Inversions sociale et spatiale : brève géohistoire de la mise en tourisme du village de Yokdzonot dans le Yucatán

Alternative forms of tourism have often been radically opposed to mass tourism. However, the example of Riviera Maya, an urbanized coastline at the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico),put in tourism since 1970, and of its rural Mayan hinterland, shows that this opposition needs to be qualified. Not only are new tourism practices emerging, but they are also associated with tourism of new places and the emergence of leaders. Based on an ethnographic study, this article studies tourist environment of the town of Yokdzonot, located a few kilometers from Chichén Itzá, a popular touristic destination classified as cultural heritage of humanity since 1988; it will show its originality as well as the socio-territorial consequences of tourism development of the said place, marked by social and spatial inversion.