2016 Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru Models For Collaboration Between Tourism Culture and Community

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284417599 - Monday, October 16, 2023 12:28:40 PM - IP Address:200.104.33.194

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. As the leading
international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes responsible, sustainable and universally
accessible tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism
know-how. UNWTO’s membership includes 157 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 permanent
observers and 500 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism
associations and local tourism authorities.
Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru
Tourism and Culture

Partnership in Peru
Models for Collaboration between Tourism,
Capitán Haya 42, 28020 Madrid, Spain
World Tourism Organization Tel: (+34) 915 67 81 00 / Fax: (+34) 915 71 37 33 Culture and Community
omt @ UNWTO.org / www.UNWTO.org.
with the support of :

in Peru
Tourism and Culture Partnership
Models for Collaboration between Tourism, Culture and Community

Copyright © 2016, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru – Models for Collaboration between Tourism, Culture and Community
ISBN (printed version): 978-92-844-1758-2
ISBN (electronic version): 978-92-844-1759-9
Published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

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Table of contents
Acknowledgments 7
Foreword 9
Executive summary 11
Introduction 13
Objectives 15
Chapter 1 General framework for a triangular partnership: tourism, culture and community 17
1.1 Tourism and culture 17
1.2 Cultural tourism 20
1.3 Triangular partnership: tourism, culture and community 23
Chapter 2 An overview of tourism in Peru 29
2.1 The importance of tourism at national level 29
2.2 Tourism figures in Peru 30
2.3 Competitiveness and economic impact of tourism in Peru 31
2.4 Structural limits and improvements for tourism in Peru 31
2.5 The importance of domestic tourism 32
Chapter 3 Cultural tourism in Peru 35
3.1 Motivations for cultural tourism in Peru 35
3.2 Tangible cultural heritage 39
Chapter 4 Intangible heritage: opportunities for Peru 45
4.1 Festivities and celebrations 48
4.2 Gastronomy 51
4.3 Creative industries 55
4.4 Cultural routes 64

Chapter 5 The Peruvian community 67
5.1 Linguistic pluralism and multiculturalism 67
5.2 Community: dynamic entity 68
5.3 The essence: popularity 68
5.4 Variants of cultural/community tourism 69
5.5 Variants of the term “community” 70

5.6 The role of the community in community cultural tourism 71
5.7 The Rural Community Tourism Program 72
Chapter 6 SWOT analysis 77
Chapter 7 Strategies for strengthening the partnership among tourism, culture and community 81
7.1 Degree of interdependency between tourism and culture 81

7.1.1 Cultural and creative tourism: “orange tourism” 81
7.1.2 Examples of good practices 84
7.2 Efforts to achieve harmony between tourists and the host community 86
7.2.1 Cooperation between tourists and community 87
7.3 Development of cultural tourism in the local community context (glocalization) 90

7.4 Culture, tourism and community: synergies for contributing jointly to development 92
Chapter 8 Cultural contents utilization 95
8.1 Intangible heritage, living culture and creative tourism 95
8.2 Existing and new products and services 96

8.2.1 Creative hubs, districts and festivals 96
8.2.2 Gastronomic tourism 97
8.2.3 Homestay tourism 98
8.2.4 Adventure tourism 99
8.3 Cultural routes: local, national and international 99
8.4 Intra-inter communication mechanism 101

8.4.1 Tourist culture and behavior 101
8.4.2 Public and private sector relationships 102
Chapter 9 System of tourism policies: heritage management 105
9.1 Mechanisms for collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism and the
Ministry of Culture 105
9.1.1 Strategies for developing a system of professionals trained in cultural tourism 107
9.1.2 Diversification of tourist destinations through cultural heritage 108
9.1.3 Cooperation among the central government, local authorities and the community 108
9.2 Tourism policy system 109
9.2.1 Agreements for consolidation of a roadmap 109
9.2.2 Coordination and cooperation between the public and private sectors 109
9.3 System of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) 110

9.3.1 Management mechanisms 112
9.3.2 Specialized human resources 113
9.3.3 Legislation and certification for cultural tourism guides 113
Conclusions and recommendations 115

Biographies 119
List of figures and tables 121
Bibliography and references 123

T 7
Acknowledgments
The study Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru was conducted under the guidance and
supervision of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and consultant Federico Esper, based
on content developed by the following group of experts on cultural tourism (in alphabetical order):
Rafo León, Greg Richards, Jeungah Ryoo and Jordi Tresserras.
Preparations for the final edition were made under the auspices of Jin-Yung Woo, Adviser on
Tourism and Culture of UNWTO and coordinated by Yolanda Sansegundo, Lili Kfoury and Hyeonju
Cho. Special mention should also be made of Carlos Vogeler and Alejandro Varela, of the Regional
Programme for the Americas, for their comments and guidance during the course of the study.
UNWTO wishes to express its thanks for their close cooperation during the study to the Ministry,
and most especially the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, Her Excellency Magali
Silva, as well as the Vice Minister for Tourism, Her Excellency María del Carmen de Reparaz, and
her valuable team, represented by Laura Alegría. Sincere thanks go as well to Richard Bazan,
Federico Esper, Huaqiu Gan, Rafo León, Mirian Isabel Maldonado, Claudia Mansen, Yolanda
Sansegundo, Leoncio Santos, Jordi Tresserras and Jin Yung Woo (in alphabetical order) for their
contributions to organizing the seminar Models for Cooperation among Tourism, Culture and
Community, held in Lima on 11–12 May 2015 as an essential part of this project.
UNWTO also wishes to express its thanks to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the
Republic of Korea and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) for their sponsorship of the study,
without which this publication would not have been possible.
T 9
Foreword
We are living in the age of travel, as international tourism continues to reach new heights in all
regions of the world. Today, more than one billion tourists are crossing international borders each
year, and by 2030, UNWTO expects this number to reach 1.8 billion.
Alongside tourism’s dynamic expansion, cultural tourism has been seeing exceptional growth over
recent years as tourists are increasingly seeking to be closer to the cultures and lifestyles of the
destinations they visit. Cultural tourism adds extraordinary value to a destination’s tourism offer
as it embraces the rich and diverse forms of arts, traditions, gastronomy and architecture that
distinguish one destination from another.
The rise of cultural tourism presents tremendous opportunities for increased competitiveness, job
creation in multiple industries and even the revival of lost traditional activities and customs, serving
to enrich the cultural identity and heritage of destinations. Beyond the economic benefits, cultural
tourism can be instrumental in fostering closer interaction between visitors and host communities.
Against this backdrop, this publication, Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru offers invaluable
insight on the development of cultural tourism in Peru, a country that has seen its tourism numbers
grow exponentially over the last decade – from a mere 828,000 tourists in 2000 to 1.3 million in
2004 and 3.2 million in 2014.
Outlining significant analyses on the key trends, challenges and opportunities that have arisen from
synergies between tourism and culture, this manual demonstrates how culture has contributed
decisively to tourism development in Peru. In addition, this publication lists examples of good
practices in Peru and other countries, offering recommendations to promote closer collaboration
between tourism, culture and community.
I trust that this publication will serve as a fundamental sourcebook for tourism stakeholders by
providing a general framework of reference for the creation of standards and guidelines in the
promotion of cultural tourism, with a special focus on the leading role of local communities in its
development.
Taleb Rifai
Secretary-General,
When we think of Peru as a tourism destination, we cannot help but call to mind our immense
cultural wealth and the fact that everything we are today as a nation has evolved over more
than 5,000 years of history through the efforts of men and women who built societies in our
own territory, connecting them with the entire world. They left us archaeological and architectural
monuments in addition to unique traditions that make Peru a multicultural country that is admired
by the international community today.
So when we think and reflect on the development of tourism, we cannot separate policies and
strategies for the growth of the sector from activities aimed at the preservation and care of our
tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
At the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, we firmly believe in this natural link between tourism
and culture and so we have been working on strategies for the development and promotion
of tourism through various initiatives such as that on Community-Based Rural Tourism. This is
founded on the premise that tourism sustainability can only be achieved through the participation
and involvement of the community in reasserting the value of their identity through tangible
attractions and traditions transmitted from generation to generation.
In this regard, I congratulate the World Tourism Organization and the Korea Tourism Organization
for this successful initiative and I hope that this publication reaches many hands in different
countries, because knowledge and experience should be shared for our mutual enrichment.
Magali Silva Velarde Alvarez

Minister,
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru
T 11
Executive summary
This document undertakes an analysis of the importance of cooperation in three essential areas
for the sustainable development of tourist destinations: tourism, culture and community. Starting
from a general reference framework, this study looks deeper into the question by examining the
case of Peru, an internationally recognized example of a country attending closely to cultural
tourism and tourism management of cultural heritage.
Chapter 1 describes the general framework for triangular, tourism-culture-community collaboration

and some of the main trends in cultural tourism around the world.
Chapter 2 outlines the general characteristics of tourism in Peru, including inbound as well as
domestic tourism and the country’s competitiveness as a destination.
Chapters 3 and 4 analyse cultural tourism supply and demand in Peru, including the motivations
of tourists visiting the country as well as its rich tangible and intangible heritage, with information
on its UNESCO cultural heritage sites, festivities and celebrations, gastronomy and cultural routes.
Chapter 5 examines the principle characteristics of the Peruvian community and in particular its
diversity and essence. It also looks at variants of the term “community”, such as “local population”
or “formal ancestral unit”.
Chapter 6 strategically assesses Peru as a tourist destination, examining its most important
strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats from the standpoint of developing triangular
collaboration among tourism, culture and community in the country.
Chapter 7 outlines various strategies for detecting synergies according to the degree of
interdependence among tourism, culture and community, seeking to guide efforts toward
harmonious coexistence between tourists and host communities. A number of good practices, at
national as well as international level, are also highlighted in this regard.
Chapters 8 and 9 offer some recommendations for strengthening tourism management and
policies as well as public-private cooperation. It also examines the implications of intensifying
tourism development around the cultural content of tourist attractions, offering products that
enrich the visitor’s experience.
And lastly, chapter 10 presents the conclusions of the document, providing a basis for continuing
action to advance sustainable tourism development in Peru, starting with a strategic alliance
among tourism, culture and community.
It should be clarified that this document is focused on international tourism, not domestic tourism,
which has different characteristics and requires a different analytical approach. It must nonetheless
be recalled that domestic tourism also has an important effect on regional economies, in Peru as
in most other countries, offering multiple opportunities for development and playing the role of an
important engine of income and job creation in tourist destinations.
T 13
Introduction
Tourism is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic economic sectors and one of the most
transcendental social phenomena of the modern era. In 2012, over one billion international tourist
travelled the world for the first time in one single year, and in 2014 more than 1,135 million tourists
travelled beyond their national borders. UNWTO projects sustained growth in this activity for the
decades to come, in an increasingly complex and competitive context.
At the same time, the pillars of sustainable tourism development have taken on considerable
relevance for modern societies, because of the deep interconnections among the economic, social
and environmental factors that influence the travel market. In addition, technological advances
and changes in behaviour on the demand side are increasingly affecting how businesses evolve
and new destinations are developed.
Against this backdrop of rapid change, cultural tourism stands out for its contribution to the
creation of new socioeconomic opportunities, by providing sustainable and responsible modalities
for tourism development on a local, regional and national scale.
UNWTO has set two general objectives in the field of cultural tourism:
1. Ensure that the development of cultural tourism is responsible, inclusive and sustainable,
contributing to the socio-economic development of host communities and improving their
well-being; and
2. Ensure that tourism contributes to enrich and safeguard the cultural identity of destinations
by promoting cross cultural exchanges between visitors and host communities while helping
to promote and preserve their cultural heritage.
Achieving these two objectives will require a firm political commitment as well as practical
measures. It is essential to form close and effective associations between the public and private
sectors, establish a high level of cooperation between tourism and cultural agencies and count on
the participation of the host community.
Accordingly, the sustainable development of cultural tourism needs to:

–– Promote respect for the cultural and ethical values of host communities in developing
tourism programmes based on their tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets while
also strengthening inter-cultural exchanges with visitors and enhancing the quality of life in
the host community;
–– Empower host communities to protect, conserve, present and express in a contemporary
manner the singularity of their tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the context of
tourism through greater awareness, pride and sense of identity; and
–– Find a more sustainable model for developing diverse cultural tourism products that
identifies vulnerabilities and limitations and explores new and innovative approaches to
the management of tourist flows in heritage sites, maintaining their integrity and effectively
communicating their values, as well as the engagement of the whole tourism supply chain.
In each of these areas, we need to consider how tourism, culture and community interact.
Tourism and culture are highly interdependent. Managed sustainably, tourism can significantly help
to drive the promotion and conservation of cultural heritage. At the same time, culture can provide
a fundamental tourism good to the extent that it offers tourist destinations diverse possibilities
based on specific attractions.
Beyond the culture of the host community, moreover, cultural diversity and the behaviour patterns
of international tourists are also taking on increasing importance. This makes it necessary to
maintain peace and harmony between tourists and host communities, limiting possibilities for
conflict and confrontation between their respective cultures.
T 15
Objectives
This project aims to present a general framework that can be applied in Peru for triangular
collaboration among tourism, culture and community, with technical recommendations for
promoting sustainable development in these three areas.
This aspiration can be summed up in the slogan: tourism, culture and community based
development. Policies and activities in respect of tourism and culture should be oriented in that
direction, establishing a long-term general platform for such three-way collaboration on a global,
national and local scale and in the public as well as private sectors.
Accordingly, this project pursues the following objectives:

–– Conduct a comprehensive review of how culture has contributed to tourism development
in Peru, compiling and analysing statistics focused on socio-economic, cultural and
environmental impact on the country’s tangible and intangible heritage;
–– Analyse key trends in areas such as creative tourism and the principal challenges and
opportunities associated with cultural tourism development in Peru;
–– Highlight best practices with regard to marketing policies and strategies that are useful to
implement in cultural tourism development programmes; and
–– Offer a reference framework for developing standards and guidelines for political actors and
other parties interested in promoting sustainable tourism development with a cultural focus.
In pursuing each of these objectives, this study is intended not only as a practical guide for the
development of cultural tourism in Peru but also as a reference source for all actors engaged in
conducting projects and research in these areas in other countries and places.
T 17
Chapter 1
General framework for a triangular partnership:
tourism, culture and community
With the kind contribution of Greg Richards
Tourism, culture and community are inextricably linked, because culture provides the essential
meaning to support communities and communities in turn animate and reproduce culture.
Tourism also provides economic support for culture, while culture provides the essential content
for tourism. Local communities are also vital in ensuring the sustainability of tourism through the
provision of locally-embedded activities, and tourism supports the local community economically.
In this sense there is a sustainable triangular relationship between tourism, culture and community
that potentially ensures that all these three areas benefit.
This chapter analyses how this relationship among tourism, culture and community functions
paying particular attention to the rapidly evolving relationship between tourism and culture and the
development of a specific cultural tourism market and the more recent development of creative
tourism.
1.1 Tourism and culture
Until relatively recently, culture and tourism were viewed as largely separate and autonomous
domains. The cultural sphere was largely oriented towards the consumption needs of local
citizens, with the exception of those elements of high culture seen as symbolic of national culture,
and therefore worthy of tourist attention. Tourism was largely viewed as a productive activity,
related to the economic sphere and business. In recent decades, however, culture and tourism
have become inextricably linked due to a number of demand and supply factors1, including:
Demand
–– Increased interest in culture, particularly as a source of local identity in the face of
globalization;
–– Rising education levels;
–– Aging populations in developed countries;
–– Postmodern consumption styles and the rise of the “experience economy”; and
–– The growth of tourism and easier accessibility of cultural assets and experiences.
Supply
–– Tourism is now seen as an important economic support for culture;
–– Cultural supply has grown as awareness of heritage and local identities have increased; and
–– Cultural tourism has been viewed as a desirable, “good” form of tourism for nations and
regions to develop.
1 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2009), The Impact of Culture on Tourism (online), available
at: www.oecd.org.
18 Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru
The relationship between international tourism and culture is especially strong in Peru. As noted
in The Peru Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, the country houses “some of the world’s
most notable natural and cultural attractions”, including the globally renowned archaeological
treasures of Machu Picchu and Cuzco.2
But the situation in Peru also illustrates a major weakness in the relationship between tourism and
culture which is the concentration on relatively few highlights of the built heritage leaving other
locations and forms of culture underutilized. According to studies conducted by the Peruvian
government, 71% of the international tourists travel to the country to visit Machu Picchu. And yet
other cultural sites remain unknown:
According to The Peru Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report “Peru has done a good job
of promoting and preserving its cultural heritage, resulting in a growing number of visitors to its
world-famous sites. But in focusing exclusively on a few points of interest, rather than expanding
development to wider areas, the country may have been a victim of its own success”.3
This study uses a new definition for cultural resources and business travel that cannot be directly
compared with that reflected in previous reports and yet which underscores the great wealth of
resources related to the country’s existing intangible heritage. The report ranks Peru 21st in the
world in terms of world cultural heritage sites but 13th in terms of intangible and oral cultural
expressions, illustrating the potential for developing Peru’s considerable intangible heritage
– in addition to its existing tangible heritage attractions.
The example of Peru underlines the need to consider broader definitions of “culture”, especially
in referring to tourism. One of the problems encountered in determining how important culture
is for tourism, and vice versa, is the fact that the definition of culture is so broad. The term can
encompass “high culture” (such as the museums and monuments that tourists visit) but also many
elements of “popular culture” or “everyday life”.4
Not only is the range of cultural resources broad, but culture is also not fixed but a dynamic and
rapidly changing field:
“In the ferment of rapid global change, global inter-connectivity and increased mobility,
culture as something which defines us and gives meaning to the world, retains its
primacy, not as something which is frozen in time and space, but as something which
also changes to meet our human needs. Through travel and tourism we encounter the
diversity and the dynamics of culture, together with its legacies in material and intangible
forms. In tourism, we can recognize the importance of culture as a resource which, with
prudent and thoughtful management, can be utilised in strategies to alleviate poverty and
prejudice and form the basis of meaningful inter-cultural dialogue”.
Robinson, M. and Picard, D. (2006)
2 World Economic Forum (2013), The Peru Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013, WEF, Geneva.
3 World Economic Forum (2015), The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015, WEF, Geneva.
4 Richards, G. (2001), ‘Cultural tourists or a culture of tourism? Developments in the European cultural tourism market’, in:
Butcher. J. (ed.), Innovations in Cultural Tourism: Proceedings of the 5th ATLAS International Conference on Innovative
approaches to culture and tourism, ATLAS, Tilburg, pp.1–9.
General framework for a triangular partnership 19
There are therefore a number of challenges in defining culture in relation to tourism. Traditional
approaches to the relationship between tourism and culture have tended to emphasise the
protection of cultural heritage and to represent it as a static form of tourist attraction, whereas one
of the key issues is degradation caused by tourist use of heritage sites.5
Four key changes have been identified in recent decades that have affected our understanding of
the relationship between tourism and culture since the 1970s:6
1. First, the understanding of culture has broadened and deepened considerably;
2. Second, the close inter-relationships between culture and natural environments are better
appreciated, and cultural diversity is increasingly seen as an essential resource for growth
and innovation;
3. Third, tourism is continually changing, also in terms of how it views cultural resources and
communities these depend upon; and
4. Fourthly, policy priorities have shifted away from a focus on tourism impact on culture
towards a more proactive role for tourism in delivering sustainable development outcomes.
This broadening and deepening of the relationship between tourism and culture is partly due to
more complex and fragmented patterns of tourism demand, but more significantly to changing
conceptions of culture. This development has been traced through a series of international
documents, such as the Declaration of Mexico on Cultural Policies, which defines “culture” as:
“The set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a
society or social group. This includes, in addition to arts and letters, ways of life, fundamental
human rights, value systems, traditions and beliefs”.7
This broader approach to culture was later paraphrased in the report Our Creative Diversity8 as
“ways of living together”. These studies make it clear that culture embraces not just physical sites
or artefacts; but also intangible culture, cultural processes, creativity and ways of life.
There has also been growing recognition that tourism itself, as a major human endeavour, has
also become a form of culture. Travel has become a way of life for a large part of the world’s
population, and the culture of hospitality and receiving tourists has become an integral part of the
locations they visit. This development is recognized in the National Strategic Plan of Peru in terms
of the recognition of the need to develop a touristic culture in the public sector in order to develop
tourism effectively.9
Tourism is therefore becoming more integrated into culture, and as a recent OECD report10
noted, this process is accelerating as the broader ‘cultural economy’ develops. For example,
the OECD definition of the creative industries in relation to tourism covers “knowledge-based
5 Robinson, M. and Picard, D. (2006), Festivals, Tourism and Social Change. Remaking Worlds, Channel View Publications,
Bristol.
6 Ibid.
7 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1982), Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies, World
Conference on Cultural Policies, UNESCO, Mexico City, 26 July–6 August 1982.
8 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1996), Our Creative Diversity, World Commission on Culture
and Development, UNESCO, Paris.
9 Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo (2007), Plan Estratégico Nacional de Turismo, 2008–2018, MINCETUR, Lima.
10 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2014), Tourism and the Creative Economy, OECD, Paris.
creative activities that link producers, consumers and places by utilising technology, talent or skill
to generate meaningful intangible cultural products, creative content and experiences”.
The important point about the emerging link between the creative industries and tourism is that
this relationship involves a wider range of activities and potential synergies than the relationship
between tourism and culture. In particular, the central role for knowledge development and
innovation is crucial.
The increasing convergence of culture and tourism has led in recent years to more attention for
the development of “cultural tourism”.
1.2 Cultural tourism
Growing convergence between tourism and cultural processes has created recognition of a distinct
“cultural tourism” market. This has included a growing range of cultural resources being exploited
for tourism. The original heritage focus of much cultural tourism has shifted towards areas of
popular and intangible culture, bringing a growing range of cultural and creative resources into the
ambit of cultural tourism.
While at a basic level cultural tourism refers to the consumption of culture in the context of travel,
the different forms of cultural consumption make it difficult to provide a precise definition. In
1985, UNWTO argued that all tourism could essentially be considered “cultural tourism”, since all
travel brings people into contact with culture.11 In more pragmatic terms, the definition of “cultural
tourism” has tended to revolve around a discussion of the depth of experience or motivation
involved.
For example, many studies refer to the broader cultural tourism market as covering all trips that
include a cultural activity, whether this is the main motivation for travel or not. In this basis, it is
estimated that cultural tourism represents a significant part of global tourism.12
There are also national studies indicating that a large percentage of the tourism market can be
included in this general definition of “cultural tourism”. In the United Kingdom the 2013 international
passenger survey indicated that half of all international visitors to Britain visited a museum, around
40% visited a castle and just over one quarter went to an art gallery.
In Peru the definition of “cultural tourism” offered by PromPerú closely mirrors the cultural activities
approach:
“Cultural tourism is the type of tourism that satisfies the desire to know the history of
a location and admire its cultural attractions, archaeological sites, monuments, historic
buildings and museums”.
PromPerú (2014)
11 World Tourism Organization (1985), The State’s role in protecting and promoting culture as a factor in human development
and the proper use and exploitation of the national cultural heritage of sites and monuments for tourism, UNWTO, Madrid.
12 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develpment (2009), The Impact of Culture on Tourism (online), OECD, available
at: www.oecd.org.
In Peru this broad definition of cultural tourism would cover the vast majority of international
arrivals, as 86% of tourists undertake cultural activities during their visit.
However, a narrower view of cultural tourism comprising only those tourists with specific cultural
motives for travel, tends to produce lower estimates. For example, the ATLAS research on cultural
tourism consistently indicated that only around 5–10% of all tourists have specific cultural
motivations.13
This is also seems to be the case in Peru, where 9% of international visitors indicated that they had
visited Peru for its culture.14 However, this smaller group of ‘specific cultural tourists’ is significant,
because they tend to spend more, stay longer in the destination and are more willing to travel to
new destinations in order to follow their cultural preferences. This pattern is also recognized in this
research on the profile of tourists to Peru, which identifies a ‘best prospect’ segment of inbound
tourism:
“In contrast to conventional holidaymakers, cultural tourists don’t concentrate solely on

