Linking Culture and the Environment

166 Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism
local communities. However, in nearby mountain communities such as
Llamac, a few families tend to dominate the tourism sector.
Locals remain concerned about the future of the Cordillera Huayhuash
due to interests by foreign mining companies and increased tourism. In this
research, some feel that roads built to access the mines or Jahuacocha Lake
would reduce or even eliminate trekking if the pristine nature of the range
was degraded. Since the late 1990s, the Cordillera Huayhuash 12-day trek
around the entire range that begins and ends in the village of Chiquian has
been shortened due to new roads built onwards from Chiquian. Combis
(minibuses) now travel to Llamac via a new mining road, which shortens the
route by a day, and which also has reduced Chiquian’s importance as a ‘gateway’.
Some claim that Mitsui Mining and Smelting converted once-pristine
wetlands on the range’s west edge into industrial wastes, and local residents
say that a local mine explosion contaminated their water supply (Wehner
and del Gaudio, n.d.). In 2002, the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture declared
the Huayhuash a reserved zone and prohibited certain economic activities,
including any future mining. Villagers are in large part opposed to the area’s
new protected status, because they fear they will lose grazing rights on what
has always been their communal land (Wehner and del Gaudio, n.d.).
Data Collection
This research took place from December 1996 to September 1997. Recognizing
that a given level of tourism dependence was present for each community,
emphasis was placed on ‘why’ and ‘how’ individual and community participation
might reduce negative sociocultural impacts. Individual and community
well-being (i.e. personal satisfaction and democratic, equitable
participation in local decision making) was measured through individual
and community perceptions towards the tourism sector, equity inherent in
local decision-making power and participation factors.
A household survey was applied to adult family members considered as
community residents (defined as any household member 16 years or older living
in the community for at least 6 months of the year). The survey objective
was to examine household perceptions of socio-economic benefits from local
tourism activities by a combination of closed-ended, i.e. choices provided, and
Likert-scale questions, i.e. five-point scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to
‘strongly disagree’. Other questions concerned local tourism history, community
unity, tourism planning and development, decision-making power and
impacts. A total of 101 surveys for Taquile and 136 surveys for Chiquian were
carried out, usually at the place of residence. The minimum confidence interval
was established at 10%, with a level of confidence of 90%. 3
Qualitative methodology was applied to ‘key-informant’ interviews to
obtain a greater perspective of the historical development of tourism for each
respective community. Nine persons for Taquile Island and eight persons for
Chiquian were selected for their extensive knowledge or involvement with
the respective local tourism sector, including tourism founders and owners,