Author Katherine Miller

Spring break travel to Cancun usually conjures up visions of hordes of American college students, partying at one of the many bars along the strip. But the UN Foundation has been working for the last four years to try and change that by promoting sustainable tourism along the Mayan Riviera. So, Erika Harms, Director of the UN Foundation-led World Heritage Alliance, and I have travelled down here to take a look at several community projects in the area, meet with our travel industry partners and tour two of the area's five World Heritage sites. We are also travelling with the crew from Designing Spaces, a show on The Learning Channel. Designing Spaces will air a segment in June on sustainable tourism. Today we started filming the show and as part of the experience, we've really gotten to know two members of the World Heritage Alliance really well. Both Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya and Fairmont Mayacoba have established powerful relationships with the local Mayan communities and are working to better educate travellers about what is available to them to experience aside from bar-side pools, karaoke contests and hamburgers.