classic cultural activities, but also undertakes more experiential activities such as visiting
native communities, nature tourism and adventure tourism”.
PromPerú (2014)
Within this segment, 98% undertake cultural activities, and 33% visit native communities. There
is also evidence that demand for these more specific forms of cultural tourism is increasing.
The ATLAS research indicates a steady growth in the proportion of tourists saying they are on a
‘cultural holiday’.15
There is also evidence that interest in cultural tourism is growing among international visitors to
Peru. According to the PromPerú report International Tourist Profile 2007, 75 % of the international
tourists who visited the country were cultural tourists undertaking some type of cultural activity.16
By 2013 that figure had risen to 86%. According to the International Tourist Profile 2013, tourists
are showing interest in varied activities, the top three relating to ancestral culture (47%), nature
tourism (43%) and gastronomy (10%).17
The type of cultural tourism currently practiced in Peru at the moment is therefore largely a
traditional, narrow type of cultural consumption centred on major sites. There appears to be
potential to tap into the growth in more “experimental” forms of tourism. In the area of cultural
13 Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2007), Tourism, Creativity and Development, Routledge, London.
Richards, G. (2001), ‘Cultural tourists or a culture of tourism? Developments in the European cultural tourism market’,
in: Butcher, J. (ed.), Innovations in Cultural Tourism: Proceedings of the 5th ATLAS International Conference Innovatory
approaches to culture and tourism, ATLAS, Tilburg, pp.1–9.
Richards, G. (1996, ed.), Cultural Tourism in Europe, CAB International, Wallingford.
14 Comisión de Promoción del Perú para la Exportación y el Turismo (2014), Perfil del Turista Extranjero, El Turismo en Cifras
2013, PromPerú, Lima.
15 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2009), The Impact of Culture on Tourism (online), OECD,
available at: www.oecd.org.
16 Comisión de Promoción del Perú para la Exportación y el Turismo (2007), Perfil del Turista Extranjero 2007, PromPerú, Lima.
17 Sariego López, I. and García Santillán, C. (2008), Pentur 2008–2018, Síntesis para la puesta en Operación, MINCETUR,
Lima.
tourism, growth in more active forms of cultural consumer holidays has been observed among
visitors more interested in consuming and being in contact with living culture.18 In particular there
is a growing attention for creativity in tourism, stimulated by:
–– Dissatisfaction with contemporary modes of consumption;
–– Blurring boundaries between work and leisure (serious leisure, work as play, lifestyle
entrepreneurship);
–– Increased desire for self-development and skilled consumption;
–– Experience hunger of postmodern consumers;
–– Building narrative, biography and identity; and
–– Growing attractiveness of creativity as a form of expression.
The increased creative content of tourism experiences was labelled ‘creative tourism’ which has
been defined as: “Tourism which offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential
through active participation in courses and learning experiences which are characteristic of the
holiday destination where they are undertaken”.19
This concept was also taken up by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network, which produced its own definition:
“Creative tourism is travel directed toward an engaged and authentic experience, with
participative learning in the arts, heritage, or special character of a place and it provides
a connection with those who reside in this place and create this living culture”.
UNESCO (2006)
Creative tourism means living “authentic” and active experiences enabling tourists to develop
their potential and creative skills through direct contact with the local population and its culture.
Creative tourism therefore implies a shift towards active rather than passive forms of consumption,
and an emphasis on ‘living’ or ‘intangible’ culture rather than tangible cultural heritage.
“The essence of creative tourism seems to lie in activities and experiences related to self-
realization and self-expression whereby tourists become co-performers and co-creators
as they develop their creative skills”.
Richards, G. (2011)
The development of creative tourism in recent years has tended to concentrate on a number of
key areas, including the organization of workshops related to crafts and local creative activities,
gastronomic experiences related to local culture and creativity and learning specific creative skills,
such as painting, drawing or photography. These forms of experiences develop direct contact
between tourists and hosts with creative skills and knowledge, leading to two-way exchanges
and the development of relationships. Creative tourism thus also becomes a gateway into the
18 Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2007), Tourism, Creativity and Development, Routledge, London.
Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2006), Developing Creativity in Tourist Experiences: A Solution to the Serial Reproduction of
Culture?, Tourism Management 27, pp. 1209–1223.
19 Richards, G. and Raymond, C. (2000), Creative Tourism, ATLAS News, 23, 16–20, Journal of Tourism Consumption and
Practice, volume 4, no. 2, 2012.
everyday creative life of the local community, supporting the desire of tourists to discover local
lifestyles and ‘living culture’.
Research in Peru in 2007 indicated that 21% of international tourists visiting Peru undertook
activities related to ‘living culture’. In addition visits to gastronomic routes increased from 3% of
international tourists in 2010 to 10% in 2012, and ‘trying Peruvian cuisine’ was cited as a motive
for visiting by 18% of international visitors in 2013.20 Interestingly the proportion of international
tourists visiting indigenous communities fell from 32% in 2010 to 19% in 2012. This may reflect
the increased dominance of Lima as a destination for international tourists over this period.
1.3 Triangular partnership: tourism, culture and community
The concept of sustainable tourism has grown out of the concept of sustainable development
(SD), which arose from the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland
Commission). Their 1986 report defined SD as: “development which meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.21
The growth in importance and concern for sustainability led to a revision of the concept to include
economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability providing for both the needs of today
and tomorrow, according to UNWTO. In their guide for policy makers on sustainable tourism,
UNWTO defined it as:
“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and
environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment
and host communities”.
World Tourism Organization (2005)
This guide indicated that sustainable tourism should:

–– “[…] Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism
development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural
heritage and biodiversity;
–– Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living
cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and
tolerance; and
–– Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all
stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning
opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty
alleviation”.22
This view of sustainable tourism as constituting a relationship between environmental, cultural,

social and economic processes reflects the ‘fourth pillar’ approach to sustainability, which
21 World Commission on Environment and Development (1986), Our common future, UN, New York.
22 World Tourism Organization (2005), Making Tourism More Sustainable, A guide for Policy Makers, UNWTO, Madrid.
emphasizes the role culture plays in influencing sustainable behaviour: “Culture concerns for
example choice of lifestyle, consumption patterns, relationship to the environment and acceptance
of the processes of change in society”.23
Sustainable cultural tourism therefore presents a unique opportunity to use culture and creativity
to link tourism and culture, and local culture and tourist culture to promote more sustainable forms
of tourism consumption and production. Some authors recognized that sustainable tourism is
more than just environmental conservation of natural areas, but also includes the quality of life of
those visiting it and those being visited.24
These positive relationships reflect the earlier UNWTO report, which argued that:
“Culture and tourism have a symbiotic relationship. Arts and crafts, dances, rituals, and
legends which are at risk of being forgotten by the younger generation may be revitalized
when tourists show a keen interest in them. Monuments and cultural relics may be
preserved by using funds generated by tourism. In fact, those monuments and relics
which have been abandoned suffer decay from lack of visits”.
However, the report also went on to highlight the potential dangers of commercialization and
commodification: “Culture and tourism must be mutually supportive of each other to make the
relationship sustainable. The nurturance of this relationship needs the full cooperation of the
public and private sector working side by side with local communities”.25
Similar arguments were emphasised in the recent address by Secretary-General Taleb Rifai to the
UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture in Siem Reap, Cambodia in February
2015. He highlighted three ways in which tourism and culture can work together:
1. Tourism and culture can work together for economic growth, as the responsible use of
cultural assets for tourism creates new employment opportunities and generates income for
local communities;
2. Tourism and culture can work together for social development and stability by exposing
people to different ethnicities, religions and lifestyles. First-hand experience of living
traditions supports global dialogue and increases understanding and mutual respect; and
3. Tourism and culture can work for heritage protection and preservation through carefully
managed tourism that promotes education among tourists and host communities and
ensures coordination and cooperation between conservation and tourism.
Sustainable cultural tourism therefore depends on developing the positive synergies between
tourism and culture, between tourists and local communities and between local and global
culture. In order to achieve this, collaboration between the different stakeholders is essential.
23 Hawkes, J. (2001), The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture’s essential role in public planning, Common Ground Publishing/
Cultural Development Network, Victoria.
24 Tuan, L. T. (2011), Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Tourism, Business and Economic Research, 1(1).
25 World Tourism Organization (2001), Cultural heritage and tourism development. A Report on the International Conference on
Cultural Tourism, Siem Reap, Cambodia 11–13 December 2000, UNWTO, Madrid.
Some authors point out in their analysis of the “cultural tourism sustainability mix”, the main
actors involved all have different interests in cultural tourism:26
–– The cultural sector is particularly concerned with the conservation of culture, and SCT
guarantees the preservation of local culture and heritage;
–– The host community is interested in participation in order to maximize the sociocultural and
socio-economic benefits for local people;
–– Cultural tourists seek personal experiences to optimize the experience value of the holiday;
and
–– The tourism industry needs to make a profit, securing maximum return and continuity.
Reconciling these different stakeholder interests is important in order to achieve sustainable

cultural tourism. Although debate is needed to examine these interests, some authors argue that
different stakeholders do not need to give up leverage or compromise their interests for the sake
of reaching consensus during any phase of the collaborative process.27 Rather it is a process
of sharing power. In this process, many factors are important, including leadership, the relative
power positions of the stakeholders and the language used by different groups.
It is also argued that stakeholder collaboration has to pass through many stages in order to be
successful:28
–– Problem-setting;
–– Direction-setting; and
–– Structuring.
Problem setting is the stage that is mainly concerned with identification of the key stakeholders,
and the issues which join them together. At the direction setting stage stakeholders articulate
the values which guide their individual activities. In the third stage of implementation/structuring
relationships are institutionalized and a long term structure of interaction is created to support and
sustain the collective appreciation and problem solving activities among the stakeholders. These
processes of stakeholder relationship development were analysed in the Peruvian Amazon.29
Through long term sharing of information and mutual knowledge, tourism entrepreneurs have
become more aware and respectful of indigenous cultures in the region. Effective stakeholder
collaboration can reduce the problems of dealing with indigenous communities, who may suffer
from power asymmetries and differences of interpretation of concepts such as ownership. In
particular there is now an understanding that for indigenous groups, tourism does not only rely on
economic profits.30
26 Munsters, W. (2012), ‘The Development of Cultural Tourism in Europe: Concepts, Aspects and Prospects revisited’, in:
Garibaldi, R. (ed.) Il turismo culturale europeo. Prospettive verso il 2020, Quaderni di viaggie e turismo del CeSTIT, Milan.
27 Gray, B. (1985), Conditions facilitating interorganizational collaboration, Human Relations, 38(10), The Pennsylvania State
University, Pennsylvania, pp. 911–936.
28 Ibid.
29 Stronza, A. (2007), The Economic Promise of Ecotourism for Conservation, Journal of Ecotourism 6 (3), pp. 210–230.
30 Ibid.
In Thailand researchers indicate how cultural tourism can be developed by involving the local
community and using appreciative enquiry to develop new, grass roots perspectives that can be
shared with the tourism sector.31
Such collaborative tourism planning approaches have also been studied in Peru. In the case
of Cuzco, they identified a lack of shared vision and objectives, insufficient intergovernmental
coordination, and poor community participation as constraints for sustainable collaboration and
coordination among tourism stakeholders.32
However, the key role played by local communities in supporting and developing cultural tourism
has now been recognized in the last Peruvian National Strategic Plan for Tourism. The plan
2008–2018 was developed following broad consultation with public, private and civil society actors.
Sustainable forms of tourism have been promoted through programmes such as “Programa de
Turismo Rural Comunitario”, “De mi tierra, un producto”, and “Al turista, lo nuestro” by ensuring a
more equitable distribution of tourism benefits in order to increase the quality of life for all.
This points one of the key challenges of developing sustainable cultural tourism in Peru, which
is basically a problem of distribution. At present there is a high level of tourist concentration at
major sites, which raises challenges of site management and conservation. In other areas flows
of tourists are low, in spite of the desire by local communities to attract more tourists to support
income and jobs.33
One potential route to more sustainable forms of tourism development is the stimulation of
domestic tourism, which tends to be more widespread and less articulated with mainstream
tourism provision, boosting income to local communities. For example, the data on visitor arrivals
to the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu, in Cuzco, show a considerable increase, surpassing
the 1 million visitor mark in 2014. Of the 1,141,177 visitors that year, 298,986 were nationals
and 842,191 were from other countries, according to data compiled by MINCETUR based on
information from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism.34
In the case of Ecuador, sustainable tourism has been developed in a number of local communities.
In order to ensure that benefits accrue to these communities, the decentralization of tourism has
been a key issue:
“Tourism decentralization takes into account the diversity of stakeholders and

geographical contexts. It seeks to improve efficiency and fairness in the use of resources
and opportunities, and brings tourism management closer to the local authorities and
residents in order to boost local tourism”.
Vázquez, R. (2002)
31 Songserm, N. and Wisansing, J. (2014), ‘Community Participatory Approach for Creative Tourism: Case studies from
Thailand’; in: Richards, G. and Russo, A. (eds.), Alternative and creative tourism, ATLAS, Arnhem, pp. 28–38.
32 Ladkin, A. and Bertramini, A. M. (2002), Collaborative Tourism Planning: A Case Study of Cusco, Peru, Current Issue in
Tourism, 5(2), pp. 71–93.
33 Carnaffan, S. J. (2010), Peru: Land of the Incas? Development and Culture in responsible, homestay tourism in Peru, PhD
Thesis, Newcastle University, Tyne and Wear.
34 Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo (2015), Llegada de visitantes al Santuario Histórico de Machu Picchu (online),
available at: www.mincetur.gob.pe.
There were more than 200 community-based operations in Ecuador, of which 88 had transformed
themselves into viable enterprises. Most of these are in the Amazon region, where the indigenous
people are involved in this activity. The biggest weakness of such community projects is the lack
of capacity to commercialize tourism products.
Based on this analysis we can begin to identify the important elements of sustainable cultural
tourism. Community-based sustainable cultural tourism involves the harnessing of tangible and
intangible cultural resources in order to support the cultural, social and economic vitality of the
local community, creating understanding between stakeholders, thus facilitating the provision of
authentic and engaging experiences for visitors.
This is essentially a model for community-based, culture-driven, tourism-led development. Putting

these different elements together we come to a triangular model of sustainable cultural tourism,
in which local culture guides the activities and experiences of locals and visitors, who mutually
benefit in terms of cultural and economic exchange.
Figure 1.1 System of sustainable cultural tourism
Culture Cu
ltu
rm
ra
g
Fo
nin
Co
lv
alu
nt
ea
en
M
e
t
Economic value
Tourism
Community
Activities
Source: Richards, G. (2015).
This model also emphasizes the fact that the relationships between these three basic elements of
the system are dynamic and mutually influence each other.
In Peru these relationships are particularly important because of the close relationships that exist
between the concept of “community” and the “region” in which the community is located. If
community is understood as the local population inhabiting a specific area or region, this makes
the point that the community is also essentially the destination for cultural tourism, which is
stimulated by the cultural experiences offered by the community. This relationship has been
recognized in sustainable tourism projects developed in Peru, such as “Programa Turismo Rural
Comunitario”, “De mi tierra, un producto”, and “Al turista, lo nuestro”.
One of the most significant recent changes, for example, has been the shift from traditional
models of cultural tourism based on tangible heritage towards more inclusive models including
many more elements of intangible and ‘everyday’ culture. Tourism is particularly important in this
regard, because the current trend for tourists to demand more ‘local’ experiences and to be able
to ‘live like a local’.
T 29
Chapter 2
An overview of tourism in Peru
With the kind contribution of Jeungah Ryoo
2.1 The importance of tourism at national level
Peru has seen significant economic development over the last 10 years. According to the
International Monetary Fund, as cited by UNWTO, the country’s GDP grew by 2.4% in 2004, and
growth of 4.5% is expected by 2020.1 Particularly striking has been the rapid growth in the tourism
sector’s contribution to the national economy, which could prove significant over the long term.
Peru’s economy depends primarily on agriculture, mining, primary products and the tertiary sector,
which includes tourism. In 2004, 1.35 million tourists visited Peru and spent USD 1,232 million
during their stay. By 2013 these figures had increased 2.3 times and 3.2 times, respectively, with
3.6 million international tourist arrivals and average spending of USD 985.2
On the other hand, the inflow of foreign exchange generated by those tourist visits in 2013 totaled
USD 3,925 million, and the preliminary figure for 2014 is USD 3,832 million.3 These figures suggest
that tourism will play a fundamental role going forward in the rapid development of Peru’s economy.
Tourism, moreover, produces effects on the leisure industry in general and its influence could lead
to fundamental changes in the country’s industrial structure. Tourism directly affects restaurants,
the food industry and basic accommodation, such as hotels. It also promotes the development
of infrastructure, such as highways and airports. Its expansion will undoubtedly generate
employment in related spheres of activity. Employment in Peru’s restaurant and hotel sectors
has been increasing – by 1.1 percentage points between 2004 and 2012, to 1.13 million workers,
accounting for 6.5% of total employment.4
The Government of Peru is working hard to develop the tourism industry and to strengthen the
value added to various cultural and tourism resources.
1 World Tourism Organization (2015), UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, volume 13, April 2015, UNWTO, Madrid.
2 Comisión de Promoción del Perú para la Exportación y el Turismo (2014), Perfil del turista extranjero 2013, Ministerio de
Comercio Exterior y Turismo, Lima.
3 Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo (2015), Ingreso trimestral de divisas generado por el turismo receptivo 2002–2014
(online), available at: www.mincetur.gob.pe.
4 Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo (2014), Principales resultados de la encuesta de demanda ocupacional en el
sector turismo, MTPE, Lima.
2.2 Tourism figures in Peru
UNWTO data showed a clear increase in the number of visitors to Peru between 2009 and 2013.
Inbound tourism grew by 48.4%, from 2.13 million persons in 2009 to 3.16 million in 2013.
UNWTO’s provisional figure for 2014 is 3.21 million.
For accommodation establishments, occupancy doubled: from 4.06 million guests in 2009 to
8.18 million in 2013. The number of registered guests more than doubled: from 7.3 million in 2009
to 15.4 million in 2013.
Table 2.1 Number of entries and overnight stays by non-residents of Peru (2009–2013)
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Entries by non-residents at national borders 2,139,961 2,299,187 2,597,803 2,845,623 3,163,639
Entries by non-residents at hotels and similar 4,059,014 4,462,298 4,766,963 7,269,167 8,179,292
establishments
Overnight stays by non-residents in hotels 7,606,573 8,363,391 10,321,554 13,542,209 15,392,968

and similar establishments
Source: World Tourism Organization (2015).
The table below shows the 14 leading nationalities of visitors to Peru in 2013. Chile, the country
closest to Peru, is its largest generating market, followed by the United States of America,
Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. The list also includes countries outside the hemisphere, such as
Spain, France, Japan and the United Kingdom. In terms of generating inflows of foreign exchange
through tourism, according to PromPerú in the International Tourist Profile 2013, the United States
of America ranks first, followed by Chile, Spain and Brazil
Table 2.2 List of countries generating inbound tourism for Peru, by foreign-exchange receipts (in USD million)
and number of tourists received (in thousands)
Foreign-exchange receipts from tourism generating Number of tourists received from key generating markets
countries
1 United States of America 615 1 Chile 862
2 Chile 231 2 United States of America 423
3 Spain 199 3 Argentina 146
4 Brazil 163 4 Brazil 141
5 France 151 5 Colombia 133
6 Japan 129 6 Spain 109
7 Argentina 124 7 France 80
8 Colombia 122 8 Japan 63
9 United Kingdom 118 9 Canada 61
10 Germany 110 10 Germany 60

