Introduction

The research is based on the need to understand the phenomenon of rural tourism and its inevitable historical linkages to the local and regional level, in order to contribute to the understanding and solution of the critical situation that abounds in the Mexican countryside, characterized in recent years by the abandonment of agricultural activity due to their low profitability; which has led to an exponential increase in idle agricultural land. The foregoing to the food crisis affecting the country represents a potential that revived in the framework of a proper process of productive reconversion and tourist diversification of production units in the sector, could establish itself in a dynamic alternative for rural territories, currently depressed.

In order to achieve this, it is necessary to specifically emphasizes the importance of reviving, in the framework of the rural tourism, the economic dynamism of the former haciendas, by the enhancement, its cultural heritage, natural and productive, of the wealth that represents the socio-economic, environmental, historical and cultural environment represented by communities or villages surrounding these concerns, that according with ^{Bartra (2012)} "... those are no spaces, but events, located events. The people linked to such a place participates in events in which decides the fate of freedom, beauty and poetry. In this tie to a site, the people is responsible for what happens there", aspects which in the framework of retraining tourist, would bring two important elements for the success of a proposal of rural tourism: identity and authenticity.

For this reason, priority is given in the study region, the analysis of conditions, opportunities and scopes that allow to achieve rural tourism former haciendas linking local and regional development processes, on the basis of the assessment of four aspects: a) organisational skills, instrumental and systemic capacities of local agents; b) local natural and cultural resources; c) basic and touristic infrastructure; and d) services and attractions (^{Vargas, 2005}).

The analysis is based on two approaches: 1. regional approach, considering that the tourism phenomenon by its horizontality goes beyond the politic-administrative limits that characterize the current tourism planning; and 2. An approach of tourism based on principles of sustainability, sensitive to changing times, and therefore committed to the task to contribute effectively to achieve in the communities and regions where develops, a balance between: social equity, ecological sustainability and economic profitability needed to give quality, continuity and balance to the tourist activity.

López, (2001) and Barrier, (2006) argued that, rural tourism, rationally planned is one of the most viable activities to mitigate the conditions of poverty and marginalization of the rural population in territories depressed, because the set of tangible and intangible benefits that it generates in the territories. Adding different empirical evidence, documented by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), including: tourism and poverty (2003), tourism and poverty alleviation: plan for action (2004); and tourism, microfinance and poverty (2005), among others.

For this reason, we considered the desirability to analyse the importance of the practice of rural tourism in ex-haciendas, thinking forms for linking them between former landowners, institutions and communities, since keeping the current exclusive situation, such as the cases of touristic reconversion of former haciendas in Yucatán (Temozón, Sotuta de Peón, etc.), Morelos (Cocoyoc, San Antonio de el Puente, etc.) Jalisco (Hotel hacienda Sepúlveda, hacienda el Carmen, etc.), Hidalgo (San Miguel and Santa María Regla, etc.), Tlaxcala (Soltepec, Xalostoc, etc.), and Puebla (Chautla, San Agustín, etc.), where the relevance of socio-economic, environmental and cultural bonding of the former hacienda with the socio-cultural environment represented by the communities is actually evaded, a situation that has already produced a revolution with an agricultural deal which generated distrust, resentments and conflicts, many of them still unresolved, so that this angle is a matter of priority. In Mexico "...at the begin of the 21st century, 25% of the rural population, with more than 106 million inhabitants live in conditions of poverty, mainly, though not in an exclusive way, as a rural phenomenon" (^{BM, 2012}), mainly characterized by problems related to the adequate satisfaction of basic needs of food, dress, health and education, which shows that rural poverty is majority dominant and sustained.

We must also consider that "...the crisis besetting the rural environment is multidimensional but unitary, characterized by climate change, energy astringency, food shortages, financial profligacy, economic recession, pandemics necrosis of the social fabric, mass migrations, wars..." (^{Bartra, 2012}). Regarding the geographical distribution of the phenomenon we have in Mexico, according to ^{Warman (2003)}, 30.8% of the poor, sit in three entities: Veracruz, Chiapas and Puebla, and that to include the States of Guerrero and Oaxaca, the proportion rises to 46.7%. According to the ^{CONEVAL (2013)}, in the period 2010-2012 the number of poor Mexicans rose in 500 000 people going from 52.8 million to 53.3, as the topic related to the evolution of poverty in the federal entities in Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz remain the States with highest poverty, highlighting the case of the State of Puebla which has already passed Chiapas in the number of poor people.

