[An Nahar] From Mexico's Maya Riviera to ancient sites in Guatemala, the region foresees a tourism bonanza from the fateful December 21 date in the Mayan calendar, but indigenous groups are fed up with the doomsday myth.With one month to go before the end of the calendar's 5,200-year cycle, tourists will find all-inclusive excursions and religious ceremonies in holy sites across Central America and Mexico.
It is also a chance to celebrate the contributions of the Mayan civilization to mankind, but indigenous groups have accused governments and businesses of profiting from Hollywood-inspired fiction about their culture.
"The world has been marked by a very peculiar interpretation given by Hollywood, without much knowledge about it," Alvaro Pop, an indigenous leader in Guatemala, told Agence France Presse.
"In Mayan culture, scholars never were prophets. That's why there shouldn't be interpretations based on supposed prophecies that don't exist," he said.
The U.S. blockbuster "2012" depicted the Earth being swallowed by floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but the date in the Mayan calendar merely refers to the end of a cycle, not the end of the world.
Guatemala's indigenous groups have prepared their own activities, separate from official celebrations, in five cities and six natural sites considered sacred to them. More than half of Guatemala's population of nearly 15 million are from indigenous groups of Mayan descent.
But the end of the world tales mean brisk business for others.