An overview of tourism in Peru 31
Foreign-exchange receipts from tourism generating Number of tourists received from key generating markets
countries
11 Canada 106 11 Mexico 57
12 Australia 76 12 United Kingdom 56
13 Mexico 63 13 Australia 36
14 Italy 59 14 Italy 35
Total 2,269
Source: PromPerú (2014).
2.3 Competitiveness and economic impact of tourism in Peru
According to tourism sector rankings published by the World Economic Forum, Peru came in 58th
out of 141 countries, behind Brazil (ranked 28th), Mexico (30th), Panama (34th), Costa Rica (42nd),
Chile (51st), Puerto Rico (55th) and Argentina (57th).5
In terms of the proportion of international tourist arrivals relative to a receiving country’s population,
the ratio is 2.9% for Brazil, 19.7% for Mexico, 42.5% for Panama, 49.5% for Costa Rica, 20.3%
for Chile, 88.8% for Puerto Rico and 13.4% for Argentina. By comparison, the figure for Peru is
only 8.7%. This low percentage suggests that international visitors have a relatively small impact
on Peruvian society as a whole.
Data contained in the report suggest that conditions in Peru are right for the development of high-
quality, high-value tourism products.
2.4 Structural limits and improvements for tourism in Peru
The natural and cultural heritage of Peru is unquestionably extraordinary, but this fact does not
seem to be reflected in the general competitiveness of its tourism sector.
Economic value is a matter of particular emphasis in the tourism sector. It needs to be considered
in terms of its influence on related industries and training of high quality human resources.
Economic value helps to conserve intrinsic values and create a virtuous circle leading to effective
and sustainable development.
How tourism connects with other sectors is something that requires extensive analysis from
several perspectives. This document focuses mainly on the cultural characteristics of Peru and
ways to develop its cultural heritage so as to achieve optimal returns from tourism, including an
effective strategy for coordinating cultural and touristic interests.
5 World Economic Forum (2015), The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015, WEF, Geneva.
Table 2.3 Peru’s ranking in selected areas (from a list of 141 countries)
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 58
Enabling environment Business environment 78
Personal safety and security 117
Health and hygiene 92
Human resources and labour market 63
ICT readiness 89
Travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions Prioritization of travel and tourism 54
International openness 15
Price competitiveness 115
Environmental sustainability 102
Infrastructure Air transport infrastructure 88
Ground and port infrastructure 118
Tourist service infrastructure 48
Price competitiveness of the travel and tourism industries 103
Natural and cultural resources Natural resources 12
Cultural resources 26
Source: World Economic Forum (2015).
As shown in this table, the areas in which Peru ranks lowest are ground transport infrastructure,
personal safety and security, and the price competitiveness of travel and tourism industries. The
excessively high prices for tourists who only visit a few areas are the main reason that few repeat
the experience.
The country ranks much higher, on the other hand, in the areas of natural and cultural resources
(12th and 26th, respectively, out of 141 countries). While Peru possesses many tourist attractions,
it needs to improve in such areas as tourism product technology and tourist service infrastructure
to ensure visitor satisfaction, enjoyment and comfort. It also needs to strengthen the resources
allocated to assuring quality.
2.5 The importance of domestic tourism

With the kind contribution of MINCETUR
In 2008, Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism and Committee for the Promotion of Peru
through Exports and Tourism (PromPerú) undertook a plan of work for promoting the domestic
travel market with the aim of developing a culture of travel among the Peruvian people.
Developing the domestic market is important because it can contribute to regional integration;
promote social inclusion and national identity; strengthen the economy by creating jobs across
An overview of tourism in Peru 33
multiple sectors; and strengthen the productive chain directly and indirectly connected with
tourism.
The strategies adopted for domestic tourism development are aimed at promoting a travel culture
to eliminate barriers that might deter potential visitors, such as insecurity, high costs, or lack of
information on destinations. Another aim is to encourage visits during the low season and to
destinations whose tourist attractions remain relatively unknown. The strategy is also designed
to foster synergies with regional and local governments and tourism industry associations in the
design of strategic promotion plans.
Development of the work plan to promote travel by domestic tourists began with studies on
traveller profiles in the local market. These showed that travel motivations and lifestyles in Peru,
as a multicultural country, are diverse. It was therefore important to gain a structured knowledge
of the market in order to present proposals for promotion that not only generate short-term impact
but also help to increase domestic travel and generate a permanent travel culture.
PromPerú began by working jointly with regional and local governments as well as the private
sector on various promotion campaigns, starting with:
–– “Campaña de Conciencia Turística” and “Escápate de la Rutina” [Awareness Campaign for
Tourism, and Escaping the Routine] (2008–2009);
–– Promotion of travel supply at the macro regional level using the slogans: “Selva Pone, Norte
Pone, Centro Pone, Sur Pone” (2010–2012); and
–– A campaign introduced in 2012 “¿Y tú qué planes?”, for implementation through 2016,
providing information and permanent supply in the 25 regions to stimulate domestic travel
throughout the year. This campaign has helped to decentralize supply by promoting such
unconventional destinations as Ucayali, Apurímac, Tacna, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Pasco,
and others.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism has implemented a long-term strategy to strengthen the
tourism sector as a fundamental contribution to the country’s social and economic development.
This strategy includes activities to strengthen human capital and provide training in tourism
management to local and regional governments, with the aim of improving their knowledge about
the potential and importance of this sector.
In addition, as part of the work plan to promote domestic tourism, a mechanism has been put
in place for developing and innovating tourism products in synergy with the public, private and
academic sectors, with the aim of promoting more visits to the products identified in each of the
regions. This mechanism has successfully involved the population in the care of its natural and
cultural heritage, helped to revitalize and diversify local economies and generated new businesses
and investment opportunities.
Thanks to this integrated effort by the Ministry of Trade and Tourism it must be recognized that
domestic tourism has now taken on a special role in the development of regional economies,
stimulating tourism activity on a sustained basis, by involving and benefiting all actors directly or
indirectly participating in the chain of value.
The main results of the work plan carried out in recent years to promote domestic tourism are as
follows:
–– 37.5 million trips by domestic tourists in 2014, 4.3% more than in 2013;
–– Estimated growth of 4.3% in domestic tourist travel projected for 2015, which would amount
to 39 million trips;
–– Over the last three years, 1,800 regional enterprises benefiting from training workshops on
marketing as well as seminars on destinations and marketing platforms in the cities of Lima,
Puno, Arequipa, Chiclayo, Trujillo and Huancayo (30% new enterprises);
–– Boost for cross-selling and interregional sales in the commercial chain, benefiting
210 regional enterprises in the North and South and generating business opportunities of up
to 2 million Peruvian Soles in negotiation;
–– UNWTO’s 11th annual Ulysses Prize was awarded to the campaign “Y tú qué planes?” for
excellence and innovation in public policy and governance;
–– The campaign generated a 13% increase in holiday travel compared to 2013, with
349,000 travellers generating an estimated 168 million Peruvian Soles; and
–– It is estimated that these campaigns have generated 20% growth in the sales of participating
regional enterprises (500 regional enterprises benefited, 25% of which were new
microenterprises and small businesses engaged in tourism-related activity).
What did the campaign “¿Y tú qué planes?” accomplish?
–– The diversification of tourism supply with the inclusion of destinations that have gained visibility through exposure on this
platform (Ayacucho, Apurímac, Huancavelica, Moquegua, and others);
– The promotion of domestic interregional and local tourism, providing growth and business development opportunities for
small enterprises;
– The inclusion of rural community tourism initiatives and new products, such as Sibayo, Andahuaylas, Quinua and Lamas,
giving them access to the benefits generated by tourism;
– The inclusion of operators in the south, north and central regions, opening up more business potential and a broader supply
base at the level of other macro regions;
– The capacity of regional agencies and operators has been improved through training and workshops on effective marketing
and sales issues as well as segmentation, important in defining a product and properly marketing it according to demand;
– Microenterprises and small businesses have doubled their income from tourism, expanded their logistical infrastructure and
created more jobs in their regions;
– The end consumer is benefiting from a platform that generates confidence and security when purchasing tourism packages,
as reflected in the recommendations made by “¿Y tú qué planes?” users to their friends and relatives, the best travel referral
possible;
– The use of formal services and the formalization of informal enterprises has increased; and
– Domestic tourists can now better plan their travel, benefiting from affordable prices for all segments, 365 days a year.
Chapter 3
Cultural tourism in Peru
3.1 Motivations for cultural tourism in Peru
Cultural resources are obviously among the main factors that motivate tourists. The archaeological
sites and museums recognized by UNESCO as part of our world heritage are traditional tourist
destinations and venues for a great variety of events, such as festivals or sporting events.
While Peru ranks 58th on the TTCI index for cultural resources in general, there is some confusion
with respect to the evaluation. The country boasts numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites,
ranking 21st in terms of cultural heritage, a particularly high ranking explained no doubt by places
such as Machu Picchu. The country also ranks relatively high (42nd) in the area of exhibitions and
festivals.
This latter area therefore offers many new opportunities for designing a wide range of tourism
products. The resources in this area have been inherited from ancestors but have not been
approached creatively, or in other words, developed so as to achieve value added. To consider
that cultural resources are only about culture is to limit their value as tourism resources. Their
value can be multiplied if combined with such intangible resources as local festivals and events,
regional gastronomic specialities, cultural and artistic expositions or exhibition programmes.
As shown in the figure 3.1, while possessing fewer World Heritage Sites than Mexico or Brazil,
Peru has more than Indonesia, Chile, Ecuador and Panama. And yet its ranking for tourist arrivals
(in absolute terms) remains lower than those countries.
Travellers to Cuzco and Machu Picchu tend to return home after a brief visit, so it is natural that
massive concentration of tourists in Machu Picchu has been observed. As a result the restriction
of access to only 2,500 persons per day, so as to avoid deterioration of the site, is being ignored.
Figure 3.1 Comparison of countries by number of visits in 2013 (as recorded by UNWTO) and number of
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Mexico
Brazil
Peru
Indonesia
Jordan
Chile
Ecuador
■ UNESCO Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites
Panama
■ International tourist arrivals (hundred-thousands)
Costa Rica
Barbados
50 0 50 100 150 200 250
Source: World Economic Forum (2013).
Peru has depended for many years on agriculture, fisheries and mining, which have been the
country’s largest economic sectors. Today, however, the interest has shifted to tourism, considered
an industry of the future. Peru’s tourism sector has recently stood out among those of other Latin
American countries with regard to visitor satisfaction and for its rapid growth in number of tourists,
thanks to its archaeological and cultural heritage sites, the ecological resources of the Amazon
and gastronomic tourism, the elements that most epitomise tourism in Peru.
According to PromPerú, there has been an upward trend in travel for holidays or recreation, which
continues to be the leading motivation for visiting Peru, followed by business travel and family
visits.1 In terms of the desire to participate in varied tourism activities the top three motivations for
recreational travel are ancestral culture (47% of the total), nature tourism (23%) and gastronomy
(10%). The report indicates that tourist demand has been greatest for activities associated with
culture, and in complementary fashion, nature. The attractions most visited were churches,
cathedrals and convents (68%), followed by archaeological sites, museums and historic buildings.
Historical and cultural background for tourism in Peru
Cultural tourism, which leverages the country’s cultural resources, represents the centrepiece of
tourism in Peru. The pre-Columbian civilizations that inhabited the Americas before the Europeans
arrived, including the Chavín, Moche and Nasca civilizations and the Inca Empire, left a rich
archaeological and cultural legacy. In the case of the Inca Empire, Machu Picchu is one of the
best known and most visited tourist sites in Peru. Several buildings date from the Spanish colonial
era in Lima, Arequipa and Cuzco, which are famous tourist sites in modern Peru. Those cities were
conquered and destroyed by the Spanish who rebuilt them with their own style of architecture.
Cultural tourism in Peru 37
Over the last 5,000 to 6,000 years, Peru has seen large hierarchical societies leave an immense
cultural heritage to future generations, including archaeological ruins in such abundance that
many have yet to be excavated or interpreted. Inca civilization, as found in Cuzco and Machu
Picchu, has generated great interest and represents a cultural heritage and tourism resource that
is fundamental for Peru, and yet which still holds many mysteries.
The Incas built the greatest empire ever seen in Latin America, occupying their prosperous capital
Cuzco from 1250 to 1533. The population was dispersed over a large area extending from the
Andes to the Pacific coast of central Peru. They had their own language, Quechua, and were
grouped in tribes. They formed a type of social group called Jura. In 1400 the Incas conquered
the Chimú Kingdom and took control of a large region extending from the border with Ecuador to
the lowlands that surround Lake Titicaca in Chile. The Inca, considered the son of the sun and the
incarnation of God, held supreme authority, supported by a military tyranny.
The capital of the empire, Cuzco, is located in the southern highlands of Peru, 3,457 m above
sea level. We know that this was the capital of a prosperous Empire. After growing rapidly it
suddenly disappeared in 1533, its heyday having lasted only 100 years. Cuzco means “navel” in
Quechua, signifying the Incas’ conviction that they were the centre of the world. In central Cuzco
the Empire erected numerous buildings, including the palace, but little of this remained after the
Spanish conquest. The Temple of the Sun was destroyed and Catholic churches and numerous
monasteries were erected in its place. The Golden Palace and the Temple relics disappeared.
All places of worship were torn down and replaced with Catholic churches. Residents, forced
to convert, rebelled against their new rulers. Rebellions broke out separately but were rapidly
controlled by Spanish forces. And so did the Inca Empire, the greatest ever known in Latin
America, decline and fall.
Machu Picchu represents a highlight of the Inca era in Peru. It is located on a plateau, 2,500 m in
altitude, and remains invisible on cloudy days. It was only present in prayers and was conceived as
a lost city called cielo, or heaven. Machu Picchu was discovered by Agustín Lizárraga in 1901 and
rediscovered internationally by Hiram Bingham, with support from Yale University, in 1911. And
yet for modern man, the methods used to move hundreds of tons of stones to such an elevated
site and to assemble them seamlessly remain a mystery. Today, tourists can take a bus through
the mountains up to 2,500 m to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Though destroyed by the Spanish,
the legacy of the Inca civilization has nonetheless become part of history thanks to the interest
of tourists who visit Peru in order to view what remains as testimony to this ancient civilization.
Natural resources
Many people are drawn to Peru by its natural resources, flora and fauna, opting for ecotourism,
which they consider an important part of their visit. More than 60% of Peruvian territory forms
part of the Amazon region and the country’s natural resources and protected national parks are
superior to those offered by other South American countries.
Peru has 175 protected natural areas (PNAs) in diverse categories, most of them suitable for
receiving travellers. These areas are controlled by SERNANP, an agency of the Ministry of
Environment responsible for developing sustainable, diversified tourism that generates minimal
negative impact, with tourism understood as a tool for providing public access and use in
accordance with the objectives established for the creation of PNAs. In addition to the areas
that form part of the National System of Protected Natural Areas (SINANPE), various private,
municipal, regional and communal conservation zones have also been established in Peru, most
with the idea of self-sustainability through tourism. It should be noted that several of the PNAs,
including Machu Picchu, are both natural and cultural in character. And in those where human
occupation (communities) is possible, authentic forms of local culture are to be found.
Nature tourism has become one of the most promising and versatile forms of tourism in the world,
permitting experiences in various price ranges and degrees of immersion into the natural element.
Some PNAs in Peru are authorized and equipped to receive travellers with the mandate of
achieving self-sufficiency through visitor contributions. Visits to PNAs can often be combined with
extended travel outside the area to places of specific historical, scientific or living cultural interest.
Nature tourism can also be highly segmented, according to interest in birds, insects, terrarium-
making, butterflies, orchids, photography of strange species, enjoyment and relaxation, or luxury
experiences such as Amazon cruises, etc.
Peru has dedicated immense efforts to promoting ecotourism in its Amazon region, preserving
natural ecological conditions by optimizing environmental protection measures. In addition to the
coastal areas of the Amazon jungle, the country’s desert region also attracts tourists, drawn by its
climate and wide variety of leisure sports.
Many specific tourism products have been developed in this connection. The Inca sand dunes are
well known among buggy enthusiasts. Canoeing has become very popular in recent years, and
various options are offered according to participant experience level. Some areas offer travellers
the opportunity to practice the latest in adventure sports, such as hiking excursions between
Machu Picchu and Cuzco. It is not rare to find tourists climbing the 2,500 m mountain there.
With respect to the Inca terraces of Moray, according to the review En Perú, some believe
that this was an Inca laboratory for experimentation on the yields of different crops at different
temperatures. Others believe the site to have been a nursery for cultivating seedlings, grafting
plants and trying new alien plant species. And a third group consider it simply an ingenious means
of adapting the cultivation of a variety of maize that had originated in warmer areas to the colder
local conditions. Whatever its history might be, this archaeological site, formed by concentric
circles forming craters in the landscape, is clearly a fascinating sight.
In this area of Peru an ancient civilization prospered – not forming part of the empire but property
of the Emperor, or Inca, himself. It was called the Sacred Valley because its lands were some of the
best in the region. For thousands of years salt was collected from the area’s brackish subterranean
waters. Using an intricate network of canals this water was channelled into salt evaporation ponds
from which the salt was later extracted in the form of dry crystals.
Gastronomic tourism
Peruvian gastronomy appears to have been the fruit of a complex process of historical change as
various cultures succeeded one another over hundreds of years. It results from a combination of
culinary culture originating in Africa with the raw materials traditionally produced in Peru, China,
Italy and Japan. Among the country’s best-known specialities is ceviche, prepared using a great
variety of vegetables and raw fish marinated in lemon.
Peru is also famous for its horticultural products, and most typically potatoes, maize and quinoa.
The potatoes – and potato recipes – have a long history in Peru. The International Potato Centre
(CIP), headquartered in Lima, the capital, studies the origin of plants and hundreds of wild potato
species. It works to develop better quality products through research and to identify the best
channels for distribution. The potato is a very important food in Peru, where it flourishes despite
the rains and high humidity of the altiplano. There are 2,500 different varieties that include unusual
forms, colours and flavours. Field visits to the mountains, where the temperature for growing
potatoes is ideal, are an interesting attraction that should be included in tourism routes.
Peru’s Ministry of the Environment has developed a map showing the types of maize in Peru that
could also provide an important tourist attraction. Also of interest is a grain called noé (quinoa)
cultivated in the Andean altiplano. Its leaves are consumed as a vegetable and its seeds as a
grain. The husks of these seeds are dry and contain bitter saponins, so birds do not eat them
and that minimizes losses. They grow in abundance and in mountainous areas with the right
conditions. Their nutritional value is comparable to that of milk, as they contain a good balance
of amino acids and essential proteins, starch, vitamins and minerals. Based on evaluations of its
nutritional value this crop is being recognized as an exceptional new food. Demand for it in recent
years has increased throughout the world, as it is considered part of a healthy diet. Tourists even
travel to Peru to purchase it, so the grain itself offers value for tourism.
3.2 Tangible cultural heritage
Peru boasts 12 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites, six on a tentative list and six representing
intangible cultural heritage. The wealth of Peru’s heritage stems from the diversity of its natural
resources and the multicultural heritage reflected in its paleontological, archaeological and
historical treasures. Given Peru’s 12 World Heritage Sites, the country is considered to possess
numerous cultural resources, offering considerable potential from the standpoint of tourism.
Table 3.1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (2015)

