich and info‐poor, unchecked or uncheckable markets, affluence and poverty, and world governance or domination. Because we live in a world system, these issues are all interconnected and cannot be tackled independently. The article suggests a systemic approach using prospective studies to anticipate the future more effectively than our natural inclination to extrapolate. One of the simplest methods for this is the trend scenario which leads from the past and present along logical paths throwing light on possible futures. However, this leads to unacceptable situations in a not too distant time frame, and so a shared and sustainable development scenario is proposed which would emphasize the non‐material aspects of economic growth in order to handle natural resources wisely and establish the stable and equitable wellbeing of the human race. The main conclusion is that a real paradigm shift in current economic, social and environmental practices is necessary both at the individual level in terms of the perception of the limits, constraints and values of the world system, and at the world level with respect to the political will to build consensus around the new goals, with the major powers taking the lead.

The tourism industry may result in positive as well as negative effects for local communities. Although it is generating economic growth and job creation in different parts of the world, it can impact on sociocultural and ecological dimensions of destinations. A high influx of tourists can disrupt the residents' attitudes, behaviors, and their quality of life. It can also lead to the degradation of natural environments, including land, air, water, plants, and animals. In this light, this research raises awareness about the importance of managing tourism in a sustainable and responsible manner. The researchers deliberate about the opportunities and challenges of tourism. Afterward, they focus on the implementation of sustainable tourism development activities in the South African context. In conclusion, they put forward their recommendations for policymakers.

The legitimacy of history: dictated Bloch. Today, in many areas of knowledge, and of course in entrepreneurship (Wadhwani, 2010), it has become superlative. The aim of this chapter is analyzing the literature about entrepreneurship in Mexico mainly from the last 11 years of studies on the subject. Through this review, we want to highlight the progress in the field, as well as deeper opportunities in its research as a result of it, the profound need for incorporating them not only in the national academic debate but also into the entrepreneurship ecosystem and in specific public policies.