TOURIST ACCOMMODATION AND CHANGE IN THE CITIES: THE SANTIAGO DE QUERETARO CASE IN MEXICO

Abstract

Cities are becoming increasing destinations for tourist flows, with the growth in the number of tourists and the building of numerous hotels in all existing categories. Also, in recent decades, this growth includes new accommodation categories such as "boutique hotels." And the so-called platform tourism, which imposes a new type of accommodation in residential buildings, generating problems such as rising rents, the transformation of permanent homes into temporary residences, and growing conflicts between tourists and residents.

The objective of this research is to analyze the spatial-temporal behavior of tourist accommodation in Santiago de Queretaro, a Mexican city declared World Heritage Site in 1996. This city has experienced accelerated tourism accommodation growth in recent years under various modalities, specifically differentiating between traditional hotels, boutique hotels, hostels, and others, compared to the boom in platform accommodation. It also aims to outline, as a hypothesis, the implications of these two types of accommodation for a historic center of great heritage value, already experiencing significant gentrification.