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NATION BUILDING/NATIONALISM The Development of Mexico's Tourism Industry: Pyramids by Day, Martinis by Night. By Dina Berger. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. xviii, 164. Illustrations. Notes. Tables. Appendix. $65.00 cloth.
From the Porfiriato onward, the Mexican leadership has identified improving Mexico's image abroad as a prerequisite of national development. Careful promotion of "Brand Mexico" - an image of Mexico as a commodity for foreign consumption - served to advance the national elite's goal of economic and cultural modernization. Tourism promotion occupied a central position in these efforts. But while the Díaz regime did so to lure foreign investments, the post-revolution leadership sought to attract the new mass market of leisure tourists and their dollars as the foundation of an industry in and of itself. Until now, Miguel Alemán has received credit for establishing the modern tourist industry by writing the first federal tourist law and establishing the Mexican Commission for National Tourism in 1947. Main thoroughfares named after Alemán in resort towns such as Cancún, Ixtapa, and Huatulco reinforce the popular impression of him as the father...