Number World Heritage Sites Category Region Year designated
1 Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu Cultural-natural Cuzco 1983
2 City of Cuzco Cultural Cuzco 1983
3 Huascarán National Park Natural Ancash 1985
4 Chavín (archaeological site) Cultural Ancash 1985
5 Chan Chan Archaeological Zone Cultural La Libertad 1986

6 Manú National Park Natural Cuzco 1987
7 Historic Centre of Lima Cultural Province of Lima 1988 and 1991 (extended)
8 Río Abiseo National Park Cultural-natural San Martín 1990 and 1992 (extended)
9 Lines and geoglyphs of Nasca and Cultural Ica 1994

Pampas de Jumana
10 Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa Cultural Arequipa 2000
11 Sacred City of Caral-Supe Cultural Lima 2009
12 Qapaq Ñan Andean Road System Cultural 2014

Source: UNESCO (2015).
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu
The Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu was declared a World Heritage Site because of its cultural
and natural values. It is an extraordinary tourist attraction that must be visited at least once in life.
High summits surround its steep terraces. The Valley is situated at the 2,280 m above sea level.
The “Temple of the Sun”, built of stone blocks weighing more than 200 tons, reflects a great
mastery of architectural technique. One can see a column 1.8 m high and 36 cm thick. While
many researchers consider it to form part of a solar clock, most believe it to be a sacred religious
object worthy of further study. In Machu Picchu, technology, science and sacred religious belief
have come together in a place where the ancient Incas have left us many questions that modern
man still cannot answer.
City of Cuzco
Situated 3,399 m above sea level in the Andes Mountains, Cuzco was the capital of the Inca
Empire, with a population reaching 1 million. In Quechua, Cuzco means “navel of the world”. The
Incas believed that the sky was ruled by the eagle, the land by the puma and the subsoil by the
snake. As part of that vision, Cuzco was given the form of a puma.
The statues of the garden walls, covered with gold and precious stones, were removed from
Cuzco by the European conquistadors, who came to the New World in search of gold. The Spanish
conquistador Francisco Pizarro stripped the Inca Empire of its treasures. The colonial governors
built palaces, temples and religious buildings in the European style, to replace the Inca structures,
filling the city with Baroque architecture.
The Temple of the Sun is the only trace left in Cuzco of the glorious Inca era, for those tourists
who aspire to evoke it. Every year, on the summer solstice in late June, the Festival of the Sun
is celebrated. Together with the Carnivals in Bolivia and Brazil, it is considered one of the three
greatest festivals in the Americas.
Huascarán National Park
In the Cordillera Blanca [White Range], the world’s highest tropical mountain chain, Mount
Huascarán rises 6,768 m above sea level and gives its name to this park. The park’s deep ravines
crossed by numerous torrents, its glacier lakes and varied vegetation form a spectacular setting
that is home to such animal species as the spectacled bear and Andean condor.
Chavín Archaeological Site
The Chavín Archaeological Site, situated about 460 km northeast of Lima, in the Chavín de
Huántar district in the province of Huari, is dedicated to the conservation of archaic structures,
sculptures and craftsmanship. The Chavín culture is the product of an Andean civilization that
began sometime between 1500 and 300 BC north of the central Peruvian plateau.
This archaeological site is located in Huantar. It consists of a granite sanctuary on whose walls
head-shaped figures have been carved in relief. Inside are corridors, pillars, small rooms and
passageways. Forms and sculptures of human beings, cats, crocodiles and serpents can be
observed. Excavations have also revealed diverse oval-shaped objects, plates, ceramic pieces
and stone monuments. It was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995.
Chan Chan Archaeological Zone
Situated in the department of La Libertad, 6 km from the city of Trujillo, the Chan Chan
Archaeological Zone is not as well-known as other regions of Peru but offers an undoubtedly
special attraction. In 1300, Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimú Kingdom. It was conquered
by the Incas in 1450 but finally abandoned. Visitors often spend hours exploring this vast site,
occupied by plazas, streets, dwellings, gardens, temples and reservoirs. An extraordinary city
prior to Spanish colonization, it still offers an architectural heritage of exceptional value.
Manú National Park
This immense 1.5 million ha park offers a great variety of vegetation stratified by altitude,
which ranges from 150 to 4,200 m. The tropical forest of the less elevated areas is home to an
incomparable variety of animal and plant species. Some 850 different kinds of bird have been
observed there. Some uncommon species, such as the giant otter and armadillo, have found
refuge in this site, where the presence of jaguars has also been frequently observed.
Río Abiseo National Park
The Río Abiseo National Park lies on the slopes of the Amazon side of the eastern Andes mountain
range, west of the locality of Huicungo in San Martín department. Covering an area of 274,520 ha,
it features cloud forests that include diverse endemic zones as well as a diversity of flora and
fauna species, some endangered. The park also preserves cultural resources and landscapes of
great beauty, including the archaeological complex Gran Pajatén y Los Pinchudos.
Historic Centre of Lima
Lima was a strategic settlement. It was built to optimize efficient colonization, because the Inca
capital, Cuzco, was situated on the plateau, complicating the transport of goods. This city therefore
prospered under Spanish rule. In 1991 UNESCO designated the city of Lima a World Heritage Site
in view of the numerous and extraordinary colonial buildings still standing there.
The historic centre of Lima has the same characteristics often observed in the cities of southern
Spain. It is structured as a grid around an oval-shaped Plaza de Armas. In the centre is the Office
of the Governor, the Cathedral of Lima and other religious buildings. The Cathedral is the most
emblematic building in Lima. Built in 1535 at the same time as the city, it is the oldest colonial
structure in Peru and is closely linked to the city’s founder, Francisco Pizarro, who laid the first
stone and whose remains still lie inside.
The Cathedral, Church and Convent of San Francisco, all built in the 16th century, remain favourites
among visitors to the country. The libraries still used by the clergy possess large numbers of
rare books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Tagle Tower Palace, built in 1735, is
considered the most beautiful building of the vice royal era. It was owned by the Marquis of Tagle
Tower, a powerful figure in Peru. The Peruvian government bought it in 1918 and has housed the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs there ever since. It is considered a work of architectural art and has
been maintained in very good condition. Lima also offers many historic buildings beyond the city
centre, including the oldest, the University of San Marcos, the presidential residence and the
episcopal palace.
Lines and geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana
About 400 km south of Lima, between the Andes and Peru’s southern coast on the Pacific, lie
Nasca and the planes of Pampas de Jumana, where the great lines and geo-glyphs, considered a
legacy of the pre-Incan era between 500 BC and 500 AD, can be seen.
Nasca and Pampas de Jumana lie in a direct line between the Andes and Peru’s Pacific coast. It
is an arid place with extremely low average precipitation and hardly any wind. The great lines that
can be observed there are roughly etched into the soil for tens of thousands of meters. The reason
and purpose for these figures as well as the methods used it to make them are still unknown.
Hypotheses include some connection with astronomical, astrological or religious rituals, or even
landing signals for alien spacecraft.
The lines can be seen at surface level to extend thousands of kilometres, but the figures can only
be perceived by airplane or helicopter. There are more than 200 figures stretching for thousands
of meters within an area of 250 km2. It appears as if someone has traced the lines and curves with
a ruler and compass. The exact proportions and the geographic forms and figures appear too
perfect and startling to be the work of human beings.
The figures include geographic forms, long lines, plants, animals and diverse forms. Particularly
striking is a hummingbird with sharp beak and open wings, a bird that appears to be a condor
80 m across, a monkey surrounded by its tail in the form of a spiral, a 46 m spider and a 188 m
crocodile. Many other forms can also be seen, such as trapezoids, circles and triangles, trees and
animals, such as whales and dogs.
Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa
Arequipa is the capital of southern Peru. The Spanish built it in 1540 and it is the country’s second-
largest city after Lima, the capital. In half of the city the architecture is a mix of Inca and “Arequipa”
style, characterized by white volcanic rock. UNESCO named the Historical Centre of Arequipa a
World Heritage Site in 2000.
That designation gave a boost to the tourism industry in Arequipa, and in 2010, nearly 169,000
people visited it, ranking the city third after Lima and Cuzco. The city provides a good example
of a perfect fusion of native and European architecture. The Cathedral of Arequipa, the Church
of la Compañía (1798) and the monastery of Santa Catalina (1580) are the most representative
buildings.
The Sacred City of Caral-Supe
The Sacred City of Caral-Supe is an archaeological site more than 5,000 years old, the centre of
the oldest civilization in the American hemisphere. Located 200 km from Lima it lies in the Supe
Valley and boasts luxuriant forests, covering an area of 626 ha. It is where the Caral civilization
originated and is very well preserved. It was discovered in 1948 by Paul Kosok who was unable
to awaken much interest in it. Currently, however, several studies of the site are underway,
focused among other things on the pyramids, temples, amphitheatre, plaza, a house for an upper
class family and other dwellings. A number of tombstones have been discovered and a sunken
garden situated in a space carved out of the soil. All of these structures reflect highly advanced
architectural knowledge.
The Caral site is famous for the extremely complex and monumental character of its structures.
The settlement is composed of 18 sites and six great pyramids. A leather string with several knots,
used to record and transmit information before the existence of writing, testifies to the high degree
of development and complexity achieved by the Caral civilization.
Qapac Ñan Andean Road System
This site consists of an extensive Inca network of

communications, commerce and defence covering
30,000 km. Constructed by the Incas over several
centuries and based in part on pre-Inca infrastructure, this
extraordinary network traverses some of the most extreme
geographical terrain in the world, connecting the snowy
peaks of the Andes, at an altitude of more than 6,000
m, with the coast and running through steaming tropical

jungles, fertile valleys and absolute deserts. It reached its
maximum extent in the 15th century, when it extended the
entire length and breadth of the Andes.
The Qapac Ñan Andean Road System includes 273 sites

distributed over more than 6,000 km, selected to highlight the
social, political, architectural and engineering achievements
of the network together with its related infrastructure for
The Andean Road System was inscribed on
the UNESCO World Heritage List in June commerce, accommodation and storage and places of
2014. Alejandro Balaguer, PromPerú. religious importance. That World Heritage designation is
shared with Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.
T 45
Chapter 4
Intangible heritage: opportunities for Peru
With the kind contribution of Rafo León
To try to understand the challenge of proposing authentic, sustainable cultural tourism with a
broad community base – which is the essence of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) – imagine a
display window and a mirror. Imagine the side edge of the display window, a vertical line. Think of
this line as the front of the window. Inside, displayed to the world, are a series of objects, symbols,
meanings, products, fantasies and destinations of a country (or clearly delineated territory). Then
move toward the back of the window. The surface may contain nothing more than rear support
for the structure.
If on the other hand a mirror is placed in that space, things change. The mirror begins to reflect the
seller’s own concepts, products and proposals. When that occurs there is identification between
what is sold and the cultural being of the seller. When the same process that occurs towards the
outside reflects the local population towards inside, we have authentic human creation, or one of
its expressions. It is an object with two faces: a window and a mirror; it cannot be reduced to one
without the risk of breaking an essential continuity.
The lack of such a mirror and the presence only of the window can be clearly seen in the case of
mass tourism. Since there is no connection between the seller, what is being sold and the buyer,
what is exhibited and experienced becomes a stereotype – static tourism. When on the other
hand the experience offered is supported by appreciation and recognition for its creator and the
authenticity reflected in the mirror, showing the individual and social author, what we have is an
integrated product that can last over time, be renewed and enriched, acquire solidity, expand in
radius, thus developing a product/market that can clearly differentiate the country from others.
Viewed in this manner, cultural tourism in general as well as cultural goods that are part of the
cultural heritage, are not only concentrated on knowledge of monuments (pre-Hispanic and
colonial legacies with a few of more recent date), museums, patrimonial cities, and certain events
on the tourist calendar in which the population participates as a pre-packaged spectacle but
also must incorporate that display window experience of what is now happening creatively in the
cities, villages and communities. It should be mentioned that over the last decade, also as a result
of greater peace in the country, these actors have been making notable efforts to build genuine,
authentic supply reflected in what the traveller finds when visiting Peru.
Cultural tourism
Cultural tourism is growing and diversifying around the world. For Peru, this growth calls for a
review of the concept, both to meet actual demand for tourism in general and to better profile
community sustainable development, offering some version of “living culture”: rural community,
ethnic, mystical, etc. This includes places that, while not specialized, spontaneously offer the
traveller samples of authentic ancestral culture, as part of the destination’s identity – samples
that do not correspond to a historic time or specific culture but represent a mixture that provides
stability for the country’s dynamic social life.
The growing awareness about cultural tourism in the country is not a direct reflection of “a better
quality” of traveller – and still less of a tourist “elite” travelling through the country so as to
constitute potential markets. It is more about supply and demand of a much broader concept of
culture than the conventional one. It includes both tangible and intangible heritage as well as the
living expressions of civilizations and collective ways of life that from generation to generation were
propagated, refined, and raised up as symbols which, though never ceasing to change, continue
to manifest themselves in popular and religious festivals, forms of work, family relationships,
production of popular art and handicrafts, local languages, daily and special feast gastronomy,
music, dance and cultural industries, but above all collective, individual, traditional and modern
ways of thinking and understanding the world, all forming part of a permanent dialectic.
And taking into account the concept of postmodernity1, the definition of cultural tourism should
also include the transformation of what is considered modern in the cultural interest, in art
(dance, “serious” music, literature, gallery-worthy visual art, etc.) as well as the spontaneous
manifestations of daily life, ranging from graffiti, to powerful youth expression in the streets, the
cultivation of native products, evidence of the presence of migrant groups from other countries in
the republican era, the multiple forms of creativity for survival in the emerging sectors, etc.
In order that all of these elements converge in a coherent and unified way it must be recognized
that culture in Peru is a dynamic phenomenon that, owing to high social mobility, the impact of
modernization, urban growth and the increasingly important role of entrepreneurs in the country’s
social and economic life, has been ceaselessly evolving, day in and day out, to take a form that
in the 1970s was dismissively called chicha culture (referring to the traditional pre-Hispanic
beverage).
This culture has its origins in the migratory movements from country to city that occurred between
the 1960s and 1990s, with the largest cities “taken over” by migrants from the mountains and
the Amazon. Out of their informality and poverty grew a hybrid form of music – urban but rooted
in the Sierra or the jungle and performed with electronic instruments. Then the public posters
began to appear announcing festivals and concerts, defining a new aesthetic of strident and
phosphorescent colours. And then finally the phenomenon exploded everywhere, in all aspects of
city life: in clothing, food, architecture, urban planning and ways of doing business, the evolution
of micro and small businesses, and the emergence of new public figures among others.
This culture no longer has a specific name. It is no longer called chicha because it is now the
dominant Peruvian culture that cuts across daily life in the country and is increasingly being
accepted by the groups that dominate the cultural mainstream, so much so that it has become
part of the country’s tourism attraction, precisely because of its plasticity and its peripheral
development. An example of the new scene in which this phenomenon takes place is the “Más
peruano que...” campaign launched by PromPerú, mainly in social networks, which uses the
typographic and colour iconography that typified the aforementioned chicha culture and which
1 Richards, G. (2002), Postmodernity and cultural tourism, Essay presented at the Cultural Tourism Conference: Future Trends,
Valladolid.
Intangible heritage: opportunities for Peru 47
in a different time would not have been considered attractive according to the traditional canons.
The design was entrusted to Elliot Tupac, a Huancayo graphic artist who has been creating these
colourful posters since his teen years.
The exponential development of telecommunications, modernity in general, and globalization, as

filtered by Peru’s own reality, have created this hybrid phenomenon, which challenges the good
taste pre-established by an élite, but which growing day by day and dominating more and more
aspects of Peruvian society, with its rich content, dynamic character, entrepreneurial spirit, social
elevation, inclusion, recognition and unique aesthetic.
What does Peru currently offer, and what should it offer, as part of a supply/demand relationship that
ensures market sustainability, respect for the identity of local communities, traveller satisfaction
and contribution to a greater good: preservation of the country’s (or community’s) cultural essence
while meeting the challenges of modernity and that is “the real thing”? A people’s culture is present
in everything it does, from ordinary everyday community life to very sophisticated expressions, in
which objects, rituals, memory and organization form a highly finished synthesis of where human
creativity can lead.
As a highly diverse, multicultural, multilingual destination, Peru is in a privileged position to develop

