ABSTRACT
What did chewing gum leave behind? Much of the Yucatán
Peninsula was transformed after the commercial decline of the
chicle industry in the 1960s. Since then, the coast of Quintana
Roo has developed as a global tourist destination, much of it
branded as “The Mayan Riviera.”1 There is a history to this
development, and an interesting one, but it does not necessarily
help us answer the question that the story of chewing gum leads
us to ask-Where has chicle left its mark? Is there a connection
between the vestiges of chicle production and the way in which
tourism has grown? If we trace the history of tourist pioneers in
the area, we certainly discover that some of them were chicle
contractors before they became interested in tourism.2
Similarly, we can explore what has happened to the resources
