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example, have used a growth pole approach when developing tourist centres
(Kemper, 1979) including Loreto, Los Cabos, Huatulco and Cancún (Weaver
& Oppermann, 2000). In selecting tourism as a growth pole, governments
identify a site, which is usually in an economically marginal area, that is
deemed suitable for sustaining a form of tourism development. With govern-
ment initiatives and incentives, both public and private investment is injected
into the selected area, often in the form of subsidised facilities and infrastruc-
ture. The incentives attract additional tourism development and employees.
Eventually economic growth in the area becomes self-sustaining and inde-
pendent of tourism when a critical mass of residential population is attained.
The larger residential population, rather than just tourism, attracts addi-
tional development. Government incentives may be withdrawn and the ben-
efits of tourism 'trickle down' from the growth pole to the surrounding area
(Weaver & Oppermann, 2000). Caalders (2000: 187) states that in regional
economic planning, 'the emphasis has been on attracting foreign industries
capable of creating regional growth poles and serving as a pull factor for
other economic activities'. The development of Cancún as a growth pole
began in the 1970s and it has surpassed Acapulco as the biggest mass resort
in Mexico (Hiernaux-Nicolas, 1999). The Mexican government and the
Inter-American Development Bank financed the large-scale project and it is
coordinated through FONATUR, the agency responsible for promoting tour-
ism development. The rationale for the project was that it would generate
foreign exchange and many new jobs outside of existing overtaxed urban
centres such as Mexico City, and would counter patterns of regional inequal-
ity. Originally planned as a resort complex, recently it has been shifting from
a resort enclave to an open urban centre with increasing levels of integration
into the neighbouring Mayan region. Although the impact has been substan-
tial, in terms of regional development it is not a clear success. It has not
produced substantial improvements in regional conditions (Brenner &
Aguilar, 2010; Hiernaux-Nicolas, 1999). The distance continues to grow
between local winners and the remaining population, which has been
impoverished by national and regional economic crises, and the vast majority
of the Mexicans in the region have not benefited from the development in
Cancún, as seen in the following comment: 'Low wages, unstable labour
markets, racism, a high cost of living, and poor housing are some of the con-
ditions the would-be migrants have found in Cancún' (Hiernaux-Nicolas,
1999: 139). Murray (2007) suggests that the high degree of centralised plan-
ning in this project by FONATUR has not proven adequate in addressing the
myriad environmental and social impacts that have resulted.
In the context of new regionalism and the importance of social relations
and collaboration, Amin and Thrift (1994, cited in Dredge & Jenkins, 2003)
note the concept of 'institutional thickness'. This refers to understanding
how institutional arrangements can influence the capacity of regions to com-
pete globally. They define institutions broadly, to incorporate the informal
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