Tourism-based development in Cusco, Peru: comparing national discourses with local realities

Article

This article qualitatively compares national-level development discourses in Peru with local perceptions of poverty and tourism practice for four rural communities of the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley), located just outside the ancient Inca capital of Cusco, Peru. Copestake's global designs of development (income first, needs first, and rights first) provide the framework for this comparison, linked to local accounts and on-the-ground observations from six months of field work carried out in the region in 2013. Sources of data, which were collected and initially analyzed using Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI), included semi-structured interviews (N = 93), field notes from participant observation, and documents and reports from government institutions, travel companies, and community associations. Results indicate that a strong degree of overlap exists between local perceptions and income first, needs first, and rights first development discourses. However, frustrations with tourism practice reveal an underlying struggle against neoliberal economism and the ever-increasing foreign presence in the region. Findings suggest that tourism-based development outcomes may be enhanced when policies consider both agreements and contradictions between broader discourses and local views and interests, uncovering issues of power linked to the putative common sense of promoting tourism as a principal component of national development strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Development theory
• power
• poverty
• discourse
• Peru
• community tourism

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Intrepid Travel for funding the research presented in this paper. Thanks is also due to our research assistant, to the community and tourism association members involved in the study, to the government officials in Cusco who agreed to offer their insights on regional tourism and development, and to the anonymous reviewers whose feedback on early drafts of this paper contributed significantly to its improvement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research presented in this paper is financially supported by Intrepid Travel.

Notes on contributors

David W. Knight

Dr David W. Knight is a Center for Collaborative Conservation Fellow and professor in the Masters of Tourism Management program at Colorado State University. His research has emphasized local perceptions and participation in studies on tourism-based poverty alleviation and collaborative coastal governance in Peru and the Philippines.

Stuart P. Cottrell

Dr Stuart Cottrell is a professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at CSU and coordinator of the undergraduate concentration in Global Tourism. His research focus includes sustainable tourism development, travel and tourism behavior, visitor impact management, and decision-making in travel and tourism.

Kathleen Pickering

Dr Kathleen Pickering is a professor of anthropology and was the chair of the Department of Anthropology before being named a vice provost at Colorado State University. As a cultural anthropologist, her research focuses on indigenous community and economic development and community-based participatory research methods.

Lenora Bohren

Dr Lenora Bohren is a Research Advisor for the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University and has served as President of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology. As an anthropologist, she has worked closely with farmers, ranchers, and indigenous peoples in the USA and Mexico, exploring socio-economic factors and local perceptions related to climate change, air quality, and tropical soil management.

Alan Bright

Dr Alan Bright is a professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, where he teaches courses in tourism marketing and strategic management. Alan's research has focused on a variety of human dimensions of natural resources issues, including socio-psychological aspects of recreation and tourism behavior as well as public values and attitudes toward natural resource management strategies.