Adventure and ecotourism are no longer in their infancy in Mexico, at least not as a market niche.

Opening the ?Expo Aventura y Ecoturismo? earlier this month in Mexico's City's World Trade Center, organizer Wendy Hesketh sketched out the growth of this successful annual trade exhibition since its beginnings five years ago. At that time, people were only just starting to realize the potential of this sector, whereas now, she said participation in the event has grown from 12 to over 20 state tourism departments.

While the exhibition itself gave very little evidence of the going beyond a cheery ambience of good will, it was a polished and positive event. Various states? eagerness to appeal to this progressive-sounding sector of the tourism market was visible, with hopeful, if not very sophisticated, slogans, such as Tamaulipas - ?lo diferente,? Tabasco - ?de México el Edén,? San Luis Potosi - ?tiene lo que te gusta,? Veracruz ?El estado que tiene todo? and Nayarit - ?Te va a gustar.?

The mind-numbing, thudding music - as though one were in a gym - clearly signaled that the exhibition's focus was on the adventure side of the equation, rather than on the ecological. Of around 200 exhibitors offering different activities, from hot air balloon rides in the Estado de Mexico (www.globoaventura.com) to skiing in Nuevo Leon (www.monterreal.com), most prominent were the climbing towers, an ?extreme circuit? with tyrolesa (www.climbingxsportswalls.com), and a Gotcha shooting range (www.diversionengotcha.com).

The music, leaflets and videos also suggested that, despite assurances to the contrary in the event's promotional material, it is mainly young people who are considered the consumers for this type of tourism. I did not see one poster of a white-haired couple, for example, sharing their binoculars in a bird watching pursuit, or notice any diminutive hiking shoes or cut little great-outdoors outfits, such as there were a-plenty for adults.

As in any trade fair the focus was on selling gleaming kayaks, mountain bikes, tents, rucksacks, new trends, courses on tourism and hotel administration (www.uic.edu.mx), holidays, tour operators (www.geoaventura.com.mx), resorts and publications, rather than on saving the planet. But it certainly entertained the consumer in me, for a while.

For example, being someone who gets eaten alive when I get anywhere near nature, I was impressed by the large fine-weave mosquito net (39 x 59 x 79 inches) sold by Deportes Rubens.

The Timber Creek ?deluxe utility? tool collection was also cool, the sort of thing that makes you fantasize about being efficient and capable of dealing with any eventuality the non-urban unknown could throw your way (www.dscorp.com.mx/rubens).

The nascent health freak was stirred for five minutes by ?Spirulina Maxima? (www.spiralspring.com), a green powder tablet made of a kind of seaweed that has lots of Vitamin B and protein and anti-oxidants and a good ditty to match: ?El Alimento Mas Antiguo del Futuro.?

I was most impressed by the kite stand, encouraging an ecologically harmless, gentle and emotionally uplifting activity (products sold in Marti, including kites for small kids), and by the Eco-Alianza Venezuela, exhibiting here for the first time.

This grouping of 75 companies includes NGOs and remote communities, and was the only stand that looked like it could offer a real force for environmental conservation or a creative alternative to dominant sectors of the tourism industry.

From an environmental perspective, most of the rest lacked originality, and one sensed they were doing little more than jumping on the bandwagon and selling ?nature.? While opportunist, one didn't sense the exhibitors were cynical - just unimaginative, considering Mexico hosts some of the most diverse and spectacular natural wonders of the world.

?Alternative tourism? - for me the industry's greatest misnomer - already has subcategories, according to a press release by Tradex, the organizers (www.tradex.com.mx): Ecotourism, Adventure, Health, Rural and Archeological. I went looking for ?Rural,? usually a synonym for ethnological tourism, and where one might hope to find the social benefits earlier mentioned. The only example was in the stand for Nayarit state, in a small triptych leaflet whose middle section mentioned ?Etnoturismo.? The woman in charge of the stand said the aim was to ?convivir? with the Huicholes, but this did not mean staying in their villages, or not necessarily eating with them (?unless you really wanted to?). The tours are all prearranged with the villagers, but they do not receive any payment or other benefit, unless tourists want to buy their handicrafts...

It would have been heartening to see the states in particular set the pace along the lines of social responsibility, for example with a concrete project to clean up a lake, or save a patch of forest, or educate a community in waste disposal and maintaining unpolluted water sources.

But this is the disadvantage of thinking of ecotourism as an industry and forgetting its origins as a social movement.

It is also a problem of grouping it with adventure tourism, whose gaze is inward looking, its raison d'etre tending to be personal bests, with nature merely a context or setting for proving yourself. Eco tourism is by definition less egocentric and more contemplative.

At least definitions and certification are slowly on their way to help this market niche be a little more accountable and sharpen up its act. The Washington DC-based International Ecotourism Society was present at the show for the first year (www.ecotourism.org), and plans to support AMTAVE, Mexico's Adventure and Ecotourism Association, on certification for ecotourism service providers.

Barbara Kastelein writes a weekly column on travel for The Herald Mexico. sirio@data.net.mx