It is important to comment that in relation to the distribution of poverty, in urban areas increased from 35.6 to 36.6 million, while in rural areas it fell from 17.2 to 16.7 million people, being one of the explanatory factors internal migration, that rural poverty has moved to cities, situation posed a characterized panorama, Barquero (2009) by an alarming reduction of rates of growth of productive activity, external and internal, employment, having been increased poverty, mainly in the most depressed areas, not only of Mexico but of the world, a situation that has led to various sectors of Mexican society to the pursuit of creative solutions and objective in this regard.

The rural situation, is nothing more than a proof of negligence and indolence in which the governments have treated the countryside and farmers, who have ceased to occupy a central place in national economic development, having been relegated by a global economy in which small producers already have no place, a vision for the model of neoliberal development that arose in the 1980s, which determined a series of measures directly affecting the field, among others: the elimination of widespread schemes to support prices and indirect subsidies to consumption and production; the implementation of a reform to eliminate the “ejido” and, as the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was to compete in the Mexican countryside in conditions of inequality with the producers of the United States of America and Canada, due to undeniable technological development, but mainly to the policy of subsidies that these governments practice.

Among the effects that caused the agricultural sector adjustment programmes include the predominance of family-run farms; economic undercapitalization; no technological modernization; the little associative activity and ageing of the farming population; the abandonment of the land due to low profitability; the decrease of agricultural values, with loss of employment in the primary sector, losing money in the total of the economy; the reduction of the population active in the primary sector due to rural migration both internal and international, situation that has caused both the decrease in the number of agricultural holdings as a process of gradual and sustained rural impoverishment.

It is noteworthy that, the prospects do not allow to visualize in the medium term a best-case scenario for the rural sector, in virtue of which measures suggested for the overcoming of poverty in Mexico are synthesized in 4 axes "...the deepening of the territorial approach to rural development at federal and regional level"; revitalizing the rural economy in favour of the poor; improve the design and effectiveness of policies and programmes for rural development, and support rural youth as crucial segment for the dynamism of the rural economy" (^{BM, 2012}).

Measures as we can observe are more with a palliative character that aimed to correct structural imbalances present in the sector, and from our perspective reflect a superficial vision of a structural problem, which must be known and studied from a more comprehensive approach, which means primarily the implementation of a standard existing economic model to the idiosyncrasies and reality of a multicultural and geographically diverse country like Mexico.

In response, proposals have emerged that depart from the assessment and reassessment of the rich heritage (cultural and natural), as well as resources and local capacities existing in the rural environment, a model that has proven its viability in various fields. Among the main components of these proposals stand out by their relevance to) the capitalization of the rural sector; (b) the implementation of public policies aimed at the retention of the rural population; (c) the promotion of investment in innovation and technological development in the rural sector with sustainability criteria.

These proposals have as theoretical handle the local development, and empirical references stand out the operation, although with different effects in the European Union (EU), Leader II project; support for the purpose of retaining the rural population in the field, with public money subsidizing activities of rehabilitation, adaptation and operation of tourist places (bed y breakfast and hostels, among others) that can access a supplementary income; in Brazil is intended financial support geared to the training and technical assistance in the agricultural sector, which has managed to reduce levels of intermediation, in large proportion to promote producer direct sales; and in the case of Mexico highlight diverse experiences, such as: eco-tourism centers in the Sierra Norte de Puebla; producers of organic coffee and rural tourism in Chiapas, and producers of coffee and mezcal in Oaxaca, with results in the majority of cases.

The alternatives of development to the rural sector in Mexico, must consider two views according to ^{Warman (2001)}, the first one concerns to eradicate poverty in the field, fighting the smallholding which is where incubated and reproduces poverty, and promote smallholders to reach a production level or income capable of generating wellbeing; and a second vision which is to revive the old proposal of agrarian compaction, which raises the unification of small plots into larger productive units, at the time of promoting industrial growth in rural areas or small towns, associated with the expansion and diversification of the services (including tourism) as an important alternative.

In our view it should additionally include variables related such as: time for financing at preferential rates that enable the capitalization of the sector; the incorporation of sustainable technologies, suitable to the idiosyncrasies of the rural population, that incorporate technological packages aimed at the productive reconversion and diversification of tourist, the idea of putting vernacular follow-up, allowing, in value within the framework of the rural tourism the economic revitalization of regions for the benefit of its inhabitants.

In this regard, other authors mention that "...rural development must necessarily rest on the exploitation that these spaces offer more naturally" (^{Segrellles, 2000}), so that the different routes and mechanisms of development have activities of the primary sector, since these constitute the social, economic and cultural structure of the rural environment; Warman proposed that, the livelihood of farmers paths are different, but emphasize the associative joints, which allow to increase production or access to technology; control of the production chain, through vertical integration, and productive diversification, either of products or activities.

