Resumo: Living on an island which is a popular tourist destination, offering a mass sun and beach product, as is the case of Cozumel, Mexico, is not equivalent to living in paradise, as pointed out by the academic literature since it has been analysing the social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of tourism on the destinations. There is empirical evidence to show that the perception of economic benefits derived from tourism has a positive impact on the formation of social capital in the community and also on the perception of an improvement in the quality of life, however there are not many studies that examine the relationship between these variables in depth. The central object of this study is to test the hypothesis that social capital directly and positively influences the quality of life of the receiving community. In order to empirically test this hypothesis, a cross-sectional study was designed through a survey which was applied during the summer of 2017 to residents on the island of Cozumel. The results were analyzed using structural equation models (SEM). The results revealed direct and positive relationships of the cognitive and social skills dimensions of social capital on the domains of satisfaction with emotional, community, safety and health and material well-being, as well as on the overall measure of life satisfaction. The detailed results, their analysis and discussion, together with the conclusions, limitations and future lines of research in this subject are presented.