forms of cultural tourism rooted in popular life and sustainable going forward. It is important to
stress that popular Peruvian culture – rural and urban – manifests itself spontaneously, as part of
a traveller’s unplanned experience, but can also be programmed, with value added, through the
development of tourism products. Historically, however, these products have propagated a past-
oriented approach to cultural tourism that is at odds with reality and does not connect with the
exciting new trends in popular culture.
By virtue of its community festivities and religious celebrations, its gastronomy, its popular art
resulting from creative and innovative identity processes and thanks to its development of new
cultural routes, Peru is positioned to take a giant leap into cultural tourism based on intangible
heritage. These new and creative offerings supply should be capable of strategically preserving
intangible factors of the people’s identity and way of life and ensure sustainability of the environment
and of the resource or attraction offered by the good or destination.
UNESCO has on various occasions pointed out the importance of intangible cultural heritage
as classified in the following categories: oral traditions; performing arts; social practices, rituals
and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional
craftsmanship.2 Similarly, UNWTO identifies six categories of intangible heritage: handicrafts and
the visual arts; gastronomy and culinary practices; social practices, rituals and festive events;
music and the performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; and knowledge and practices
concerning nature and the universe.3
The following sections discuss the most significant categories for Peru from the standpoint of
sustainable development for the country: festivities and celebrations, gastronomy, creative
industries and cultural routes.
2 UNESCO (online): available at: www.unesco.org.
3 World Tourism Organization (2012), Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNWTO, Madrid.
4.1 Festivities and celebrations
The abundance of the festivities in Peru is continuous and usually tied to a fixed annual calendar.
They may “be based in religion, pre-Hispanic or Western Hispanic, as well as civic observations,
trade fairs, and the latest in experiences sought out by tourists increasingly in the know”.4
The Inti Raymi, organized in June, gathers every year thousands of tourists in Cuzco.
Heinz Plenge, PromPerú.
Since no collective celebration is static, many of these festivities owe their existence and
popularity to the advent of inbound tourism as a social phenomenon. The best-known example
is Inti Raymi, which is celebrated in Cuzco in June, at the summer solstice, re-enacting the great
ceremonies once held to worship the sun god Inti. This celebration was re-created in 1940 by
post-indigenous intellectuals in Cuzco as related by the mestizo (mixed race) chronicler Garcilaso
de la Vega, but adding a touch of spectacle for the tourists. The Inti Raymi of 2014 gathered more
than 50,000 persons in the great Sacsayhuamán Plaza,5 consisting mostly of international tourists.
Today, thanks to this massive success, which has mobilized immense economic resources, this
celebration is being replicated at various places in the Andes, where admiration for the ceremony
and the need to promote tourism, led to the creation of replicas similar to the original.
Cultural tourism products have come into being spontaneously or in an organized manner and in
many cases they are innovative, creative and conservationist.
An interesting example is Cuzco’s traditional celebration of Corpus Christi (in keeping with Andean
religious syncretism it represents a continuation of the ancestral celebration of Qoillur I’ti), one
4 Renata and Millones, L. (2003), Calendario tradicional peruano, Fondo Editorial del Congreso de la República, Lima.
5 www.larepublica.pe.
of the most appreciated Christian religious festivals, with numerous and diverse participation.
It relates on the one hand to the harvest work of the campesino, through highly attended
processions and traditional dancing and singing in rich abundance, but organized in the popular
urban neighbourhoods where migrants from the different provinces and rural districts have
settled. These dances and choruses – often humorous and profane – accompany the processions
dedicated to the performers’ patron saints.
The next day the fiesta must maintain the formal character of the secular tradition, which happens
in the city’s imposing Plaza de Armas, in the atrium of the Cathedral. There is a great display
of liturgical elements and ornaments of gold and silver, with representatives of the Peruvian
government and Catholic Church, civil, religious and military authorities. Constituting a good
example of the current pride and cultural identification are the scissors dancers of Ayacucho,
Huancavelica and Apurímac. The remotest origins of this dance date back some 450 years,
to when the Spanish crown ramped up its strategy of “eradicating idolatry”, as enforced with
cross and sword in Peru by Viceroy Toledo, as dictated by Spain’s counter-reformation policies.6
Faced with this strategy, which destroyed temples, sacred places, languages, forms of dress
and anything suspected of perpetuating pre-Columbian paganism, millenarian Andean profits
began prophesying the end of the world for European conquistadors and indigenous converts to
Catholicism and a consequent regeneration of the lost cosmic vision. Acolytes of the movement
known as Taqui Onqoy7 (dancing sickness) were pursued and reduced by colonial authorities.
However, part of this ritual continued to be practiced in secret in the form of a desperate dance,
in which the dancers, as if possessed by an enraged deity, resort to the only thing they have left:
their bodies. Contemporary scissor dancers are in a way descendants of those invisible miracle
workers of 1580. Their clothing features many Spanish elements and the sound-producing metal
bars in their hands (the scissors) are evocative of Spanish castanets. The same is true of the
instruments used to accompany the dance: the violin and the harp. However, the more authentic
space that is conserved by the traditional ideology of rebellion is the body of the dancer, whose
dance is a ritual (mental, intangible).
Hence its cultural importance, its quintessentially ceremonial character and its spiritual presence
beyond its place of birth. Scissor dancers can now be seen at music festivals and folkloric
dance performances – but also at urban rock concerts, where it celebrated and applauded by all
segments of society, and especially the young, who identify with it. They can be seen at any time
of year in tourist cities like Lima and Arequipa, and even abroad.
What limitations apply, and where, in attempting to transform this wonderful example of Peruvian
intangible cultural heritage into a tourism product? The answer would be that these dancers are
currently a phenomenon and a product of cultural inclusion, a hybrid of authentic tradition and
the modern spirit, especially among youth. This explains why and in what distinct contexts these
dance competitions are part of the collective celebrations of city and countryside and of diverse
social classes and groups.
6 Ramis Figueroa, L. (2007), Magia y hechicería en Lima del Siglo XVII. El caso de María Córdoba (graduating thesis), Pontificia
Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Lima.
7 Arellano Valdivia, J. (2005), El Retorno de las Huacas. Estudios y Documentos del Siglo XVI, [Post in the Blog Globalizado]
(online) available at: www.arellanojuan.com.
The scissor dancers’ competition is prepared with great care. It includes an offering to Mother Earth,
or Pachamama, and homage to apu or wamani 8 the locality’s protecting hill. Those ceremonies are
followed by the performance of feats requiring almost unimaginable physical effort: spectacular
leaps, fakirism, competitions of physical effort, all as part of an offering signifying a commitment
to religious reintegration. In Andamarca (Ayacucho) the dance is part of a major festival, either the
ceremonial cleaning of irrigation ditches and canals or the anniversary of the patron saint. Each
of the dancers steps has a name and an ascending degree of difficulty culminating with death,
as described by the writer José María Arguedas in his story La agonía de Rasu-Ñiti. The dancers
scale down their dances from a frenzy to agony and immobility, as a metaphor for the transition
from life to death.
In each line of dancers there are successors, waiting their turn, as the old dancers weaken and
give way to the next. From the mountaintops, wamani, the mountain god continues receiving the
homage due him. It can be seen that the unwritten rules of the ritual, the intangible, are what
ensures continuity and sustainability, which is not lost even though a traditional dancer (danzak)
might also perform with an alternative rock band in a typically urban festival in Lima. One of
the keys to the sustainability of this dance is that authentic danzaks, their rock performances in
Lima or Cuzco notwithstanding, continue to practice the complex initiation ritual conducted in
inaccessible caverns at the most difficult altitudes, where they fast, abstain from sex and meditate
for long periods of time while also sanctifying their instruments – and especially the scissors – with
water.
Popular festivities, like La Candelaria and the Carnival in Puno, Señor de Qoyllur Rit’i in the
mountains of Cuzco, la Virgen del Carmen de Paucartambo in Cuzco, the Pilgrimage of the Chapi
Virgin in Arequipa, Holy Week in Ayacucho, El Señor de los Milagros in Lima, la Virgen de la Puerta
in Otuzco (La Libertad), el Concurso de la Marinera in Trujillo, la Virgen del Carmen in the Afro-
Peruvian community of El Carmen, in Ica, la Huaconada in Junín, San Juan in the Amazonian cities
and many other festivities throughout the country’s interior, are expressions of this cultural supply,
which must be based, as a starting point, on the community offering the product (and possessing
the required knowledge and skills since time immemorial), and not only on the demands of the
tourism market.
What is common to most traditional Peruvian celebrations, and especially the larger ones, is an
organizing framework, which represents the essential intangible element of this form of cultural
heritage. It generally entails an enormous logistical challenge, which means raising money, getting
elected padrinos to fulfil their commitments, respecting complex ancestral codes and conventions
and preserving the original spirit of the event. Another factor common to the major Baroque
religious celebrations, particularly in the southern Andes and the Sierra de La Libertad, is the
evidence of pre-Columbian/European syncretism, with respect to the saint being venerated and
its pre-Hispanic roots, as reflected in dance performances, prayers, offerings and songs.
It is not easy to include festivities, particularly the grandiose Baroque ceremonies observed in the
South, as part of cultural tourism. They retain structures, forms and rituals that cannot be modified.
It wouldn´t be right to ask the organizers of a weeklong fiesta to make it shorter. Festivities must
therefore be viewed as an event tourists may contemplate in part, but with the accompanying
8 Synonomous in Quechua, except that Wamani is mostly used in the central and southern mountains, and the name alludes
also to the eagle.
information needed to understand it as a whole. Many of these celebrations end with a farewell
grand finale in which all take part in the dance, both locals and visitors, in a communion of joy for
having completed the annual ritual. The priority should be to make the tourist adapt, in order to
preserve the intangible cultural heritage.
La Candelaria, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, includes activities of religious, festive
and cultural nature that draw on Catholic traditions and symbolic elements of the Andean worldview.
Renzo Giraldo, PromPerú.
The waves of migration that have made Lima a great city have also expanded its calendar of
festivities. One can now enjoy in the capital very authentic representations of Puno’s La Candelaria,
Paucartambo’s Virgen del Carmen and distinctive street processions for every celebration.
4.2 Gastronomy
Peruvian gastronomy is starting to make some noise around the world and can be included as
a key piece of the cultural tourism puzzle, because food unites Peruvians while also expressing
their diversity. Throughout history trade in products between different human communities has
determined their preferences for certain foods, such as Peru’s ají (pepper) or potato, as found
in local dishes throughout the country. To a history as convulsive as Peru’s, with the interplay
of forces in a continuous dialectic of conflict and consensus, corresponds a dinner table that is
concerted and that pleases all tastes. In that sense, Peruvian gastronomy comes closer than any
other form of intangible heritage to the integrated vision of display window and mirror.
The challenge in gastronomy is to make explicit the cultural value of what the traveller finds when
visiting and dining in Peru, in terms of its interior culture, which begins with, but transcends,
flavour. A fundamental part of this challenge is in not separating domestic and regional cuisine
from what is offered to the public (including tourists) in restaurants. From a holistic point of view,
gastronomy represents a sustainable cultural product if it does not harm resources and inputs,
or the cultural and social composition of populations, in pursuit of market growth. An important
figure: the restaurant sector accounts for 3.4% of GDP.
Other foods of pre-Columbian origin remain in wide and constant use today. Maize, potatoes and
other tubers native to the Andes; guinea pig, alpaca and llama meat; grains and cereals such as
quinoa, kiwicha, tarhui; and aromatic herbs for cooking and drying meat are central to fusion as
well as typical or regional cuisine.
Travellers must not remain uninformed about the intrinsic cultural content of the food they eat.
Knowledge (saber) and flavour (sabor) are two facets of intangible heritage that visitors experience
together. This can be illustrated by an interesting phenomenon at Peru’s northern and southern
borders. What often motivates visitors from Ecuador and Chile, respectively, is the chance to taste
famous Peruvian dishes.
With the Spanish conquest and colonization, Latin American food was shaped by Castilian,
Andalusian and Moorish influences. The leading influence historically came from Spain, largely
because of the ingredients transported to the New World from there. Before that, Andean cooking
was based on what was fished from the sea in coastal areas, and in the mountains on such meats
as duck, guinea pig, llama and alpaca. The Andean diet was typified in particular by the ingredients
of pachamama: potatoes, goose, ullucus, quinoa and a great variety of maize, peppers and beans
and other ingredients, apart from the products exchanged with inhabitants of the Amazon plan,
particularly fruit and aromatic herbs together with coca leaves. A sophisticated system was and
still is used in the Andes to maintain food security based on the drying of certain vegetables
(including potatoes in the form of chuño or moraya) and meats, a technique used until today.
Following the first cultural contact – with Europe – came cattle, onions, garlic, olives, bay leaves,
vines, European peppers, barnyard foul and eggs and many other culinary resources, including
such unknown technologies as frying, marinating, chopping, etc. Later came the African culinary
influences, arriving with sub-Saharan slaves.
With the rise of the Republic between the 19th and 20th centuries came European and Asian
immigrants, bringing important changes to Peru’s culinary tradition. Three influences in particular
– Chinese, Japanese and Italian (with French elements arriving as well) – had the greatest impact
on Peruvian cooking. The Chinese brought ginger, tamarind, soy sauce, sesame seeds and
above all rice (which would later become an everyday staple). The fusion of these ingredients
with Peruvian recipes resulted in a dish called chifa, which refers also to Chinese – Peruvian
cuisine in general. What originated as Cantonese fried rice has evolved to become part of Peru’s
gastronomic heritage, served together with papa a la huancaína (Huancaína-style potatoes) or
pollo a la brasa (rotisserie broiled chicken), the latter now emblematic of Peru.
Japanese migration at the end of the 19th century brought change to Peru’s seafood cuisine,
based on the immense wealth of marine life along its coast. The result today is called cocina
nikkei. Italy made its own culinary contributions: its ever-popular pasta, as well as pesto, tuco,
pizza and minestrone. Italian cooking is more than an influence; it is a component of Peruvian
cuisine.
94.7% of the residents of Lima and its port Callao are proud of their gastronomy.9 According to
the same source, 64% prefer Creole food, while 10% prefer regional specialities. The traveller can
thus find diversity and constant innovation among the gastronomic offerings of Lima and Callao,
since Lima is the land of Todas las sangres10. Public spaces, fairs, regional food festivals provide
the physical support for this cultural expression, as do fusion cuisine and the gourmet offerings
of authentic Peruvian restaurants, now internationalized, and of course home cooking, in urgent
need of preservation.
A large percentage of visitors give higher priority to gastronomy than to any other attraction.
According to data provided by Arellano in 2012, 42% of tourists visiting the country indicate
gastronomy as one of the factors influencing their choice of Peru as a destination; 93% said
Peruvian food fulfilled their expectations; and 92% said they would recommend Peru as well as its
gastronomy.11 According to the Foreign Tourist Profile, 2012 (PromPerú), 21% of tourists consider
gastronomy as an essential activity in their travel itinerary. For 30% of Latin American visitors, one
reason for taking a trip to Peru is to try the local food.
It should be taken into account that tourists need more than an exquisite meal. They inquire into
productive chains, nurseries, stables, greenhouses, markets and fairs, and they stop at rustic
old restaurants in the country, and/or luxury establishments catering to every whim. And there
lies the challenge for intangible cultural tourism. The “must lists” for visits to the country’s major
cities and regions are now known as rutas del sabor (flavour routes): picturesque rustic eateries,
huariques12 and all kinds of restaurants offering regional specialities, sometimes as a choice
alongside international cuisine.
Peru’s quintessentially ancestral beverage is chicha, a kind of beer made from maize or other
vegetables available locally: yucca, molle, fruit, flours of various kinds, etc. This traditional
beverage, which may or may not be alcoholic, is a pre-Hispanic tradition (pre-Columbian peoples
did not drink water as their food was largely based on dried ingredients, more easily digested if
accompanied by a fermenting liquid. Its use was daily, ceremonial and religious. It is now served
in cities, as well as the mountains and rustic taverns, accompanying typical Peruvian dishes, such
as the adobos (stews) of Arequipa or Cuzco. In the Amazon it takes the form of masato which is
ground and fermented yucca. Chicha is also traditionally used as an ingredient in certain recipes.
Cities such as Arequipa, Cuzco, Ayacucho, Huancayo, Cajamarca, Tarapoto and Loreto are
increasingly differentiating themselves in terms of regional cuisine. In cities along Peru’s coast
the diversity of seafood is constantly changing, and the market is demanding sustainability from
fishermen, farmers, merchants, and small and medium enterprises in this segment, by means of
productive chains.
Vocational and technical training institutes, which currently represent a real alternative to higher
education for young people, intervene actively in the development of local gastronomy, but
constant supervision of quality by educational authorities is required. Here we need to embrace
9 Grupo de Opinión Pública de la Universidad de Lima (2008), Universidad de Lima, Lima.
10 Title of a novel by José María Arguedas that has come to symbolize unity amidst the cultural diversity of Peru.
11 www.arellanomarketing.com.
12 Small, popular spots offering tastily seasoned food, like the Spanish chiringuitos (outdoor stands/bars).
the “slow food” concept, a gastronomical permaculture based on products obtainable locally,
not only as a matter of local essence but as part of a manageable productive chain that supports
local development – the opposite of relying on ingredients that must be imported from other
places. Worth noting here is the vision of the economist Javier Iguíñiz, who says agriculture in
Peru should produce a great deal of a few things rather than a little of many things, designing
communication channels accordingly and providing access to the market for small producers and
boutique products.
Institutions of higher education in gastronomy and similar establishments should take into account
these leading-edge environmental concepts, which are highly relevant in the world, and such is
the case of the Tourism Training Centre (CENFOTUR) which, by launching a degree in Peruvian
Cuisine, promotes awareness of the diversity of national products and their application in different
cooking techniques.
Pisco13 is a beverage of unquestionably

Peruvian origin. This form of distilled
grape beverage is one of the
manifestations of exchange, diversity
and transformation: born from natural
element brought by the Spaniards,
the grapevine, and a technology of
Arab origin, the still, combining with
the particular nature, civilization
and culture of Peru. The favourable
climate and soil conditions of the
Peruvian coast; the experience of
Pisco is a Peruvian appellation of origin declared on 1990. coastal farmers since antiquity in
Ildipapp, Dreamstime.com. getting maximum yield from lands
where water supply is temporary and
discontinuous; the great skill of the potters of Ica, heirs to the pre-Columbian ceramic arts of the
Nasca and Paracas cultures of Peru’s southern coast, who fashion containers for the beverage,
all contribute to the end result.
Pisco now represents a success story for Peru, replacing foreign spirits as the beverage of choice
in bars, restaurants, etc. and inspiring new cocktail creations, thanks to efforts by the State as well
as producers. The pisco sour is currently the national cocktail.
The gastronomy of the Amazon is being discovered by the world as perhaps Peru’s most authentic
cuisine of all. It is innovative and has great promise going forward, since its ingredients are healthy,
organically produced and low in calories, but also diverse, exotic and exquisite, with very simple
preparations that require little fuel and thus pollute the environment less. The changes brought
by accelerated modernization in the country are not without consequences for cultural tourism
supply.
13 Pisco is a Peruvian appellation of origin declared by Directorial Resolution 072087-DIPI, issued by ITINTEC’s Directorate for
Industrial Property on 12 December 1990. The Pisco appellation is governed today by its own regulations and administered
by a regulating counsel set up by Resolution 002378-2011/DSD-INDECOPI of 14 February 2011.
It is necessary to promote home cooking at the same time as restaurant cuisine, trying to preserve,
as much as possible, traditional cooking techniques, such as seasonings prepared on a batán
(grinding stone), or the use of fire and pots with wooden spoons, instead of the use of blenders
or microwave ovens. It is also important to enhance the value of marketplaces as a public space
where fresh ingredients like herbs and certain cuts of meat are acquired, and where old secrets of
cooks and confectioners are exchanged.
4.3 Creative industries

Since 2003 there has been an exponential increase in the number of recorded cultural events,
and it has not happened by chance. As of 2014, Peru had more than 200 forms of expression
recognized as national intangible cultural heritage: festivities, pilgrimages, music, dance, traditional
knowledge, medicine, rituals and others. The aim was to ensure that these manifestations would
be respected and recognized as part of the cultural diversity that characterizes Peru, boosts the
self-esteem of local populations and adds another attraction for cultural travellers to the country.
In most cases communities themselves have applied for such recognition as a means of identifying
themselves and the living culture of the community.
In accordance with the objectives of this document, a distinction needs to be drawn between
forms of expression referred to as cultural industries, which are meaningful to the visitor because
they are related to the country’s own production, and more universal forms of expression, which do
not constitute a differentiating, motivating factor for visitors. Among the former are the traditional
cultural practices and dynamics that are particular to Peruvian culture (viewed from a long-term
perspective) as well as modern expression, on the condition that they feature some native element
that motivates the visitor. The latter group includes the enshrined manifestations of western art:
ballet, classical music, modern dance, gallery paintings, opera, classical art museum circuits, etc.
These would be considered as part of the country’s intangible heritage if domestic tourism were
the core issue in this document. But they are not included, since we deal here with inbound travel.
Such classical forms of culture are widely present in the more developed generating countries,
whose outbound tourists seek authentically local experiences in the places they visit.
Handicrafts
Peru is recognized as a country of handicrafts, in terms of the breadth of existing products and
the cultural value of their respective processes. Handicrafts constitute an important economic
activity with a twofold impact: they provide direct benefits to each community that produces them
and stimulate inbound tourism, which is the third biggest generator of foreign exchange earnings
of the country. The State values the talent, competitiveness and creativity of artisans. For this
reason, the annual Amautas Peruvian National Crafts Award was institutionalized by Law 29073
on Artisan and Craft Development in 2007. It recognizes the importance of creators by virtue of
their works and their efforts in preserving this tradition, one of the richest and most varied of the
continent.
Whenever we admire a piece of exquisite Peruvian handicrafts, we should remember that we are
dealing with several centuries of condensed history. The effort and passion of craftsmen have
led to a variety of techniques and craft lines such as textiles, ceramics, jewellery, vegetable fibre,
etc.14
According to information from the General Directorate of Handicrafts within the Vice-Ministry of
Tourism, 91% of all tourists purchased handicrafts during their travel, including items of clothing
such as sweaters, caps and scarves (69%), articles made of alpaca skin (44%), ceramics (40%),
jewellery (36%) and carpets (26%). That same year, 33% of the tourists surveyed indicated
handicrafts as one of the factors in their choice of Peru as a destination.15 They did not include
handicrafts, however, among the subjects on which they required information prior to travel. The
importance given to handicrafts is acquired while visiting Peru.
This important point calls for greater emphasis on the rich availability and value of authentic
handicrafts as part of the tourist’s experience. And yet tourism is not the most important
commercial channel (qualitatively) for handicrafts, although it does have the greatest symbolic
value. Handicrafts are sustained through sales to interior decoration firms, museum shops and of
course via export strategies.
Textiles are without question the oldest artisanal activity in Peru. When textile artisans weave, they
draw on ancestral knowledge and employ original raw materials. Regions such as Cuzco, Puno,
Arequipa, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Cajamarca, Lambayeque and Ucayali are among the most
important and worthiest representatives of Peruvian textiles.
The dyed textiles of the diverse communities of the Amazon constitute a world to be discovered.
The most famous come from the Shipibo Conibo communities of Santa Clara and San Francisco,
in the Ucayali region. These textiles are decorated not only with embroidery but also geometric
drawings painted with mud and huito (tree resin) representing natural elements, their connection
with man and, powerfully, the spiritual experience of the ayahuasca.
A phenomenon of special importance exists: migrants from different parts of the country are
settling in Lima, gravitating to neighbourhoods according to provenance (those from Ayacucho
to Lurín, the Shipibo Conibo of Ucayali principally found in Cantagallo). Many produce traditional
handicrafts from their communities of origin, while also creating innovative designs, in response
to requests for changes for different domestic and export markets.
However, Cuzco offers an exceptionally rich selection of alpaca fabrics made with natural dyes
and traditional technology. The abundance and quality of this art is being revitalized by a series of
entities that include the Centre for the Traditional Textiles of Cuzco (CTTC)16, an institution created
in 1997 by a weaver in the community of Chinchero, Nilda Callañaupa, dedicated to inspiring a
generation of weavers.
The production of their textiles activates in their minds scraps of history, which keep their textile
art alive.
14 Comisión de Promoción del Perú para la Exportación y el Turismo (2013), Maestros de la Artesanía en el Perú, PromPerú,
Lima.
15 Comisión de Promoción del Perú para la Exportación y el Turismo (2007), Perfil del Turista Cultural, PromPerú, Lima.
16 www.textilescusco.org.
It is in Cuzco where we also find visitor centres where the complete process of textile art can be
observed – from different races of South American camelids, to finished garments and products.
An interesting case is the Institution Awanakancha-Palacio del Tejido in the Sacred Valley near
Písac.
In northern Peru, colourful native cotton is the textile fibre of choice, and there are serious projects
to revive its use, as something unique in the world. Family units are organized in the areas of La
Libertad, Lambayeque and Piura for the production of this fibre and use it for the production and
sale of handicrafts. Local craft fairs organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, such
as the “De Nuestra Manos” fair that takes place yearly, provide opportunities of commercialization.
Peruvian jewellery in silver is ancient and ancestral in origin but is among the most innovative
forms in terms of designs and fusions.
The weavers of Pisac keep culture alive in their textiles.

