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Linking Culture and the Environment

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168 Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism<br />

Table 10.3. Comparison of tourism growth <strong>and</strong> impacts by community.<br />

Theme Taquile Isl<strong>and</strong> Chiquian<br />

Tourism<br />

growth<br />

Tourism<br />

control<br />

Community<br />

unity<br />

Sociocultural<br />

impacts<br />

Economic<br />

impacts<br />

<strong>Environment</strong>al<br />

impacts<br />

Future of local<br />

tourism<br />

Started mid-1970s; highest<br />

levels reached in 1990s;<br />

tourism has increased to<br />

near mass proportions<br />

Formerly high control has<br />

decreased to moderate<br />

level partly due to privatization<br />

<strong>and</strong> ineffectual leadership<br />

Strong but declining unity linked<br />

to diminished control<br />

Modernization due to dem<strong>and</strong>s<br />

of tourism have affected<br />

traditional lifestyles; emergence<br />

of individualism <strong>and</strong> globalization;<br />

begging by children<br />

Most residents benefiting;<br />

opportunism linked to high<br />

revenues for shrewdest<br />

isl<strong>and</strong>ers; high leakages; Puno<br />

agencies blamed<br />

Increasing litter affecting consumer<br />

dem<strong>and</strong>; neglect of agriculture<br />

due to h<strong>and</strong>icraft production<br />

Highly optimistic, but concern to<br />

maintain traditional ways; regaining<br />

control, training youth as guides,<br />

educating tourists important<br />

Started mid-1950s; highest<br />

levels reached by mid-1980s;<br />

tourism returning after years<br />

of terrorism<br />

Low control with outside<br />

domination of local tourism<br />

industry<br />

Divided opinion over unity but<br />

marked pattern of<br />

disharmony <strong>and</strong> conflict<br />

Community feelings about tourism<br />

often negative; suspicion mixed<br />

with adverse inter-community<br />

relationships, less openness<br />

Some revenues <strong>and</strong> jobs from<br />

tourism, but most residents not<br />

benefiting; high leakages;<br />

potential for community-wide<br />

benefits; Huaraz agencies<br />

blamed<br />

Mining exploitation <strong>and</strong> roads in<br />

Cordillera Huayhuash;<br />

perceived need to protect<br />

natural <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />

environment<br />

Guarded optimism; tourism in<br />

early stages of development;<br />

community awareness <strong>and</strong><br />

outside support needed<br />

national or international awareness of <strong>the</strong>ir existence. As word spread during<br />

<strong>the</strong> latter 1970s, both areas received a growing number of tourists, <strong>and</strong><br />

particularly so for Taquile Isl<strong>and</strong> due to its proximity to <strong>the</strong> ‘gringo trail’<br />

(combination of road, rail <strong>and</strong> boat) linking Lima, Cuzco <strong>and</strong> Puno with La<br />

Paz in Bolivia.<br />

By 1988, violence from terrorism was spreading throughout Peru, but<br />

affecting <strong>the</strong> Huayhuash region near Chiquian more dramatically <strong>and</strong><br />

directly than Taquile. Tourism declined somewhat in Taquile but dropped to<br />

near zero levels in Chiquian. By 1994, tourism started to pick up again in<br />

Chiquian although short of <strong>the</strong> numbers of tourists experienced in <strong>the</strong> early<br />

1980s. Based on general observations with local people employed in <strong>the</strong> tourism<br />

industry, visitation has hovered around <strong>the</strong> 1000 visitor level noted in<br />

1996 by Kolff <strong>and</strong> Tohan (1997). Visitor numbers to <strong>the</strong> Huayhuash declined

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