Jalisco, Mexico

Tourist Industry | Economy

🇲🇽 Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico. Jalisco is divided into 125 municipalities, and its capital city is Guadalajara.

Jalisco is one of the most economically and culturally important states in Mexico, owing to its natural resources as well as its long history and culture. Many of the characteristic traits of Mexican culture, particularly outside Mexico City, are originally from Jalisco, such as mariachi, ranchera music, birria, tequila, jaripeo, etc., hence the state's motto: "Jalisco es México". Economically, it is ranked third in the country, with industries centered in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The state is home to two significant indigenous populations, the Huichols and the Nahuas. There is also a significant foreign population, mostly from the United States and Canada, living in the Lake Chapala and Puerto Vallarta areas.

Tourist Industry The most important tourist areas in the state are Puerto Vallarta, the Guadalajara metro area, the Costalegre and Los Altos de Jalisco Regions, Lake Chapala and the Montaña Region. The Guadalajara area's attractions are principally in the city itself and Zapopan, Tlaquepaque and Tonalá. Although the area is mostly urban there are also rural zones such as the Bosque La Primavera, El Diente and Ixtepete.

One of the most famous tourism attractions of the state is the "Tequila Express" which runs from Guadalajara to the town of Tequila. This tour includes visits to tequila distilleries which often offer regional food in buffets accompanied by mariachi musicians and regional dancers. The Tequila Valley area is known for the liquor named after it, made from the blue agave plant. This valley is filled with tequila haciendas, archeological sites and modern distillation facilities. The main historical centres are the towns of Tequila, Cocula, Magdalena and Teuchitlán. The aggregate of the agave fields in this area have been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Puerto Vallarta on Banderas Bay has beaches such as Los Muertos, Conchas Chinas, Las Glorias, Mismaloya, Punta Negra and Playa de Oro with large hotels, bars, restaurants and discothèques. It has a population of about 250,000 and is the sixth largest city in Jalisco. This bay was a haven for pirates in the 16th century, but today it is one of Mexico's favored diving destinations because of the range of marine life and an average water temperature of between 24.4 and 30.3 °C. Expert level diving is practised at Marieta Islands at the edge of the bay. On land, one major attraction is the city's nightlife. Ecotourism and extreme sports such as bungee jumping and para-sailing are available. Jalisco's coast includes other beaches such as Careyes, Melaque and Tamarindo along with world-famous Puerto Vallarta. The north part of the coast is called the Costalegre de Jalisco. The Costalegre area is classified as an ecological tourism corridor with beaches such as Melaque, Barra de Navidad, Tenacatita, Careyes, El Tecuán, Punta Perula, Chamela and El Tamarindo. All of these have five-star hotels along with bars, restaurants and discothèques. Many coast areas offer activities such as scuba, snorkeling, kayaking, and sports fishing. Majahuas is a marine turtle sanctuary in which visitors may liberate newly hatched turtles into the sea. Puerto Vallarta is known for its nightlife along with its beaches.

The popularity of Lake Chapala began with President Porfirio Díaz who chose the area as a getaway in the late 19th century. This made it popular with Mexico's elite and established the Lake's reputation. Lake Chapala tourism started in the 19th century and steadily pick up in the early 20th century. Beginning in the 1950s, due to the pleasant climate and attractive scenery, a substantial colony of retirees, including many from the United States and Canada, has been established along the Lake's shore, particularly in the town of Ajijic, located just west of the city of Chapala. An estimated 30,000 foreign residents live along the shores of Lake Chapala.

Today, Lake Chapala is popular as a weekend getaway for residents of Guadalajara. The Lake is a tourist attraction on which people sail, fish and jet ski. The Lake is surrounded by a number of towns including Chapala, Jocotepec, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Ocotlán and Tizapán el Alto. The area has been promoting ecotourism with activities such as rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, golf and tennis along with spas/water parks such as those in Chapala, Jamay, La Barca and Jocotepec. The Norte Region is the home of the Wixarika or Huichols although there are significant communities of an ethnicity called the Cora as well. The area is known for its indigenous culture as well as its rugged, isolated terrain. Major communities in the area include Bolaños and Huejúcar. There is also eco-tourism in the way of rappelling, rafting and camping.

The Zonas Altos refer to the area's altitude. The area is marked by parish churches with tall towers. Religion is important in this area, with many pilgrimages, festivals, charreds. It is home to one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Mexico, that of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. Religious tourism is a major economic activity, with the town of San Juan de los Lagos completely dependent on serving the nearly seven million who visit each year. The area also has old haciendas open to tourism. There is some tequila production as well although most occurs in the Valles Region.

The Montaña or Mountain Region contains mountain chains such as the Sierra de Tapalpa, Sierra del Tigre and the Sierra del Halo. The main communities in this area are Tapalpa and Mazamitla. The area is filled with forests and green valleys and the state promotes ecotourism in the area with activities such as rappelling, mountain biking, parasailing and hiking. The area's gastronomy includes local sweets and dairy products.

The Sierra Region is between the Centro and coastal areas. Mountains chains in this area include the Sierra de Quila and the Sierra de Manatlán.

Economy The economy of the state accounts for 6.3% of Mexico's GDP. It is ranked third in socio-economic indicators behind Nuevo León and the Federal District of Mexico City. The main sectors of the economy are commerce, restaurants and hotels at 26.1%, services at 21.5%, manufacturing (food processing, bottling and tobacco) at 19.4%, transport, storage and communications at 11.8%, financial services and real estate at 11.2%, agriculture, forestry and fishing at 5.5%, and construction at 4.4%. Jalisco earns just under six percent of Mexico foreign earnings from tourism and employment from the various multinational corporations located in the state, exporting more than $5 billion annually to 81 countries and ranks first among the states in agribusiness, computers and the manufacturing of jewelry. Just over 57% of the population of the state is economically active, the sixth highest percentage in Mexico. 96.6% of this population has employment, of which 15.88% are employed in agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing, 28.96% are in mining, utilities and construction and 54.82% are in commerce and services. Jalisco received US$508.5 million in foreign direct investment in 2010, representing 6.5% of Mexico's total FDI. The manufacturing industry was the most important for the state in 2010, followed by the food and hotel industry.

