Tourism and development: The perception of the inhabitants of the Magical Towns of the Sierra Occidental Coastal Region of the state of Jalisco, Mexico

The approach to this topic stems from the establishment of the growing number of tourist areas known as Magic Towns (MTs) in Mexico, and the state of Jalisco has taken on singular importance in this regard. The analysis of the three MTs, Mascota, San Sebastian del Oeste and Talpa de Allende, is carried out with the aim of finding out the perception that the inhabitants manage to identify of the development caused by the implementation of tourist activities in these geographical spaces. Through the application of a questionnaire and its subsequent statistical analysis, important correlations were identified, but not coincidental, despite being relatively close MTs: Mascota presented 66, San Sebastian del Oeste 36 and Talpa de Allende 99 correlations. The perception in none of the variables, at least in the first three correlations resulting from the analysis carried out, do not coincide at all. The exercise developed approximates the knowledge of a region, certain that more work is still needed and the selection of other variables that can be integrated to further analysis, that reflect in the best way a reality that stimulates the participation of citizens, promoters and developers in tourism, investors, local and foreign entrepreneurs, authorities of the three levels of government, academia, among others. Finally, there are differences in the intrinsic development processes that have been achieved over the years, and perhaps some of the improvements identified at the local level could be attributed to the designation of Magic Town.