Based on the success of a proposal for the improvement of the rural sector with a focus on local development, must be inclusive and comprehensive, is suitable to take the perspective of ^{Labasse (1973)}, pointing out that any space of organization must involve the great general transformation of the landscape, pointing to the optimal utilization of the agricultural potential, as it is raised for the ex-haciendas. According to nutritional and industrial needs of all the subject group of study and social centres of influence, must therefore balance relations countryside, the degree of industrialization and population pressure.

As stated, our perspective is important to consider in the analysis, not only to smallholders as raises it Warman and other authors, but the total of the agents, both individual, institutional, corporate and collective (^{Boisier, 1997}), who interact in the region, attending at the same time the mechanisms of relationship both intra and inter-regional. This with the purpose of having a thorough understanding of current forms of socio-economic, cultural and political relationship, prevailing in the territories of study, as well as of the possible scenarios that could be reconfigured in the future.

To take into account the specificity of application that has the local development for each territory, we are certain that, in order to assess the feasibility and relevance of a proposal for a rural tourism linked to local and regional development processes as intended, this shall be considered primarily one assessment of the natural and cultural resources, as the attractions and tourist services, with particular emphasis, in availability and commitment to participate in local tourism stakeholders to consider those capabilities: a) institutions; (b) communities; and c) local and foreign entrepreneurs.

Derivative of the above, there are aims of research analysis in the study region conditions presenting ex-haciendas rural tourism to link, to local and regional development, from the resources and capacities of local stakeholders in tourism of the region.

Where the hypothesis raised in this paper is whether: "a suitable model of productive reconversion and the ex-haciendas tourism diversification, based on the resources and capacities of local stakeholders in tourism in the region, make viable the linking of the rural tourism of ex-haciendas to development processes", both the objective and the hypothesis set out in the conclusions to see if the objective and hypothesis are met or not in the context of this research.

The frame of reference where this research has been developed based on the conviction that tourism must travel due to its characteristics of a traditional approach to be bounded by administrative political limits it to one regional approach, keeping it with the time and current needs. Therefore, we proceeded to delimit the region of study, which consisted of two municipalities in the northern region of Puebla, Zacatlan y Chignahuapan, and the municipality of Tlaxco, Tlaxcala. Regionalization was based on the assessment of geographic, productive, landscape, as well as tourist aspects, this can be seen in Figure 1.

Fuente: elaboración en base a el Marco Geoestadístico, INEGI (2013).

Figure 1 Interstate location of the study area. 

In relation to tourism in the region, the vast cultural and natural heritage make up the current axis of tourism positioned already national, from the status of "Magic town" -magical villages programme is promoted by the SECTUR-Federal, and seeks to highlight the tourist value of towns in the interior of the country. A Magical town is a town that has symbolic attributes, legends, history, important events, daily life, in short magic that emanates in its socio-cultural manifestations, such as the municipalities of Chignahuapan and Zacatlan, and tourist dynamic presented by the municipality of Tlaxco Tlaxcala.

The natural heritage is comprised of a characteristic wooded landscape, lakes, lagoons, rivers, waterfalls, and mountains; in terms of cultural heritage this is evidenced in their religious architecture (temples and ex-monasteries), civil architecture (public and private buildings), in relation to the productive architecture, highlights the ex-haciendas as an attraction of great patrimonial value natural and cultural, witnessed the historical value of its civil architecture (housing and productive structure) and religious (chapels), attributes that make real spaces of the ex-haciendas witnesses of a stage that marked the history of the country. In the study area are located a total of 13 ex-haciendas basically agricultural productive-minded, and have an average of hectares between 200 and 400 h.; five of these ex-haciendas have a range of tourist accommodation and gastronomy, tourist routes, social events and recreation-related in general, this can be seen in Figure 2.

Fuente: elaboración en base a el Marco Geoestadístico y Cartografía Urbana, INEGI (2013), e información del recorrido en campo.

Figure 2 Main services in the study region, heritage and tourist attractions. 

As stated, the ex-haciendas constitute the main assets of the proposal, but with a special emphasis on the knowledge and understanding of the nexus of relationships of both past and present culture, between the owners of ex-haciendas and residents of surrounding communities, the idea of exploring associative possibilities and synergy, as conditions essential to the emergence of an effective local and regional development process.

