Linking Culture and the Environment

180 Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism
should not become circumvented or used to the advantage of those with significant
decision-making control or influence, especially those that may not
have the community’s best interests at stake. As mentioned earlier in this
chapter, local empowerment in the context of community development is as
much part of the equation as is adequate tourist demand and resources.
For some communities, incorporating traditional or indigenous knowledge
and concerns is paramount to a sustainable tourism approach. While it
is not possible to transplant Taquile’s small-scale, indigenous community
structures or social make-up on to any other community and expect to
achieve the same satisfactory results, lessons learnt from this research make
their analysis and consideration all the more pertinent. At least two avenues
can be explored to provide a greater understanding of community integration
in sustainable tourism. First, what effect, if any, does community integration
have on environmental parameters associated with sustainable
tourism? Second, would greater social integration facilitate the development
and implementation of tourism development to the benefit of local residents?
While this research did not address these questions, others may wish to take
up the challenge that they present.
In closing, time will tell whether Taquile laudatory communal tourism
practices will move towards sustainability, as the recent UNESCO designation
suggests, or if tourism itself will decline due to many internal and external
pressures and changes. For communities in developing countries to cope
with the whims and fancies of tourism ‘tastes’, ‘local people need to maintain
multiple livelihood strategies as well as their community organization. The
problem, however, is that tourism brings the danger of destroying both’ (Ypeij
and Zorn, 2007, p. 126). The stark contrast provided by both case studies
shows that sustainable tourism’s pitfalls and pathways are far from resolved.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express his appreciation to Paul Eagles and Ron
Mader for their extremely helpful advice during the chapter revisions. My
appreciation is extended to the residents of Taquile Island, Chiquian and
many others who contributed their time and assistance to this effort. A debt
of gratitude is owed to Martha Mitchell, Pablo Huatta Cruz and the Mountain
Institute of Peru for their assistance with data collection and interpretation.
This research was made possible by grants from the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC) and the Arthur D. Latornell Graduate Scholarship at
the University of Guelph.
Notes
1
Pronounced ‘Tah-key-lay’.
2
Pronounced ‘Chee-key-an’.
3
Percentages related to the survey results are based on n = 101 for Taquile Island
and n = 136 for Chiquian.