Jacek Kadaj, Dreamstime.com.
The most prized ceramic figure in the Puno region is the Pucará bull, which has been produced
since colonial times. The figure represents a fusion of Andean and Spanish cultures. Another
beautiful ceramic is the Chazuta of the San Martín region, which uses the local red and black earth
for decoration and sealing wax, copal and local tree resin to provide a characteristically brilliant
finish. Mention must also be made, to the ceramics of Awajun, populated by abstract symbols that
express a highly complex cosmic vision.
The ceramics of Chulucanas in the Piura region are also noteworthy, as they are perhaps the most
innovative of all in terms of design, object and function. The original master craftsmen, Santodio
Paz, Gerásimo Sosa and others, continue labouring in their workshops without using moulds,
creating classic figures of mujeres chicheras (a true homage to Piuran fertility), as well as vases
made using ancestral techniques.
The weavers of the village of Narihualá in the district of Catacaos, Piura region, create different
products made of cap straw using traditional techniques handed down from one generation to
the next, interlocking each strand of straw with their fingers until they become objects prized by
visitors.
It is important to mention the existence of institutions such as the Centres for Technological
Innovation of Crafts and Tourism (CITEs), which have been contributing to skills development for
artisans, product innovation and craftsmanship.
This synthesis between the traditional and the modern is the best way to ensure the sustainability
of this cultural manifestation.
The figure below shows the strategic locations of the 10 Crafts and Tourism CITEs in Peru:
CITE CITE
Catacaos jewellery Utcubamba-Amazonas
Department: Piura Department: Amazonas
Province: Piura Province: Chachapoyas
District: Catacaos District: Chachapoyas
CITE CITE
Chulucanas pottery Ucayali handicraft
Department: Piura Department: Ucayali

Province: Morropón Province: Coronel Pedro Portillo
District: Chulucanas District: Callería
CITE
CITE
Sipán
Ccatcca
Department: Lambayeque
Department: Cuzco
Province: Lambayeque
Province: Quispicanchi
District: Lambayeque
District: Ccatcca
CITE
Koriwasi jewellery CITE
South American camelids
Department: Cajamarca
Province: Cajamarca Department: Puno
District: Cajamarca Province: San Román
District: Juliaca
CITE
Huancavelica camelid textile NEXT CT CITEs
Department: Huancavelica CITE AYACUCHO

Province: Huancavelica CITE LIMA-DESIGN
District: Huancavelica
CITE
Arequipa
Department: Arequipa
Province: Arequipa
District: Arequipa
Source: MINCETUR. Elaboration: DCITAT.
Music and dances
Peru’s cultural diversity is also expressed in its countless dances, of varied origin and purpose.
The most ancient among the Andean peoples are those related to agricultural labours (the cleaning
of irrigation ditches, planting, harvesting) which are also markers for certain stages of human life:
the initiation of youth, engagements, marriages, settlement of disputes, historical interpretations,
celebrations of the dead, funeral celebrations, etc.
There is no complete listing of traditional Peruvian dances. The ones tourists most associate with
Peruvian identity are the huayno, la marinera and the festive afroperuano. Only in Cuzco are more
than 50 dances ever seen, compiled and presented for public spectacles. But in fact, the number
and variety of Peruvian dances – group dancing, men only, women only, both sexes, partner
dancing and chorus dancing – is unlimited. Some are rituals, others celebrations, most combine
the sacred with the profane. As dances developed in non-literate communities, they underscore
the importance of multilingualism in Peruvian culture, because it is generally words (a story, song,
history or lesson) that give dance its substance and keep it alive.
In Cuzco alone, there are more than 50 dances that have become public spectacles.
Ermess, Dreamstime.com.
A number of great dance events held today represent tourist attractions, including the
aforementioned carnivals in Puno and Ayacucho, the fiesta of La Candelaria, Virgen del Carmen
of Paucartambo, San Juan in the Amazon, the chorus dancing of Qoyillur Rit´i, las diabladas
norteñas, el tondero and la marinera also of northern origin (although there are coastal, mountain
and jungle versions of la marinera) and a wide range of Afro-Peruvian dances performed mainly
in Chincha, in the southern region of Ica. There is a celebrated village there called El Carmen,
two hours by road from Lima, where a family of Afro-Peruvian descendants, the Ballumbrosios,
following in the tradition of the father, Don Amador, violinist and incomparable dancer, has created
a Mecca for music, dance, poetry and ritual of black origin but woven together with elements of
the hacienda culture and more recent popular musical expressions.
The experience in El Carmen, which has already been globalized, is an example of display window
and mirror joined as one: a family, on its own initiative, decides to preserve a tradition and bring
it to life for Peruvian and international visitors, while at the same time re-creating, recording and
participating in events with all of the energy that cultural expression can generate.
The Peruvian Amazon is famous in particular for its carnivals and the celebration of San Juan, on
24 June, when the population dances in the streets in groups generally called pandillas
accompanied by locally made drums and flutes. What characterizes Amazonian dance, more than
its great variety or Baroque costumes, is the immense joy and sensuality of the movements and
turns between men and women. The urban Creole, white, mestizo and also black communities
produced a vast and rich culture starting in the early 20th century, whose most finished expressions
include the waltz (descended from the chotis), the foxtrot, the Viennese waltz, but also the colonial
and pre-Hispanic dance steps of the coast.
In terms of more modern dance, the so-called chicha culture mentioned before has its own music
and dances. They are traditional Andean and/or jungle music with cumbia. This culture originated
in the 1960s, so its musical and dance expressions have had time to mature. The music most
popular in Peru today consists of such hybrids between different genres, which is consistent with
chicha graphic art, with its extraordinary and strident colours, the forms of decor it inspired, urban
design, the style of public monuments, and the overall image projected by Peru.
Chicha music and song have matured from a semi-clandestine and marginal provocation in the
1970s (when Chacalón was its leading protagonist) to a powerful form of creativity – that of the
princesses of folklore, with her outfits of Andean embroidery, elaborate skirts and giant shoes, hair
styles and tinted blond hair, colour contact lenses and lyrics in which the pain of impossible love
continues to reign supreme.
There is also a veritable industry based on provincial bands producing highly upbeat and
danceable versions of Andean cumbia (Grupo 5, Karibeña, Aguamarina, and the Grupo Néctar,
to name only a few). It should be noted that Andean cumbia (which grew out of chicha culture) is
the most widely consumed popular music in the cities of Argentina, in the famous bailantas, and
Chile. Starting out from impoverished backgrounds, these bands along with the revival of Juaneco
y su Combo and the modern alternative fusion group Bareto, have now entered all segments of
Peruvian urban society in a big way, thanks to their determination. Popular recognition for the
chicha genre, when it was at its height, was given by David Byrne, who recorded a track entirely
based on that expression.
In terms of contemporary music, Lima offers a number of jazz groups and there are at least two
international jazz festivals each year. Leading music stars include Micky Gonzáles, Jean Pierre
Magnet, Lucho Quequesana, Harry Chávez, Chino Chávez, among others. Their work represents
a fusion of Peruvian genres (coastal, mountain and jungle) with such modern rhythms as reggae,
ska, reggaeton, rock, hip hop, bachata, merengue, Andean cumbia, etc.
Peru currently has some internationally famous musical artists, each following more or less the
trajectory traced by Ima Súmac in the United States of America during the 1950s and 1960s.
The young tenor Juan Diego Flores, considered one of the world’s best, as well as Susana Baca,
Grammy winner and World Ambassador for Afro-Peruvian music, are two examples.
For the last few years a musical and harmonious living festival, basically for young people, has
been held in the beautiful Amazonian city of Oxapampa, attracting enthusiasts from all parts of
Peru and in some cases abroad. The festival is called Selvámonos and seeks to link creation,
coexistence and place with protection and conservation of the Amazon. Oxapampa is a town
most of whose inhabitants descend from Tyrolean colonists who came to Peru in the end of the
19th century. This population preserves many Austrian and German ancestral traditions, ranging
from architecture to gastronomy, which today form part of the mestizo culture.
Spirituality, shamanism and mystical experiences
The different cultures that have arisen in Peru over its long history have left deep imprints to this
day. Shamanism, which arose from the Mochica tradition in the north (Salas, Túcume, Chiclayo,
Eten), the Huaringa Lagoons in Piura, the Chavín de Huántar Temple in Ancash, Cuzco and
surroundings, Puno and surroundings and the immense Peruvian Amazon, where there is no
community that does not practice some kind of magic ritual.
In most cases the curanderos or shamans, use “mother plants”, (ayahuasca and sanpedro
depending on the region), which are increasingly in demand among some cultural travellers. It is
important to stress that the contact between tourism and these practices should be approached
cautiously, well informed respecting the seriousness of these rituals own traditions.
Within the spirituality niche there are two important demand segments in tourism-generating
markets. The first is Catholic religious tourism, which is not only about visiting temples and
museums of sacred art, but basically about developing a cultural concept of that religion as
embodied in colonial monuments but also with spiritual and social aspects appealing to some
tourists.
The other increasingly significant segment is esoteric tourism, for want of a better name to call the
holistic practices of spiritual regeneration, meditation in energy-charged locations (which abound
in Peru), epiphanous contact with nature and the sacred past, etc.
Theatre and cinema
In the 1970s, a time when a young vanguard of mostly university students in the subregion,
politicized by the influence of the Cuban revolution and the uprisings of May 1968 in Paris, in Lima
and other cities in the country, experimental theatre groups began to reject the standard theatrical
repertoire, shifting to existential, social and political themes. Peruvian theatrical activity in those
days was feverish.
At the start of the 21st century, with the recovery of democratic liberties and market economies,
Latin America generated economic growth like never before in Latin America, in which Peru stood
out with a growth in GDP in the last eight years, from 2007 to 2014, of an annual 6%.17
The result has been astonishing growth in theatrical output address mainly to a younger audience.
Today there are not enough theatres in Lima for the number of new works being programmed, all
to public acclaim.
Mention must be made of certain groups who since the 1970s up to today have never stopped
experimenting at extremely high levels of quality, combining theatre, music, artistic masks, story-
telling, performance with constant references to Peruvian myths and history, revealing above
all the conflict between tradition and modernity in spectacles filled with magic and creativity.
Standing out in this field is the group Yuyachkani, emblematic of all of Latin America, which
17 Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática – INEI, Compendio estadístico Perú (2015).

has created a school in different parts of Peru. They put on an unmissable spectacle for many
international visitors to Lima, who come seeking contact with some cultural phenomenon that is
specific to Peru but with a universal dimension as well.
In the same vein we can mention La Tarumba (a circus show based on Peruvian themes), impro
shows in the Mocha Graña in the bohemian district of Barranco, among many others offered
in Lima and other cities. These groups constitute an extraordinary opportunity for the traveller
who follows postmodern cultural phenomena and fusions, and furthermore they do not have the
drawback of language.
Peruvian cinema has been doing well thanks to a tradition dating back to the country’s classic
cinematic artists (starting with Luis Figueroa and Armando Robles Godoy and followed by
Francisco Lombardi, Augusto Tamayo, Carlos López Degregori, Chicho Durant, and a numerous
generation that has begun to receive notice at international festivals, such as Claudia Llosa,
Javier Corcuera (any traveller interested in knowing Peruvian music from the inside out should see
the film Sigo siendo), Bruno Ascenzo, Javier Fuentes León, Alvaro Velarde, Josué Méndez, Joel
Calero, Carlos Alcántara, to mention only a few. For 19 years, the Lima Film Festival has provided
an opportunity to appreciate films throughout the world that do not enter commercial cinemas. In
parallel, certain districts of Lima organize free outdoor cinema in the parks of the highly populated
areas of the city, whose residents are not accustomed and cannot afford to buy cinema tickets.
All of these phenomena have formed part of a cultural industries and a continuously regenerating
urban culture, which could be very attractive to travellers who like to see what lies behind a
national culture.
Plastic arts
Like earlier artistic/cultural expressions, Peru’s plastic arts are clearly divided between gallery or
museum works, in the most conventional sense of the term, and more audacious postmodern
creativity, as expressed in public interventions, installations with political content, performances,
all outdoors and without a barrier between art and public, with the public becoming part of the art.
Mention should be made of an especially important phenomenon in Peruvian painting today that
cultural travellers may find fascinating. One of the best young painters nowadays is Christian
Bendayán, born and raised in Iquitos, the Amazonian capital of the immense Loreto region.
Bendayán does his own painting, expressionistic in style, with themes featuring republican-era
phenomena in the Peruvian Amazon (rubber fever, the chaotic growth of cities, the expansion of
transvestitism as a cultural expression, etc.) while at the same time collecting the works of self-
taught painters from the jungles of Loreto and Ucayali, some of whom began as spontaneous
muralists illustrating walls in the town of Iquitos. This school of Amazonian painters is attracting
both anthropological and artistic interest that could make it an attraction for cultural travellers.
A central focus of this painting – often done not on canvas or wood but on the barks of trees
growing in the painters’ communities – is the vision of ayahuasca, which expresses the animism
that characterizes the cosmic vision of the original Amazonian peoples.
Photography is one of Peru’s strongest forms of cultural expression, universally typified by Martin
Chambi, leading exponent of the southern Andean school of photography that flourished from the
1920s going forward. Peruvian photography today is often connected to that same postmodern
vision that seeks either to synthesize or firmly distinguish between popular (chicha) culture and
the traditional Western representation. There are galleries specialized in photography, as well as
annual events featuring photos of diverse locations in the Miraflores district of central Lima. The
internationally celebrated fashion and celebrity photographer Mario Testino has returned to his
roots in Lima to create a high quality museum that has his name, which promotes new Peruvian
art while also bringing universal art to Lima.
Literature
Peruvian literature is recognized beyond Peru’s borders, thanks to the Nobel Prize Laureate
for Literature of 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa, but also to other young writers who are leaving an
impression at fairs and festivals, and who are receiving significant international recognition, as is
the case of Santiago Roncagliolo, Daniel Alarcon, Fernando Iwasaki, just to mention some of the
recent generation.
Annually, two book fairs are held in Lima and also in many other provinces. The Lima fairs are the
International Book Fair of Lima, in July, and the Ricardo Palma Fair in Miraflores, in the month of
September. PromPerú has published three literary guides: La Lima de Vargas Llosa; El norte de
César Vallejo, and El sur andino de José María Arguedas.
A guide to El Miraflores de Julio Ramón Ribeyro, will also be released. The Cervantes Institute
recently inaugurated a virtual guide on that author’s life and work, which has been gaining
increased literary attention and recognition in Peru.
The published literature on Peruvian culture is copious, filling two libraries in Lima. They include
books in coffee table format, of excellent aesthetic value, splendid photographs and text by the
country’s best authors and scholars. Most of these books are published in bilingual versions.
Museums
The greatest number of museums in Peru, with collections ranging from archaeological finds to
contemporary art, is concentrated in Lima. Their offerings are varied but uneven. Two interesting
new museums have recently opened in Lima’s Barranco district: the Museum of Contemporary
Art (MAC) and the Mario Testino Museum (MATE). The venerable Art Museum of Lima (MALI) is
doing better than ever. Noteworthy among the State museums are the Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology of a Free People, the National Museum of Peruvian Culture, the museums
connected with many colonial churches in central Lima and the Museum of the Central Reserve
Bank. Privately owned museums include the Amano Museum, and the Larco Museum.
There is an extraordinary series of museums, historic places and interpretation centres in northern
Peru, based on discoveries in recent decades of objects from the Cupisnique, Moche, Lambayeque
and Chimú cultures. Particularly noteworthy are the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán and the
Sicán Museum. Visits to those museums can be combined with horseback or biking excursions
and the chance to taste fine northern gastronomy, particularly in Lambayeque, Chiclayo and
Santa Rosa.
There are museums and similar attractions in many other parts of the country which, if carefully
studied from a demand perspective, could be incorporated into the cultural tourism experience
– not overwhelming tourists with such establishments but combining them with expressions of
living culture.
4.4 Cultural routes
Cultural routes represent an important aspect of Peru’s cultural heritage. They are abundant but
uneven in terms of the efforts made to develop them. A model case is the Andean Baroque Route,
in the Southern Valley of Cuzco in Quispicanchi province, featuring three colonial temples of
incalculable value, particularly because of the quantity and quality of mural paintings they house
from different periods in the expansion of Catholic doctrine. These temples, in Andahuaylillas,
Huaro, Canincunca, are situated close together. What is particularly striking about this route is
the unity observed among the religious monuments, the traditional architecture of the villages,
the beautiful natural setting of the Andean Valley, and above all, the organized participation of the
local population in the design and management of the product.
This result was achieved through a project designed and executed by the Jesuit parish of San
Pedro de Andahuaylillas, the community also so named, private enterprise (Backus Breweries,
Repsol), the Peruvian Chapter of the World Monuments Fund, the French government and the
national and local municipal governments. The alliance among all of these actors resulted in
a product that has attracted many cultural travellers along the route between Cuzco and Lake
Titicaca or Puerto Maldonado (in the Madre de Dios jungles), taking advantage of the new inter-
oceanic highway that links Cuzco with Brazil. The result is extraordinary, a model in which all
participants have come out winners.
Other classic routes in the southern Andes include the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (archaeology,
nature and living culture), the Titicaca islands, the rural zone of Puno and travel between Cuzco
and Puno (by road or rail). In the north is the splendid Moche Route, which traverses four regions,
offering visits to the remains of a highly sophisticated, theocratic civilization that flourished
between the second and eighth centuries AD, six centuries before the expansion of the Inca
Empire.
This route, which can be extended to the Amazon and the tropical beaches of Tumbes and Piura,
benefits from grants provided by international conservationist institutions as well as special
support from the State, academia and private foundations (Wiese Foundation, University of
Trujillo, Backus). It offers visits to unique archaeological sites together with living culture in the
villages (such as Cao, and its famous Dama de Cao Museum), or in the temples of the sun and
moon, in Moche, in la Libertad. Even more significantly, the rural populations of these places have
preserved absolutely authentic traces of Moche culture – in gastronomy, beliefs, dress, pottery,
the preparation of chicha, and shamanism.
This route includes the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán, featuring the findings of archaeologist
Walter Alva and his team in 1987, which have been compared to the discoveries of ancient Egypt
in terms of their magnificence and the cultural information they convey.
Qapac Ñan, or Inca Trail, is a colossal achievement – a trail extending at least 23,000 km
(without counting the lateral branches) and unifying the Inca Empire from southern Ecuador to
northern Argentina. Qapac Ñan recently was included in the World Heritage list of UNESCO. This
supranational route includes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, and the intention is
to turn it into a cultural route that includes all these countries.
UNWTO, with the sponsorship of the ST-EP Foundation, has also conducted several sustainable
tourism projects along this route. One of them, between August 2008 and June 2010, in the
Puno area, was to create and strengthen a network of rural tourism organizations with the aim of
diversifying products based on local identity. The other, in the Aypate area, was conducted between
July 2008 and December 2009, for the purpose of creating a rural community development model
based on such products as cheese, honey and fabrics, with work by local tour operators to revive
the area.
The segment of cultural routes in Peru has all of the conditions to make such routes a first-line
attraction in rural, mountain and jungle areas as well as cities, where the aforementioned Lima
Route of Mario Vargas Llosa, for example, has already been developed. The designation could
also include birdwatcher routes that already exist and various forms of adventure, highly valued
by certain specialized segments.
An interesting potential product in this area of cultural routes could consist of the various Afro-
Peruvian settlements along the coast. Chinchain Ica, Lima, Zaña in Lambayeque and Yapatera in
Piura, provide living testimony to an essential influence on Peru’s cultural history, and even today
their inhabitants jealously guard their dances, songs and rhymes (cumananas). Many tourists
already visit some of these places, including Zaña and El Carmenbut the challenge is to create
a route to surprise cultural tourists, who are generally unaware of Africa’s important presence in
Peruvian history.
It should also be noted that cultural routes that traverse archaeological sites and living cultures
predating the Incas help tourists understand pre-Hispanic chronology, that provides the
possibilities for developing new products such as the Moche Route, Chachapoyas or Chavín
among others affects the economic and cultural benefits for communities.
As Peruvians have turned their attention to their own original natural products, or those originating
elsewhere but produced in Peru with great quality, there has been a local resurgence in routes
related to agricultural process, for coffee and cocoa, for instance, as well as the traditional potato
and Andean grains. This is something that adds value to tourist visits to these routes, particularly
in San Martín, Junín and Puno.
T 67
Chapter 5
The Peruvian community
With the kind contribution of Rafo León
Covering an area of 1,285,215 km2, Peru is one of the world’s 20 largest countries, which partly
explains why it is also one of the 17 most diverse countries on the planet, according to the
United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Biodiversity, ecological diversity and
interdependence among coexisting but different habitats, like any such mestizaje, is a source of
rich and proliferating diversity.
Peru ranks third highest in the world for the richness of its bird species, with about 1,847 species,
120 of which are endemic.1 It has eight different bio-geographic zones and three major watersheds,
with 12,201 lakes and lagoons, 1,007 rivers and 3,044 glaciers.2 The list of geographical resources,
flora and fauna that make this a mega-diverse country is infinite. Attention should be drawn here
to the equivalence between cultural wealth and multiculturalism –human pluralism in an abundant
and wild natural setting. According to the National Agricultural Census, in 2012, there are 5,680
registered and titled rural communities, 90% of which are in the Andes.
5.1 Linguistic pluralism and multiculturalism
The population of Peru as of 2013 was approximately 30.8 million. Officially, 47 different languages
are spoken in the country (although some specialists insist there are 60), distributed among
19 linguistic families. The language spoken by the greatest number of Peruvians is Spanish (83.9%).
The percentages for Quechua and Aymara are 13.2% and 1.8%, respectively. The percentages
are smaller for languages spoken in the Amazonian villages, remote and often distant from official
society.
For a long time, especially during the republican period, educational policies were promoted to
standardize and castilianize villagers across the country, which weakened the identity and self-
esteem of the villagers. Fortunately, in recent decades a new approach in education policies was
initiated, giving the intercultural and bilingual education real importance in the development of
communities, taking into account not only the language but also their idiosyncrasies, beliefs,
customs, and oral traditions, in order to reclaim the villager’s pride in their own native language
and contribute to the preservation of languages through inter-generational transmission.
1 Plenge, M.A. (2014), Lista de las Aves de Perú, Lima.
2 www.sernanp.gob.pe.
5.2 Community: dynamic entity
To understand Peruvian cultural diversity one should not think about traditional communities
as separate, autonomous ethnic groups, or in the more extreme version, homogeneous groups
with each member identical to every other. Time and the demographic demands of modern life
have produced a dynamic of mestizaje, which far from causing a loss of identity – as old-school
anthropology would have it – represents an extraordinary new asset for a country, arising from
the multiple and varied ways in which a collective sense can make individuals and communities
bearers of traditional but also continuously changing knowledge and practices.
The various cultures of Peru, even the most isolated, have always incorporated new elements,
making them theirs in ways that augment rather than diminish them. The saxophone, for example,
considered the soul of huanca music in central Peru, was introduced there not more than a century
ago, with the foxtrot and the big bands that infuriated local landowners. This phenomenon is
especially evident in the rich music and dance, where we can find elements of distinct cultures
and dance, gesture, instruments, refrains or traditional dress.
It is significant that while working in Castile, Spain, in the early 1950s, Peruvian writer, anthropologist
and ethnologist José María Arguedas discovered that the dress of Andean peasants was very
similar to that of peasants in Spain. What happened was that during the colonial period, when
Spain intensified its suppression of all traces of local identity (the “Extirpation of the Idolatries”), as
part of Catholicism’s reaction against Luther’s Reformation), use of the anaco, the universal dress
of the Inca Empire, was prohibited with obligatory replacement by clothing brought from Castile.
The community, by force or voluntarily, never stopped changing. Going further, some authors see
the community as an entity so dynamic that people migrating to Paterson or Okinawa remain a
part of it.3 According to this viewpoint, the community is a sentiment passed down from ancient
times, a sense of roots and belonging that is very much like what happens during patron saint
celebrations, when the village, remote, seemingly a ghost town, comes alive not only with local
residents but visitors from Lima or even Milan. Insight into these complex phenomena is captured
by such words as interculturalism, exchange, dynamism, inclusion, mestizaje.
5.3 The essence: popularity
To understand the cultural complexity of Peru and cross-reference that with the possibilities for
serious and sustainable development of cultural tourism, it must be understood that culture in the
country is inextricably linked with what is popular/mestizo/hybrid, and within that range, what is
communal.
Up to the time of the Conquest, the society had a population larger than today – it had been
decimated by genocide, war and disease. The community element however has served as the
guardian of tradition, and now, its vision renewed, helps to assimilate what is new. It is also crucial,
on the other hand, to think of “community” as only about dress, singing and eating.
3 Roberto Haudry de Soucy: www.fundacioncapital.org.

