Tourism, mobile livelihoods and ‘disorderly’ development in the Colca Valley, Peru

Abstract

Debates about tourism and rural development in Latin America commonly represent peasant or indigenous populations as socially cohesive but economically unsophisticated, implying that they require outside assistance to engage with tourism. A multi-local or mobile livelihoods approach can help destabilise these representations and draw more attention to the agency and diversity of rural populations. This is illustrated by a case study of tourism development in the localities of Cabanaconde and Tapay in the Colca Valley of southern Peru. In these localities, existing rural–urban links and processes of livelihood diversification enabled people of local origin to independently access tourism markets but also made collective action more difficult. The result was a ‘disorderly’ development of tourism, with benefits accruing to local families countered by failure to achieve collective control or link local resources and identity to tourism. These findings have significance for both policy and research on rural tourism in Latin America. First, they suggest that development institutions should acknowledge that local populations may be more entrepreneurial and individualistic than is commonly assumed. Second, they point to opportunities for more research that takes mobility and multi-locality as frames for studying rural tourism development.

摘要

关于拉丁美洲旅游业和乡村发展的论争通常将农民或土著居民描绘成具有社会凝聚力, 但在经济上缺乏经验, 这意味着他们需要外部援助才能从事旅游业。一种多元本土流动性生计方式的方法可以有助于动摇这些表述, 并更多注意到到农村人口的机构和多样性。本研究是通过秘鲁南部科尔卡谷的卡巴纳康德和塔派地区旅游发展的一个案例来说明的。在这些地区, 现有的城乡联系和生计多样化进程使当地居民能够独立地接触旅游市场, 但也使集体行动更加困难。其结果是旅游业的“无序”发展, 由于未能实现集体控制或将当地资源和特性与旅游业联系起来, 造成旅游收益集聚流向当地居民家庭。这些发现对拉美乡村旅游政策研究具有重要意义。首先, 他们建议发展机构应认识到, 当地人口可能比通常认为的更具有企业家精神和个人主义精神。其次, 他们指出有机会进行更多的研究, 将流动性和多地区作为研究乡村旅游发展的框架。

Keywords:

• Rural tourism
• local development migration
• mobile livelihoods
• Latin America

关键词:

• 乡村旅游
• 当地开发迁移
• 移动的生计方式
• 拉丁美洲

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The initial study included a comparison of tourism development models between Cabanconde and Tapay, and Sibayo in the upper Colca Valley.

2 Visits were made to all 25 accommodation sites, which are spread across remote and rugged terrain, but in some cases, an appropriate person was not available to interview at the time of the visit.

3 Census data indicate that, in 2007, 22% of Cabanaconde residents were not born there, with this increasing to 35% within the 20–44 age group.

4 The contemporary rate for a day’s casual labour was less than $10 USD.

5 An informal survey of 40 shops located within two blocks of Cabanaconde’s main plaza found that in 31, at least one of the proprietors was originally from outside the district.

6 Three soles (written S/.)=approximately $1 USD.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simon Bidwell

Simon Bidwell is a doctoral candidate in Geography/Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington,New Zealand. His research interests include development with identity, agro-food geographies and rural tourism. His geographical focus is on Peru.

Warwick E. Murray

Warwick E. Murray is a professor of Geography and Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the editor of Asia Pacific Viewpoint and has won a number of New Zealand national teaching awards. He is the founding director of Victoria Institute for Links with Latin America.