Maya Biosphere Reserve Livelihoods and Participation in Tourism

Community-based tourism is often promoted in protected areas as a means to dually promote conservation and alleviate poverty in rural communities. However, these projects have mixed results in practice and their livelihood impacts are understudied. Hence, through a comparative case study, this research compares how greater local collective authority over tourism affected the distribution of tourism jobs in three gateway towns to the most visited national parks within Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve and how compatible tourism was with residents' other livelihood activities. The data reports aggregate livelihood data including information on household demographics, income and income sources, household assets, use of forest products, time dedicated to cultivation, and participation in tourism for 134 households across the towns of Carmelita, Socotzal, and Yaxha within the Reserve.