The Peruvian community 69
The community, more than anything, is an intangible family unit tied to a sentiment that has generated
a culture, originally sustained by common ownership of the land; and that the land, even though
its ownership has now passed to private hands, continues to be the principal binding element of
culture. Therefore, if we speak about coastal, mountain and jungle agricultural communities, we
have to take into account the technology for agriculture and livestock production, the manufacture
and exchange of tools, the sophisticated development of resources to compensate for the scarcity
of arable land (such as the waru (elevated fields), ridges, irrigation systems and organic pest
control), and the rituals and offerings (payments) to la Pachamama (the earth) and the Apus (the
protective hills). That provides a more solid basis for delving into the family relationships, the links
between communities, and the variations in community structure over the course of history.
What we normally know as “culture” is in the community an epiphenomenon derived from the
definition of a territory, the labours of agriculture, celebrations, family relationships and enabling
religious practices all permeated by the imposition of Spanish religion, giving an extremely rich,
syncretic and pluralistic result.
The same is true for music (the introduction of European instruments was key, as in the example of
the Huanca saxophone), or can be clearly appreciated in a province of Cuzco, as in Chumbivilcas,
famous for its mestizo music, sung in Quechua, dance, festivities, gastronomy, dress – and above
all, for certain traditions that not only refuse to die but which are growing stronger with time,
such as traditional textiles and all of the anonymous art that transforms clay, straw, stone, wood
into pieces that are first of all useful but are then transformed into decoration, referred to as
“artisanry”, a process common to gastronomy, dance, music and everything that winds up being
polished up for sale in the marketplace.
5.4 Variants of cultural/community tourism
Concerning the diverse ways for travellers to engage in cultural tourism4, in the case of the
community we can distinguish between those who travel to find a specific cultural phenomenon
that they know about, such as for example the Inti Raymi and here the Internet plays a very
important role in obtaining information about such niche areas of interest.
At the other extreme is the tourist who goes to Peru with a more open, less focused vision,
but who learns about local culture through daily experience in the markets, streets, shops and
craftwork stands, or in conversation with a guide. Among individuals, this omnipresence of
culture/community is explained by the strength and continuing relevance of popular culture, in
which the closer Peruvians are to the country’s original inhabitants, the greater their interest in and
possibilities for assimilating what is new and making it their own, within the parameters of their
particular identities.
It would be useful to clarify at this point what is meant by the word “community”. The first meaning,
frequently used in discussing tourism, refers to the original local population of a place, which has
preserved to a greater or lesser degree its traditional practices and incorporated them into tourism
supply under the “indigenous” label, regardless of whether or not the sponsor is a traditional
4 Richards, G. (1996, ed.), Cultural Tourism in Europe, CAB International, Wallingford.

organization. But the word community also has a more specific meaning in the country, referring
to the rural farm community, a productive unit created in colonial times based on an ancient
extended family concept, called ayllu. Ayllus, more specific to the Andes than to other parts of
Peru, were dispersed throughout the country but maintained commercial and trade ties through
family alliances and above all co-participation in communal labours, such as the mita, ayni and
minka, necessary for building houses, cleaning irrigation ditches or building terrace and irrigation
systems; in addition to sustaining the disabled, unable to work to supply their own needs.
5.5 Variants of the term “community”
From the perspective of community cultural tourism, the point of departure must be open and
involve the participation of individual local settlers, the local population and the community per
se, without submitting to the latter’s legal statute, particularly as regards management. An open
vision allows for greater flexibility and the use of different formats to achieve more combinations
of management models and opportunities for development that are not restricted, in many cases,
by strict community systems.
To understand the concentration of communities registered in the mountain regions, it is necessary

to resort to the standard classification of Peruvian territory as coastal, mountain or jungle (although
the scientist Javier Pulgar Vidal, established eight eco-regions). On the coast, there are rural
communities; in Piura, for example, they maintain a high level of activity, and south of Lima we
can mention to the rural community of Asia. In the northern countryside, in the small villages of the
forests and coasts and even in the large cities, elements of eighth century culture (Mochica, Sicán)
live on in gastronomy, pottery, religious festivals, music, dance, place names and shamanism.
What is interesting about the coastal population, from the standpoint of cultural tourism, is that
the local peoples with their living culture are located physically close together, particularly in the
north and as far south of Lima as Nasca, the great archaeological heritages of the Moche, Sicán,
the Nasca Lines and others. A series of State initiatives with international cooperation or support
from the populations themselves, package this relationship between the monument to the past
and the old culture that still survives today, in enterprises managed by local populations with
extensive participation by women. South of the Nasca the presence of monumental architecture
on the coast is different since it is related to palaeontology, cave paintings, agricultural production,
gastronomy, and the production of Pisco.
The quintessentially traditional community is the Andean community, even though its systems
of land ownership have changed over time, especially recently because of the need to regulate
relations between farming and the extractive industries, basically minerals and petroleum. These
diverse communities include groups of different origin ethnically and in terms of how they have
lived from the land, which they continue to revere under the name of “Pachamama”. But it is
necessary to add the immense richness of the Amazonian community, where the essence of life
is transformed into an exhaustive knowledge of the forest, its secrets for food, health and religion.
In the Amazonian tradition, animism dominates. Everything has a spirit – river, plant, animal, sky,
cloud – that connects it with men, commanding them to preserve natural resources and protect
them for an eternal future.
Community as local population

–– The point of departure is the individual;
–– The individual lives in the city, submits to the country’s official laws;
–– Defined by individuality although the person belongs to a determined culture; and
–– May or not be directly or indirectly linked to tourism activity, individually or through a group or association of persons
providing the same services.
Community as formal ancestral unit
–– The point of departure is the community;
–– The community is governed by a dual legal system: the official one (for which ad hoc authorities are elected) and the
ancestral one, which has its own system of power and justice administration;
–– It is a family/cultural/productive unit that has undergone many changes (including increasing privatization of the land, which
is done communally), but maintains close organizational and cultural ties that convert it into a depository for the great values
of intangible heritage; and
–– It may or may not be directly or indirectly related to tourism activity but as a community. In the latter case it is usually done
through associations with the tourism committees of other communities.
5.6 The role of the community in community cultural tourism
Now, from the perspective of sustainable tourism we need to turn the tables and place ourselves on
the side of the local population (individually or in community, according to the paradigm discussed
earlier) facing tourism: how to benefit economically and culturally? What is their role in the tourism
system dynamic? How to evaluate and perceive the impact of tourism on their culture and daily
lives? Is there a back-and-forth dynamic with the tourist or only a one-sided relationship? To give
some suggested answers to these questions we return to the paradigm with the most frequent
forms of participation for the local people in tourism, as observed in Peru today.
The first is the classic position in which the local population benefits per se from tourism thanks to
job creation and local services such as purchases of food and accommodation. This conception
isolates individuals from their locale, because the impact on the local population is only economic
and social because, since culture is not taken into account it ends up being adapted to the context
of the city, hotel or restaurant that depends on it, or the tour operator in question.
Finally, in the last two or three decades another approach has been taken to community tourism:
reversing the paradigm and making the community the point of departure in considering tourism,
as opposed to vice versa. This is an option when there is growing interest in generating countries in
experiencing communities in an authentic way, as opposed to a folkloric postcard, as a response
to the emptiness of large hyper-developed societies in which stress and competition lead sensible
and informed persons to experience contact with other cultures, to see that life is richer than a
credit card or cell phone (although both can legitimately form part of the lives of travellers and
community residents).
5.7 The Rural Community Tourism Program
Suddenly in the 1970s, certain communities, starting with the Taquile and Amantaní islands in
Lake Titicaca, with support from the church and some NGOs, began organizing the population
to receive travellers interested in an intercultural experience: giving and receiving, in special
natural and cultural settings. These were the first efforts to promote a non-passive form of
tourism that aspired to interdependency between local culture and tourism, interculturalism and
an interdisciplinary approach. These products continue to attract many travellers, but what is
important is that, based on the same principles, Peru now has a solid Rural Community Tourism
Programme (RCT), a policy established in 2007, by the Vice-Ministry for Tourism of the Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Tourism.
According to the Vice-Ministry’s specialists, the basic element defining RCT is not land ownership,
or even community membership in a legal system, but rather the notion of territoriality, of belonging.
This programme sums up existing experiences while pushing for the creation of other new ones,
but under strict principles for the protection of communities as well as visitors, with the long-term
aim of becoming the differentiating factor of Peruvian tourism; principles that also aim at caring
for the environmental and ensuring the quality of service to travellers.
The World Tourism Organization, with support from the ST-EP Foundation, has also launched
various rural community development projects in recent years. Between January 2008 and
December 2009 it developed the “Algarrobo, miel y barro” [carob, honey and mud] circuit in the
community of La Encantada, located in the Piura-Chulucanas axis of tourist attractions. The aim
of the project was to facilitate for tourists the discovery of local culture and other attractions,
including gastronomy and handicrafts. Other projects supported by the ST-EP Foundation
connected with rural community development included the creation of a network for the exchange
of knowledge among 12 rural communities (December 2008–May 2010) and the promotion of bird
watching in Luichupucro, in the Cajamarca region (June 2008–December 2009).
The basis for promoting rural community tourism lies in intercultural dialogue between host
and guest, the exchange of information and activities connected with agricultural techniques,
food security, food preparation with native ingredients, gender relations and child rearing, apart
from the themes more characteristic of tourism, such as dance, songs, musical instruments, the
manual arts. There are projects offering one-day as well as longer experiences, with overnight
stays. Communities have received the training in that connection and families have invested in
building guestrooms, in most cases with individual modern bath. The intervention strategy of the
RCT program covers 16 regions (out of the country’s 25), and 76 projects, classified according to
level of development achieved.
The first point that requires extreme care is how the introduction of tourism is presented to the
community. It must be made very clear that not all of the community can enter the programme.
Next, the community must not stop its traditional activities to start up new businesses, first because
things will go bad for them economically in a field that takes time to bring to maturity this is where
the loss of community identity occurs and another important point, of nearly universal application,
is that communities are divided between families who want to enter the project and those who
reject it, and this could generate conflict. The balance between an authentic experience and the
supply of services is also crucial. Community tradition must be balanced against demand in terms
of accommodation, meals, activities, etc., and this is where an important role falls to the State,
which has been undertaking policies in this regard through the aforementioned Rural Community
Tourism Program. Misunderstandings over language can be another obstacle, although in many
projects there are young leaders who learn English and many bilingual guides are available in
some parts of the country, to accompany the tourist.
A virtuous alliance has grown up in recent years between some of these ventures and private
tourism companies, particularly in the adventure niche, to add value to the tourist’s visit in the form
of activities guided by young people from the community trained by the enterprise. For example,
kayaking on Lake Titicaca, trekking in the mountains of Huascarán National Park, hiking on
segments of the Qapac Ñan Inca trail. These alliances not only enrich tourist visits but contribute
to longer stays; that benefits the community, which continues providing accommodation and
meals to the visitor. It often happens that certain natural resources in protected natural areas
can only be inhabited by indigenous populations, who, on the other hand, are entitled to take
visitors there.
The floating islands of the Ruos, in Lake Titicaca, are a significant tourist destination for the country.
Alex Bryce, PromPerú.
Some of the most beneficial RCT strategies, apart from associations with private adventure and
cultural tourism firms, include the following four:
1. The RCT is conducted in communities that are linked in some way to another cultural
attraction, such as an archaeological or vice royal site, a space of ecological value, or a
unique expression of living culture. It often happens that such attractions have been visited
regularly by tourists but in a manner that is totally isolated from the community, without
generating any interaction. Through the RCT, on the other hand, the visit is organized by
people from the community with a completely different and richer result for all: the visitor
as well as the local population. Local guides don’t tell stories without personal interest to
themselves, or show places that belong to others, they are talking about their own lives,
that of their parents and grandparents. This aligns what is authentic with what the tourist
experiences in a way that is hard to achieve otherwise. A community that pioneered the
RCT under the strategy of the Programme of the Vice-Ministry for Tourism, and provides
a model in this regard is Racchi, situated between Cuzco and Puno in the district of San
Pedro, Canchis province, near the town of Sicuani. Racchi has been transformed into a site
for international and national internships, having completed the complex process required
to enter this form of tourism;
2. There have been some successful trials combining RCT experiences with more conventional
forms of tourism, particularly where RCT projects are located near cities with places of
cultural interest. That way, the visitor can spend a number of nights in a city hotel and other
nights in the community;

3. The sustainability of natural and cultural resources is a crucial consideration when launching
RCT projects. In Peru it has been observed that the communities with the highest average
educational level (Racchi, Llachón), undertake these projects in part as a tool for preserving
their resources. A very clear example is the project Rumbo al Dorado, being conducted in
the Yanayacu and Pucate river basins and the enormous Pacaya Samiria National Reserve,
located in the Amazon forests of Loreto. This project is being administered by a consortium
composed of NGOs, the conservationist organizations and local secular communities (there
are nearly no native communities in this area). Conservationist practices have a long history
in these communities, predating tourism, including reforestation, extraction of fruit while
leaving the trees standing, the repopulation of taricaya turtles and above all, the creation
of fisheries committees to regulate the extraction of various species native to the reserve
and previously quite impaired. The history of this project is instructive in that there was
clearly no need to evangelize community members about the benefits of ecotourism for the
conservation of their resources. Rather the community members themselves indicated this
as a non-negotiable factor before taking any decision with respect to any decision about
entering the field of tourism; and
4. Some successful RCT experiences have enabled populations to revive certain cultural
expressions that had been abandoned or impoverished in quality by being commercialized
for passing tourists. Handicrafts, language, dress and music are appreciated in these
communities, coexisting with their modern equivalents without the slightest friction. This
stands to increase a community’s earnings from tourism while expanding its cultural horizons
and self-esteem.
Opportunities to create tourist activities sponsored by community organizations in rural areas

