A growing number of tourists are traveling to Mexico to seek novel experiences in the tourism industry, despite inadequate infrastructure. The consumption of psychedelic plants and substances among modern tourists is emerging in Mexico and other Latin American countries. This qualitative study, which included interviews with local residents in 2016, found a rising number of people wanting to experience new encounters in eco-areas and to engage with Indigenous communities, indicating a new typology of tourism is developing in Mexico.
Millennial travelers are driving a global revival of indigenous spiritual practices by using digital media to share information about psychedelic plant medicines' therapeutic potential. This chapter examines motivations of Millennials visiting Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico, for shamanic mushroom rituals. Common themes include seeking knowledge, healing mental and emotional imbalances, satisfying curiosity, and pursuing self-improvement. The work highlights the commodification of these ceremonies and calls for including indigenous communities in scientific validation of psychedelics. It urges further research on shamanic tourism's potential to enhance well-being amid global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Psilocybin mushrooms have been central to traditional indigenous medicine in Mexico for centuries, yet their illegal status prevents conservation, research, and use of this biocultural resource. Drawing on bioculturality and local development frameworks, this article uses documentary and ethnographic research in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca. The Mazateca community recognizes the mushrooms' endogenous potential and supports their tourist use, but lacks cooperative capacities needed for regional conservation and development strategies. The authors suggest that promoting visionary plants through biocultural conservation and responsible tourism could help alleviate poverty in indigenous regions.