Linking Culture and the Environment

R.E. Mitchell 171
over the right to take passengers to the island. Although the tourist agencies
sued in court, Taquile won transport rights to the island through a
Ministry of Tourism directive (Stone, 1996). However, then-President
Fujimori’s anti-monopolization laws of the early 1990s later thwarted this
victory for Taquile residents, which effectively prohibited Taquile boat
cooperatives from maintaining control over transport rights. This also
showed that local monopolization could generate negative perceptions. In
contrast, many Chiquian respondents were ambivalent towards not only
tourism but also towards community planning and administration in general.
Several persons blame this inherent disharmony on spillover effects of
fear and suspicion of outsiders from the terrorism years, whereas others
pointed fingers at the high emigration levels from surrounding villages or
lack of financial incentives. Planning efforts with the town council and
some local guides were ‘to improve the quality of service to the client’,
rather than detailing how this organization could involve or benefit the
entire community. Those lacking previous experience in adventure tourism
tend to be excluded from membership in such organizations or from receiving
specialized training. Still, one local guide feels less hostility and more
willingness to help tourists exists:
Tourists have always been well-received by the people of Chiquian, because
tourism generates income for restaurants, business people . . . more than the
farmers could make. . . . That’s why the mountain folk were happy.
Only those owners and employees of tourism-related businesses were identified
as strong supporters of tourism. One key-informant says that the
nearby communities of Llamac and Pocpa support tourism more than
Chiquian since many guides, donkey drivers and porters originate from
these smaller mountain villages. Some suggest that trekkers have a more
visible presence in such villages on the Huayhuash circuit, whereas tourists
may not be as noticeable in Chiquian. Local political support for tourism
would seem relatively high with new tourism committees and events, but
many express discontentment with the municipality. The former mayor was
very supportive of local tourism (some recognize that he had helped create
and organize the first Ecoventura), but only 30% of survey respondents in
Chiquian compared to 79% in Taquile agree that the local government supports
tourism.
Community participation
According to the household surveys, Taquile residents highly participated in
tourism service administration (79%) and community tourism meetings
(96%), although admittedly the wide majority of participants are men (more
on gender is discussed below). Most respondents agree (93%) that local
authorities encourage participation in tourism meetings. A strong tradition
of consensual decision making exists on Taquile, at least for men. All residents
of legal voting age (both men and women) annually elect representatives of