Turismo y capital social. La perspectiva de los actores privados en Teotihuacán y San Martín de las Pirámides, México

Abstract

Social capital represents a recurrent research topic in the social sciences. In general, the study of this type of capital includes the social relations of a community, which has explained a wide range of phenomena, including tourism. Likewise, tourism has become relevant due to the impacts it generates in the places where it takes place. In this way, the binomial social capital and tourism has been mainly used to deepen the contributions of this type of capital to tourism development; leaving aside the study on the influence that tourism has on the elements of social relations. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of tourism on the social capital of private actors in Teotihuacan and San Martin de las Piramides. For this, qualitative and quantitative approach were used, and semi-structured interviews were applied to owners or directors of the main tourism companies in the two municipalities. The results show that tourism influences the social capital of several private stakeholders, who have affected the networks of relationships, trust and collective action among themselves and with other stakeholders. Likewise, one of the main conclusions is that public policies, in this case the "Pueblos Magicos" program dynamizes social relations and therefore influences social capital.