With respect to the background, the origin of the Mexican hacienda has returned, according to Torices and Zurita (2003), the Andalusian farmhouse that sits with the irruption of the Castilians as a model, between the 14th and 16th centuries, closely associated with the adoption of the social idea of nostalgia for the field by landowners classes, which made the farm took the architectural form of Villa Campestre.

Granting of commitments, according to Prem (1980), represented the instrument that the conqueror in the 16th century facilitated the acquisition of an indigenous labour force, and eventually appropriating land from local communities by the colonizer in the subsequent centuries XVII and XVIII. From the 17^th century, the hacienda was a production unit with a complex organization, with very specific structural characteristics that defined their key strengths and characteristics, to be considered as such, and which were: a) dominion over natural resources of an area (land and water); b) domain on the labour force; and c) domain on the local and regional markets" (Nickel, 1978).

The hacienda reaches its peak at the end of the 19^th century and early 20^th century, where it came to be seen as an industrial and agricultural complex, in which there were textile mills, wheat mills, production of pulque, production of vegetables, grasses, forages and sawmills for the production of fine woods.

In the States of Puebla and Tlaxcala, the hacienda boom took place in the 18th century, where played a very important role in the history and economy of the new Spain; specializing in livestock production, cereal, sugar, pulquera or mixed. Specifically in the northern part of the States of Puebla and Tlaxcala, settling haciendas for cereals, pulque and forest, which achieved high margins of production, due to the introduction of innovative agricultural implements, which increased their productivity.

During the Porfiriato, the hacienda reaches its maximum splendour, and Díaz, in the search for the long-awaited modernization of country, favours the ffluent class, at the expense of damage to most of the Mexican population, incubating, based on that, the outbreak of the revolutionary movement of 1910, which becomes the turning point in history or the point of break for the reconfiguration of the hacienda, "... the first agricultural deals made in 1912 and its subsequent formalization with the agrarian reform initiated in the years 30" (^{Warman, 2003}), which gave origin to the now ex-Hacienda, which saw low agricultural land assets, not their relational capital, which allowed to recapitalize and survive.

It is essential to talk about rural tourism and its relationship with the ex- hacienda, which is that tourism is a great facilitator of the national economy, as evidenced by the data of the Tourism Board of Mexico (^{CPTM-SIIMT, 2013}) reported that in 2012 they entered the country about 23.4 million outbound leaving an income higher than the 12.7 billion USD, which in turn accounted for 8.4 of the GDP, which generated 2 million direct jobs on the other hand, the domestic or national tourism mobilized national to 68.1 million tourists destinations.

The OMT, indicates that in relation to rural tourism that occupies us, this experience an annual growth of approximately 6%, some percentage points above the average rate of growth of world tourism in general. Although not expecting a massive orientation of tourists towards this market segment, the gradual growth of the rural tourism is a clear trend.

In this context, rural tourism can gain in the region, great importance as part of the strategies of life and generation of non-farm rural income (IRNA), developed in rural communities, since this will be possible to benefit from the cultural and natural heritage of the territory, while encouraging the participation of the community, of benefits and commitments resulting from the development of a responsible tourism.

The above already enunciated by Barrera (2006) and López (2001), who argue that "...the rural tourism is one of the most viable activities to mitigate the conditions of poverty and marginalization of the rural population, because the set of tangible and intangible benefits that it generates in the territories", note that tourism must be seen as an alternate source of income, and does not replace their primary sources i.e. preserving "the multi-activity" of the sector (^{CEPAL, 2003}), in the same sense that mentions ^{Cesar and Arnaiz (2004)}, who claim that the true rural tourism is the one in which this activity complements the productive activity of the region.

In relation to the relevance of the research, currently there is no history of projects or studies that have been analysed in Mexico, specifically the potential development of ex-haciendas, rural tourism can represent in the territories, if this is able to achieve linked to effective processes of local and regional development, from the rational use of attributes that characterize tourism, such as: a) the dynamic and multiplier effect that tourism has on the economy; b) the ability to induce in the strengthening and articulation of the various sectors of economic, social and cultural life of the territories; and c) enhance the resources and local capacity, through training, information and associative participation, consistent with that expressed by ^{Freiría (2003)}, that says that tourist activities are considered of great importance due to the multiplier effect they generate, so they allow the promotion and integration of the various socio-economic sectors, which could converge on a territorial rural development. In tune with the above by Warman, who points out that there are various alternatives to implemented and contribute, highlighting: a) the capitalization of the rural sector; (b) the implementation of the rural population retention policies; c) invest in agricultural technological innovation; and d) promote sustainable development for the rural sector.

