International tourism, both a cause and effect of globalization, increased dramatically over the last four decades. In the most recent decade, 1991 to 2000, international arrivals increased 4.3 percent a year to 697 million. Tourism was Mexico’s third largest industry, contributing US$54 billion to its GDP in 2001. Major contributors to this figure were the 20 million international tourists who visit the nation each year. Although Mexico’s tourism industry was best known for its “sand-and-surf” destinations, such as Cancún and Acapulco, an alternative kind of tourism called ecotourism was attracting increased attention from governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), tourists, and the tourism industry.