Tourist Behavior for Sustainable Development in the Cumbres de Majalca National Park, Mexico: Challenges in a Post-pandemic Context

The chapter’s topic is related to the best tourist behavior practices for Sustainable Development in the Protected Natural Area of Cumbres de Majalca in a post-pandemic tourism context. The research problem is based on different sources of environmental impact like forest fires; uncontrolled grazing; use of off-road vehicles; the opening of unestablished roads that destroy vegetation, accelerated erosion, and generate dust pollution and harmful noise; as well as the over-tourism associated with vacation periods. This chapter aims to diagnose the current scenario and project management strategies for tourism with low environmental impact based on sustainability and responsible environmental behavior of visitors in Cumbres de Majalca National Park, Chihuahua. The study was based on qualitative, multidisciplinary, and transversal research principles; empirical methods such as observation, document analysis, diagnostic tests, and group work were used. The research of the visitor’s behavior and their relationships with the experiential landscape was based on a field visit to the destination with undergraduate tourism students from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. The main findings are the diagnosis of the current scenario characterized by high negative impacts and the projection of the desired scenario based on the development of strategies for tourism with low environmental impact according to the sustainability principles and the environmental visitor’s responsible behavior. This proposal allows the operationalization and instrumentation of the Park Management Program in a post-pandemic context.