Coinciding with the aforementioned approaches, additionally in the research we consider as imperative the need that a proposal looking to solve the rural problems must necessarily include among other things: a) analysis and evaluation of resources and local capacities; b) the enhancement of the cultural and natural heritage, both the ex-haciendas and the communities; and c) a proposal for sustainable rural tourism with a regional approach. The foregoing according to our perspective will allow objectively assess the feasibility of linking the rural tourism former haciendas far-reaching local and regional development processes.

Materials and methods

The method and techniques used in this research are primarily qualitative, considering according to García (2000), which is using qualitative methodology, when research access to multiple sources data, as well as the use of various interpretive techniques that allow describe, translate and synthesize the meaning of the facts.

The method becomes relevant in the study having as axis to tourism, and therefore the need to understand a particular behaviour and interaction group, to develop tourism as a social rather than economic phenomenon, and thus characterized as an activity which the individual carried out in society to interact directly and indirectly with the local population spaces, infrastructure, services and tourist attractions and where the territory stands on stage with all that it implies.

The methodology included: literature review, delimitation and characterization of the study area; theoretical foundation, application of interviews that allowed in the region to assess both the capabilities of the agents local and endogenous cultural, natural resources, infrastructure, attractions and tourist services. The instruments of analysis used were geographic information systems (GIS), the SWOT analysis and the tourism system.

Results and discussion

In both axes of the proposal, the productive reconversion is understood as the physical and functional adaptation of the ex-Hacienda, in order to incorporate it into the tourism activity in the framework of the rural tourism with a focus on local development, and tourism diversification to define the orientation of the conversion, will be understood as the process by which an ex-Hacienda would offer new products to make inroads into new markets, either way of corporate acquisitions or investing directly in new business or products. The reason why the ex-haciendas are diversified would be for the search for synergies, reducing the overall risk of or by issues of economic and financial insolvency. Two types of diversification depending on the type of relationship between ancient turns of the hacienda and the new services offered are consider: a) diversification related, based on the search for synergies between the old and new activities, or the entry into business or money that is provided (backward integration) or by becoming its own client entering into business involving its products such as the manufacture of new goods and services (integration forward); and b) related diversification (radical change to non-turns) according to ^{Hirschman, (1981)}.

Regarding the field work analysis, we evaluated the capabilities: organizational, instrumental and systemic, the local agents of tourism, according to ^{Vargas (2005)}, based on information gathered through interviews conducted to: 3 tourism directors; 24 business leaders in the region; 2 former landowners and, 3 Presidents of Community (Tepoxcuautla, La Estrella-Zacatlán, Puebla) and Xalostoc (Tlaxco, Tlaxcala). Noteworthy is that to supplement or verify the information provided, routes were made on-site.

The findings derived from the analysis do not allow to conclude that, the hypothesis raised in relation to "a suitable model for productive reconversion and tourist diversification of the ex-haciendas, based on the resources and capabilities of the agents in local tourism in the region, make viable the linking of the rural tourism of ex-haciendas to local and regional development processes", is valid if we consider that the ex-hacienda of Amoltepec, located in Zacatlán, Puebla, were productive reconversion was made and the tourism diversification raised, can appreciate a harmonious relationship community-ex-hacienda, evidenced in the used permanently to 6 persons from the community of Tepoxcuautla.

Regarding the ejido “La Estrella”, there is a more dynamic relationship which includes: a) an agreement for the provision of services related to tourism (rent horses for horseback riding or horseback, or support to cater to tourists who paddle the dam of the ex-hacienda); b) the eventual recruitment of personnel for agricultural tasks of maintenance for 450 000 maguey plants; c) conditioning of spaces (masonry); and d) supplying small scale baking for the ex-hacienda restaurant.

Conclusions

The reconversion proposal and diversification raised for the ex-haciendas of Puebla and Tlaxcala is viable considering two phases:

On one hand, phase 1, which consist on the productive reconversion, based on a business plan for the financing of productive activities, enabling to leverage the capabilities and potentials of the ex-haciendas, by means of appropriate technological packages that lead to capitalisation; on the other hand, phase 2, which would be the tourism diversification, backed by derivatives of capitalization and credit resources, that will orient the rescue, restoration and refurbishment of the facilities of the ex-haciendas for tourist purposes, considering the financial scheme of rescue and conservation of the environment and local culture.

In synthesis, the raised proposal must have an impact on three main aspects: 1. to promote the ex- hacienda and its territories of influence; 2. to generate an offer of rural tourism with identity; and 3. to preserve a cultural and natural heritage in eminent danger of disappearing.