A holistic approach to cenote tourism: The perception of sustainability and its three dimensions in the X-Canché cenote in Ek Balam

Abstract

Unregulated mass tourism represents a threat to biodiversity and the karst system in the Yucatan Peninsula. This shows a problem that must be addressed urgently. The purpose of this exploratory study was to comprehensively characterize the state of sustainability of the cenotes and analyze how the tourist's experience is linked to cultural integration, considering Ek Balam's X-Canché cenote as a case study. Through a mixed research design (exploratory, explanatory and descriptive), the methodology included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, visual field documentation, design of diagrams and tables, the application of a proprietary evaluation model made up of 114 items and a validated survey of 332 visiting tourists. The results in Ek Balam's X-Canché showed that social sustainability reached 94.38%, the economic dimension 78.6% and the ecological dimension 79%. It is concluded that the implementation of the Sustainable Management Model for Cultural Integration (M-SIC) is necessary, providing new technical and holistic knowledge to the literature of sustainable tourism.