The economic centre of the state is Guadalajara, with parts of the metro area having living standards comparable to that of the first world, however, on its periphery there is still significant poverty. Guadalajara's economy is based on industry, especially electronics and cybernetics, much of which is located just outside the city center. These industries account for about 75% of the state's production of goods. The major employers are industry (in general), commerce and services. Guadalajara drives the state's economic growth, making Jalisco third in construction in the country.

Agriculture mostly developed in the tropical and subtropical areas. Jalisco's agriculture accounts for 8.44% of the country's production according to GDP. It produces twenty percent of the country's corn, twelve percent of its sugar, twenty five percent of its eggs, twenty percent of its pork, seventeen percent of its dairy products and over twelve percent of its honey, domestic fowl and cattle. It is the country's number one producer of seed corn, corn for animal feed, agave for tequila, limes, fresh milk, eggs, pigs and cattle. It ranks second in the production of sugar, watermelons, honey and barley. 5,222,542 hectares are dedicated to forestry, with eighty percent covered in conifers and broad-leafed trees. A number of these forests contains commercially important hardwoods. On the coasts, there is commercial fishing for shrimp, crabs and tilapia.

Mining developed only in Bolaños, El Barqueño in Guachinango, Pihuamo, Talpa de Allede and Comaja de Corona in Lagos de Moreno and still have active mining. There are important deposits of granite, marble, sandstone and obsidian.

Industry mostly concentrated in the Guadalajara metro area, which has large industrial parks such as El Bosque I, El Bosque II, Guadalajara Industrial Tecnológico, Eco Park, Vallarta, Parque de Tecnología en Electrónica, King Wei and Villa Hidalgo. In food processing, it is first in the production of chocolate products, second in bottling, soft drink production, cement, lime and plaster, third in the production of chemical products.

The tequila industry is very important to the state as the drink has the international place-of-origin designation. The tequila-producing area of Jalisco is a tourist attraction, with more than seventeen million visitors each year, with an estimated value of over ten million pesos per year. The tequila industry supports large-scale cultivation of the blue agave, with about 200,000 people employed through it directly or indirectly. It is the only mezcal which is produced industrially with strict norms for its production and origin.

Another important sector of the economy is handcrafts, especially ceramics. Jalisco is the leader in Mexico by volume, quality and diversity of the produced exported which total more than 100 million dollars annually. Jalisco accounts for ten percent of all the handcrafts exported from Mexico. The most representative of the state are the ceramics of Tlaquepaque, Tonalá and Tuxpan, but other common items include the huarache sandals of Concepción de Buenos Aires, piteado from Colotlán, majolica pottery from Sayula, blown glass from Tlaquepaque and Tonalá, equipal chairs from Zacoalco de Torres, jorongo blankets from Talpa and the Los Altos Region and baskets from various parts of the state.

Guadalajara's tourism is mostly concentrated in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. The state has the second largest number of hotels and tour agencies in Mexico and the third highest number of hotel rooms. The state ranks second in banking services and third in professional, technical and other specialised services.

Guadalajara, Jalisco 
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Image: Adobe Stock eskystudio #253444909

The Jalisco state has a population of over 8,348,151 people. For the location of Jalisco see: Guadalajara.

To set up a UBI Lab for Jalisco see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns - Sister Cities Jalisco has links with:

🇨🇳 Changning, China 🇮🇨 Las Palmas, Canary Islands 🇳🇮 Matagalpa, Nicaragua 🇲🇽 Monterrey, Mexico 🇺🇸 Palmdale, USA 🇨🇳 Qingpu District, China 🇺🇸 Riverbank, USA 🇨🇳 Shanghai, China
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Jalisco is: 76.317,-20.567

Locations Near: Jalisco -103.683,20.567

🇲🇽 Cocula -103.822,20.365 d: 26.7  

🇲🇽 Tlajomulco de Zúñiga -103.433,20.467 d: 28.3  

🇲🇽 Zapopan -103.422,20.73 d: 32.7  

🇲🇽 Ameca -104.033,20.55 d: 36.5  

🇲🇽 Guadalajara -103.348,20.677 d: 37  

🇲🇽 Tlaquepaque -103.311,20.639 d: 39.5  

🇲🇽 Tonalá -103.242,20.625 d: 46.3  

🇲🇽 Chapala -103.183,20.3 d: 60  

🇲🇽 Zapotlanejo -103.071,20.625 d: 64  

🇲🇽 Ciudad Guzmán -103.467,19.7 d: 99  

Antipodal to: Jalisco 76.317,-20.567

🇲🇺 Centre de Flacq 57.718,-20.2 d: 18077.1  

🇲🇺 Mahébourg 57.7,-20.407 d: 18076.9  

🇲🇺 Rivière du Rempart 57.633,-20.05 d: 18066.9  

🇲🇺 Curepipe 57.517,-20.317 d: 18057.1  

🇲🇺 St Pierre 57.517,-20.217 d: 18056.3  

🇲🇺 Port Louis 57.5,-20.15 d: 18054  

🇲🇺 Mauritius 57.499,-20.162 d: 18054  

🇲🇺 Moka 57.496,-20.219 d: 18054.2  

🇲🇺 Port-Louis 57.496,-20.165 d: 18053.7  

🇲🇺 Vacoas-Phoenix 57.493,-20.3 d: 18054.5  

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