Linking Culture and the Environment

R.E. Mitchell 161
Building upon this and related research, two main objectives in this
chapter are as follows:
1. To examine the role of community integration, especially power structures
and processes, in relation to sustainable tourism planning and management.
2. To determine if community integration in sustainable tourism may:
(i) increase the likelihood of socio-economic benefits; and (ii) influence or
cause negative socio-economic impacts.
These objectives link to the fifth pathway or pitfall elaborated in the introductory
chapter: forms of knowledge and public participation. In particular, this chapter
examines the role and accessibility of knowledge in community-based
tourism. For example, how is knowledge of tourism potential disseminated,
what forms of knowledge should be considered, who are the principal advocates,
what are their motives and to what extent do local residents collaborate
with tourism policy administrators and industry players? Is the public equitably
engaged to identify desirable futures and acceptable pathways to
develop sustainable tourism (and if so, how)? These questions are examined
in this comparative case study approach of two communities in Peru.
Tourism in Peru
Peru is the third-largest country in South America, bordered by five neighbours:
Ecuador to the north-west, Columbia to the north-east, Brazil and
Bolivia to the east and Chile to the south (see Fig. 10.1). Its total population of
26.2 million people (2005 census) includes about 7 million that live in the
capital of Lima on the Pacific coast.
The combination of economic and political instability, widespread terrorist
activities and a serious cholera outbreak resulted in the virtual destruction
of the country’s tourism industry during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Peru was one of only three countries in the Western hemisphere where tourist
arrivals declined from 1980 to 1992 (Blackstone Corporation, 1995). With
increased socio-economic stability during the latter half of the 1990s, tourism
became the fastest-growing sector in Peru’s economy (Boza, 1997). From
317,000 international tourist arrivals in 1990, Peru had over 1.2 million international
tourist arrivals in 2005, with an average annual growth of 10.8%
between 1995 and 2004 (UNWTO, 2005). Record tourism numbers are
expected for 2007 and 2008. Principal reasons for the increased tourism
demand included Peru’s outstanding ecological, cultural and historical
diversity. The country is likely the most globally diverse in terms of bird
species (over 1600) and third most diverse in mammals (Blackstone
Corporation, 1995). It also possesses some of the most exciting heritage
resources in the world, including the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu and the
Nazca Lines.
Inappropriate tourism in fragile destinations such as Peru’s cultural and
biological treasures can generate negative environmental, social and cultural
impacts. These include too many visitors at the same time in sensitive areas,