start with territorial management and are understood as a set of assets that can be developed
and combined. Territory is considered from the standpoint of six assets – tangible resources (such
as physical and financial heritage) and intangible resources (human and social capacity) which
are combined in various ways and constitute the total wealth of a person or social group. The six
territorial assets on which Peru’s rural community tourism methodology is based are as follows:
1. Human assets, which means:
–– The development of skills and capacity;
–– Training in tourism business management;
–– Exchanges of experiences and transfer of practical knowledge; and
–– The development of instruments for continuous improvement.
2. Social assets, which include such processes as:
–– The strengthening of organization and management;
–– The development of links with other organizations;
–– The establishment and use of normative and management instruments;
–– The promotion of better relations between tourism and the community (social
environment);
–– The raising of awareness among the population about the value of reviving, developing,
conserving and promoting local culture; and
–– The involvement of cultural institutions.
3. Cultural assets, including customs, myths, ancestral knowledge and techniques, as part of
the cultural expression of each community;
4. Natural assets, which have to do with:
–– Disseminating information and raising awareness about tourism and the environment;
and
–– Training in environmental issues, provided by project sponsors, for the proper
management of solid waste and identification of tourism potential according to the
community’s natural environment.
5. Physical assets, which include:
–– The development of tourism infrastructure and facilities;
–– The improvement of communication channels; and
–– The management of telecommunication and basic sanitation services.
6. Financial assets, which have to do with:
–– Training in accounting and finance;
–– The promotion of savings and a credit culture;
–– The coordination of tourism with other local economic activities; and
–– Training in marketing, market positioning and competitiveness analysis.
In addition, the definition and scope of community cultural tourism are very complex in a country
like Peru, where human and cultural diversity are so important. Culture in itself can be a motivating
factor for visiting an area in Peru (e.g. the Andean Baroque Route with the participation of local
inhabitants, promoted by the Jesuit parish). Culture can also be absorbed continuously and
spontaneously by general interest tourists, as part of their day-to-day experience. Both ways are
important but need to be viewed and given special emphasis as complementary. If the cultural
foundation of what travellers find and experience is not explained they will not value it.
A good example of cultural lessons can be found in the local market, a display window/mirror of
local biodiversity. The people working there are generally cordial and friendly to tourists, willing to
explain each product and how it is used, politely, with good humour and spontaneous friendliness.
The same is true of the celebrations – secular as well as religious – that occur daily in the streets
of villages and towns in the country’s interior. It is very important that spontaneous tourists get
the information needed to know what is being celebrated, why, the history of the celebration, the
syncretism involved, etc.
In short, tourism can be viewed from the perspective of the community as a tool for creating jobs
or as an opportunity to empower the local population to defend and revive its culture and pursue
intercultural dialogue. When we speak of community, we could be referring to the local population
in a broad and open-ended way, or the productive unit, registered and titled, that remains a force
in Peru today, particularly in the Andes and the Amazon.
Another factor to consider is the new demand that is growing in the developed generating countries
– the aforementioned Robinson Crusoe syndrome, where the traveller is obsessed with the idea
of being the first to enter into contact with an indigenous community and to keep that experience
like some kind of hunting trophy. It must be recalled that local populations, even those farthest
from the reach of national officialdom, have the same right as the traveller to take advantage of
technological advances in the world today, even though it might appear to be a transgression of
community authenticity. But communities are not zoos, where one goes to see lives frozen in time.
Quite the contrary, a community’s wealth lies in its continuous transformation and the ability that
Peruvians possess to assimilate new elements without conflict, is a matter of dispute only among
anthropologists.
T 77
Chapter 6
SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
–– Sustained economic growth; –– Geographic extent and diversity, multilingualism;
–– Diversity and natural and cultural supply: tangible –– Lack of training among local authorities;
and in tangible; –– Racism, exclusion and machismo;
–– Strong community identity; –– Informality and lack of security;
–– Rural Community Tourism; –– Trafficking in land;
–– Increased professional capacity; –– Lack of communication among agencies;
–– Country brand; and –– High concentration in some tourism areas; and
–– Public-private alliances. –– Danger of loss of heritage.
SWOT: Tourism, culture and community partnership in Peru
Opportunities Threats
–– Technological development; –– Social conflicts;
–– Country brand; –– Civil insecurity;
–– Regional diversity –– Illegal trafficking in archaeological artifacts;
–– Diversification and new niches; –– Climate change;
–– Strengthening of network cooperation; –– Loss of cultural expressions;
–– Development of rural community tourism programs; –– Neglect of scientific knowledge; and
–– Replication of successful promotion models –– Loss of authenticity.
(e.g. gastronomy); and
–– Identification and conservation of heritage.
Strengths
–– Sustained national economic growth. Peru has in large part recovered its self-esteem and is
projecting confidence towards the rest of the world;
–– Peru is the third largest country in South America and one of the 20 largest in the world;
–– Peru is the vessel of ancient ancestral civilizations and one of the planet’s mega-diverse
territories, with 11 ecoregions y 84 life zones out of the 117 that exist worldwide; that
combination is universally admired;
–– Peru’s natural diversity has generated a pluralistic culture rich in creativity. The different
stages in the country’s history, from Palaeolithic times to the present, have left tangible and
intangible testimony of great value, being hybridized ever since in a never-ending mestizaje;
–– In Peru, nature, history and living culture converge, one of the country’s greatest assets for
cultural tourism. The synthesis of this presence is found in the sense of identity that the
communities maintain;
–– UNESCO has recognized 12 World Heritage Sites in Peru: 8 cultural, 2 natural and 2 mixed;
–– The nation’s cultural heritage is vast and has been classified in diverse categories. Peru
possesses 94 forms of intangible cultural heritage and 14 more still being classified;
–– There are 76 protected natural areas in diverse categories, most of them prepared to receive
tourists or in the process of being adapted for tourism;
–– A wealth of ancient and diverse ancestral cultural practices survive in Peru to this day, for
obtaining and producing food (agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, gathering,
etc.); gathering vegetable and animal fibre for weaving; fabricating objects for daily life;
weaving; ceramics, music, dance, celebrations, religious beliefs, enabling ceremonies
(offerings, payments, etc.), own languages, traditional medicine, oral tradition, mythology,
plastic representations, gastronomy, crafts, collective work, gender relations, forms of local
power parallel to the official ones, etc;
–– Since 2007, the Ministry of Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR) has been promoting rural
community tourism (RCT) in a structured way, based on solid, sustainable supply. Through
the development of RCT, cultural supplies are being diversified with different experiences
in different regions of the country, such as the Moche Route on the northern coast, the
Amazon, ventures geared to adventure tourism, the Chachapoyas culture in the northern
Amazon, which holds great promise, bird watching and others. There is greater involvement
in the tourism sector among the coastal, Andean and Amazonian communities as well as
local noncommunity populations (though communal in nature);
–– Development of the tourism sector has become professionalized and technocratic over the
last decade. Strategies for the development of inbound and domestic tourism have been
producing visible quantitative results in terms of tourist arrivals and domestic travel;
–– Creation of the Country Brand has strengthened Peru’s position in domestic and international
markets, getting Peruvians to identify with their heritage and international travellers interested
in discovering it;
–– Greater knowledge of the market and of cultural heritage to help develop the communities’
resources;
–– Peru offers international calibre cultural events (theatre, universal music, opera, cinema,
plastic arts, etc.). The supply of tangible and intangible culture (principally museums) in Lima,
Cuzco and the northern coast (La Libertad and Lambayeque) is varied. Lima, the capital,
has become a destination of choice for its essentially cultural attractions (gastronomy,
monuments, nightlife, bohemia, etc.); and
–– The creation of foundations and entities dedicated to the protection and conservation of
tangible and intangible heritage, such as the World Monuments Fund, the Mario Testino
Foundation, the Breca Foundation (soon to be launched), the BBVA Continental Foundation,
the Tourism and Gastronomy Department of the University of San Martín de Porres, apart
from those already working for years in Peru, including the Backus Foundation and Wiese
Foundation, among others.
SWOT analysis 79
Weaknesses
–– The complexity, vast extent and diversity of Peruvian geography and culture make it difficult
to diversify tourism supply (geographical factors and connectivity issues isolate populations
and communities, significantly raising the cost of interconnection between them);
–– Multilingualism can be an obstacle to the development of community cultural tourism
proposals, both within communities and vis-à-vis visiting tourists;
–– Lack of familiarity with the definition and standard terminology of cultural tourism, both of
which can help to better understand the demands of the market, the communities involved
and the cultural heritage in question;

–– Lack of awareness among local authorities about the importance of safeguarding and
preserving tangible and intangible heritage, against the encroachment of “modern” elements;
–– Age-old problems in Peru, such as racism, exclusion and machismo, which have not
disappeared and which continue to erupt between the city and countryside, “white culture”
and “Chola culture” and within communities themselves, blocking opportunities for exchange
among Peruvians and creating distrust as communities grapple with the challenges of
contact with international visitors;
–– Informality of employment directly affects possibilities for very attractive expressions of
cultural and especially community tourism;
–– Trafficking in land is a serious threat to immovable archaeological and historical heritage;
–– Poor communication between public and private sector participants in tourism activity and
in developing and protecting the country’s cultural heritage;
–– High concentration of tourist flows to the most iconic attractions: Cuzco and Machu Picchu;
–– Lack of standards for tourist security and admission control at the major celebrations held
in diverse regions of the country;
–– Need for greater formality and oversight of businesses engaged in mystical tourism and
traditional therapies based on the rituals and plants native to the Amazon and Cuzco;
–– Need for greater experience among the agents involved in developing the cultural tourism
product, such as specialized, bilingual guides and improvements in printed and/or virtual
informative materials, signposting, gastronomy, etc; and
–– Lack of recognition and classification could cause the loss of immovable and intangible
Peruvian cultural heritage.
Opportunities
–– Use of technology to facilitate real information on the tourist’s experience, particularly
as regards cultural tourism, presenting innovative proposals to attract the “postmodern”
cultural tourist;
–– Positioning of the country brand in domestic and international markets can help to promote
and/or collaborate in a sustainable positioning of cultural tourism from various perspectives
and through various expressions;
–– Having 25 regions, each distinct, creates opportunities for developing innovative and
differentiated tourism products;
–– Diversification and new market trends place demands on tourist destinations, thus offering
opportunities to create ad hoc products for specific niches or segments of cultural tourism.
Developing the nature segment of cultural tourism offers opportunities to create interesting
market niches;
–– Tourists in the cultural segment may sacrifice standards of comfort during the travel
experience, providing an opportunity to promote projects in their early development stages
but with great cultural potential;
–– Implementation of policies that promote long-term strategies for the development and
conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, either as a resource or a tourism
product, involving the communities and working jointly with public and private agencies;
–– Strengthening cooperation among operators to demonstrate greater commitment to cultural
and environmental sustainability, as part of their competitive advantage, and incorporating
this into the tourism-culture-community framework, as active players with the capacity to
develop products and markets;

–– Development of innovative proposals and initiatives within the rural community tourism
framework, so that work can be done to promote them;
–– Development of successful models for promotion, as in the case of gastronomy, for
application to tourism products connected with cultural heritage, to build on their potential;
and
–– Identification of expressions of universal classical art that may be of interest to cultural
travellers to Peru.
Threats
–– Social conflicts connected with the extractive industries (principally mining) are affecting the
development of communities involved in cultural tourism;
–– Civil insecurity can influence the travel decisions of domestic and international tourists;
–– Illicit trafficking in archaeological and colonial artefacts, books of historical value,
paleontological remains, exotic species of flora and fauna is a continuous threat to the
country’s natural and cultural heritage, which requires protection;
–– Climate change is impairing both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, impacting on
beliefs and rituals linked to snow-capped mountains and forcing migration in order to
continue farming and raising livestock, abandoning any efforts to develop cultural tourism;
–– Possible loss of the cultural expressions on which intangible cultural tourism is based as a
consequence of development, modernity and globalization;
–– Neglect of scientific academic knowledge in favour of greater knowledge of the community,
helping to make living culture proposals more rigorous; and
–– Local culture could lose its authenticity as a consequence of tourist expectations.
T 81
Chapter 7
Strategies for strengthening the partnership
among tourism, culture and community
With the kind contribution of Jordi Tresserras
7.1 Degree of interdependency between tourism and culture
In general, the strategic alliance between the cultural sector and tourism is perceived as weak
and precarious everywhere in the world. It is true that progress has been made in recent years
in reaching international agreements among ministries and agencies responsible for culture and
tourism. But in reality, despite the synergies now being generated, institutions continue to work
individually on projects and specific activities. That partnership needs to be made truly strategic
and coherent to achieve the necessary levels of efficiency and effectiveness.
At the international level a cross-cutting vision of the UNESCO conventions needs to be promoted,
as indicated in the Declaration of Hangzhou (China),1 issued following an international conference
there on Culture: the key to sustainable development, held from 15 to 17 May 2013. In November
of that same year UNWTO and UNESCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding2 that is the
most significant of the four agreements reached by these institutions since 1979. It mandates four
lines of action:
–– Implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme;
–– Transnational tourism initiatives to promote and protect the shared heritage of the Silk Road;
–– Identification, development and creation of networks for sustainable tourism initiatives and
activities in the Biosphere Reserves; and
–– Promotion of sustainable tourism through United Nations associations and initiatives,
such as the UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development (SCTD) and the Global
Sustainable Tourism Alliance (GSTA).
From that framework emerged the partnership between tourism and culture, which will work
within UNWTO to advance the necessary joint strategy between tourism and culture as set out in
the Declaration of Siem Reap (Cambodia) adopted during the World Conference on Tourism and
Culture organized jointly by UNWTO and UNESCO in February 2015.
7.1.1 Cultural and creative tourism: “orange tourism”
The vision of cultural tourism was originally linked more to the monuments-and-museums side
of cultural heritage and to festival tourism, as reflected in the definition established. A more
comprehensive vision has gradually been carved out to encompass both tangible and intangible
heritage, artistic production and the cultural and creative industries. With respect to creativity, the
importance of creative tourism has been emphasized, which means participation and interactivity
1 www.unesco.org.
2 www.unwto.org.
for the tourists who often wish not to be tourists but travellers, or feel like locals, during their stay.3
Such tourists develop their creative potential through learning, creating or exhibiting their talent as
a unique tourist experience. These are creative experiences for, by and with visitors, as proposed
by Greg Richards.
This combination of cultural and creative tourism has been called “orange tourism”, following the
example of other tourism segments: nature (green) nautical (blue), snow (white) or LGBT (pink).4 In
October 2013, Pedro Felipe Buitrago and Iván Duque Márquez presented the manual The orange
economy: an infinite opportunity, published by the Inter-American Development Bank.5 In the
debate between Tresserras and Buitrago it was agreed that if the cultural and creative economy
is an orange economy, cultural and creative tourism should be called orange tourism. It was
therefore proposed to assign a colour to this tourism. The proposal was presented for debate
on 20 November 2013 in the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá de Oaxaca (Mexico) during the XII World
Congress of UNESCO’s Organization of World Heritage Cities.6
Orange tourism promotes a model of sustainable tourism intended to encourage cultural,

economic and social development based on responsible management of the cultural heritage, the
arts and the cultural and creative industries. This type of tourism helps to structure the cultural and
creative economy, generating opportunities for the local community based on its identity and the
configuration of cultural tourism, promoting territories with cultural identity as specialized tourist
destinations.
It is essential to promote the creation or reformulation of cultural and creative destinations,

cities or territories with a cultural identity, as an avenue for endogenous development and close
cooperation between tourism and culture, with the aim, among other benefits, of attracting and
inducing the traveller to make the necessary efforts to reach a destination at any time of the year.
This type of destination must have a portfolio of products derived from the creative action of
the local community or its interaction with the tourist. It consists of a destination with an image,
icon(s), a brand, a price and a place in the market, with a community that participates, identifies
itself and act as host. A territory with this type of responsible and sustainable policies could
maintain a flow of visitors and tourists throughout much of the year sufficiently numerous to
make this activity an important part of the economy. The work of UNESCO and UNWTO are key
in seeking a balance and a sustainable model when considering initiatives like the World Heritage
List, the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage or the Creative Cities Network.
3 Richards, G. and Raymond, C. (2000), ‘Creative Tourism’, ATLAS News, 23, 16–20, Journal of Tourism Consumption and
Practice, volume 4, no. 2, 2012.
4 Tresserras Juan, J. (2014a), Turismo naranja: le ponemos color al turismo cultural y creativo. Retos y perspectivas para
el Ecuador, Conference held in the Contemporary Art Museum of Quito. Org: Metropolitan Institute of Heritage of the
Municipality of Quito and Quito Tourism. Tresserras Juan, J. (2014b), El turismo naranja, el color del turismo cultural y
creativo, in Revista de Economía Creativa, Santiago Creativo, no. 1: pp. 51–52, available at:
www.issuu.com/santiagocreativo.
5 www.iadb.org/es.
6 Tresserras Juan, J. (2013a), Ciudades Patrimonio Mundial y Turismo Sostenible, conference organized on 20 November
2013 in Oaxaca (Mexico), during the XII Congress of UNESCO World Heritage Cities.
Tresserras Juan, J. (2013b), Creative tourism as a form of responsible tourism that provides a ‘sense of place’. Presented at
RTD7 Responsible Tourism in Destinations. Barcelona, 1–4 October 2013. Org: Observatori de Turisme Responsable.
TSI – Turisme Sant Ignasi – ESADE.
Strategies for strengthening the partnership among tourism, culture and community 83
To implement effective models for cooperation between tourism and culture policies and
strategies need to be established or strengthened so as to harmonize synergies and activities
that meet the objectives of safeguarding, conserving, revitalizing and developing heritage, arts
and cultural and creative industries on a crosscutting basis with the six UNESCO conventions on
culture. These strategies would give momentum to the orange economy and, at the same time
result in the community development of efficient and innovative products and services that will
help to consolidate quality, competitive, sustainable, responsible, inclusive tourist destinations
that contribute to the cultural, economic and social development of communities. It is highly
recommended to reorient numerous initiatives already underway in terms of intervention or
investment in cultural-heritage projects to achieve their greatest potential in the framework of

cooperation between the two sectors.
In the Ibero-American cultural space there are several territories whose identity offers great
potential for strengthening and conversion into a cultural and creative tourism destination. The
destinations already established, such as Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cuzco, Havana, Lima, Madrid,
Mexico City, Quito or Rio de Janeiro, have tourism promotion agencies that, in coordination with
the cultural and creative sector, prioritize the promotion of tourism supply offering the products
and services of the orange economy in a crosscutting way, as a differentiating element. In general,
these destinations structure specific forms of supply by business line, type of destination, principal
or complementary activity and or segment of the public.
Under the rubric of orange tourism the niches that are the most developed are those related to
heritage tourism, artistic tourism, festival tourism and above all tourism connected with the cultural
and creative industries, such as craft tourism, cinematographic tourism, language tourism, literary
tourism, gastronomic tourism, music and dance tourism, etc. Attention must be drawn in addition
to creative tourism.
In this alliance between culture and tourism it is essential to promote cultural responsibility within
the tourism business sector, which means both sponsorship and patronage as well as integrating
the inclusion and promotion of culture as a business line or area of corporate social responsibility.
To identify tourists interested in cultural and creative tourism, the main indicators to be considered
are as follows:
–– Motivation, principal or complementary;
–– Cultural and creative activities conducted, their number and duration;
–– Consumption of orange economy products and services;
–– The direct and indirect benefits generated for the community; and
–– Travel organization habits (before, during and after), since thanks to the digital world we live
in tourists can become both promoters and opinion leaders.
When the time comes to make specific proposals, it is necessary to be rigorous since tourists
are increasingly cultivated and prepared and are aware of alternative destinations and compare
not only price but content and experience. Their satisfaction and feedback in the form of positive
assessments could become a key promotional tool, thanks especially to the influence of social
networks.
Many challenges lie ahead. The key is working in networks connecting public administrations, the
organized private sector, professional associations, universities and international organizations,
which working together are coordinating this process. It is therefore increasingly necessary to
develop creatively designed, imaginative projects unconstrained by existing models.
7.1.2 Examples of good practices
Peru
Heritage tourism
–– Moche Route (departments of Libertad and Lambayeque);
–– Andean Baroque Route, Huaro-Canincunca Andahuaylillas, Cuzco;
–– Casa de Aliaga,7 private home open to the public in the Historic Centre of Lima; and
–– Opening Museum Doors. TVPerú programme hosted by Lucho Repetto promoting Peruvian
museums, with a significant impact on domestic tourism.
Cultural and creative districts

Barranco in Lima.
Artistic and creative experiences

–– Literary routes promoted by PromPerú: La Lima de Vargas Llosa, El norte de César Vallejo,
and El sur andino de José María Arguedas; and
–– Mistura in Lima (September). The largest food fare in Latin America and one of the most
important in the world. This gastronomical festival promoted by APEGA has also been
associated with the promotion of Lima as the gastronomical capital of Latin America.8
Music and dance tourism

–– Festival de la Marinera; Trujillo; and
–– Afro-Peruano Museum, Zaña.
Cultural and creative hotels

–– Hotels in unique homes, such as Casa Andina Private Collection Arequipa, Hacienda San
José (Chincha Alta, Ica) and Duo Hotel Boutique in Lima, San Isidro; and
–– Hecho a mano para hoteles, handicrafts-for-hotels fair last held in 2013.9
7 www.casadealiaga.com.
8 www.apega.pe.
9 www.hechoamanoparahoteles.com.
International
Heritage tourism10
–– Ecuador: Quito, UNESCO World Heritage City;
–– Spain: World Heritage Cities, Casa Milà – La Pedrera (one of the Antoni Gaudí sites on the
UNESCO World Heritage List); and
–– Mexico: Mexican World Heritage Cities.
Cultural and creative districts

–– Argentina: San Telmo, Buenos Aires;

–– Spain: Raval and Distrito 22@ in Barcelona;
–– United States of America: Miami Design District, SoWa – Boston, Dallas Arts District, Santa
Fe Railyard Arts District (Santa Fe is a UNESCO Creative City), Parkway Museums District –
Philadelphia, Houston Museum District & Project Row Houses, and Museum Row on Miracle
Mile – Los Angeles; and
–– Ireland: Temple Bar, Dublin.
Creative tourism destinations11

–– Creative Paris; and
–– Porto Alegre Criativa.
Platforms for collaborative tourism with cultural experiences12

Cookening, Eatwith, Meetmeals, Guestinalia, Sherpandipity, Touristlink, Trip4real, Triperone, o
Vayable.
Creative and artistic experiences

–– Chile: Neruda houses in Valparaíso and Isla Negra;
–– Colombia: Gabriel García Márquez Route in Cartagena, Barranquilla and Aracataca;
–– Costa Rica: Artesanías de Diseño con Identidad [identity-designed handicrafts] is a project
for tourist destinations in the country based on joint action by the Costa Rican Institute for
Tourism (ICT), the Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCJ) and the Ministry of Economy, Industry
and Commerce (MEIC);
–– Spain: Fundació Gala-Dalí in Figueres; and
–– Mexico: House of Luís Barragán Museum (on the UNESCO World Heritage List), House-
Study of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museum.
Cinema: studios, film commissions, thematic routes13

–– Germany: Babelsberg in Potsdam;
–– India: Mombai (Bollywood);
10 www.hechoamanoparahoteles.com; www.quito.com.ec; www.ciudadespatrimonio.org; www.lapedrera.com;

www.ciudadespatrimonio.mx.
11 www.creativeparis.info; www.portoalegrecriativa.info.
12 www.cookening.com; www.eatwith.com; www.meetmeals.com; www.guestinalia.com; www.sherpandipity.com;

www.touristlink.com; www.trip4real.com; www.triperone.com; www.vayable.com.
13 www.newzealand.com; www.bradfordcityoffilm.com; www.wbstudiotour.co.uk; www.cityofliterature.com;

www.onlocationtours.com.
–– Italy: Cinecittà in Rome;

–– New Zealand: Lord of the Rings Tour;
–– United Kingdom: Bradford UNESCO Creative City for Cinema, London WB Studio, Edinburgh
UNESCO Creative City for Literature; and
–– United States of America: Hollywood in Los Angeles, On Location Tours in New York and
Boston.
Music and dance tourism14

–– Bolivia: Chiquitos Renaissance and Baroque Music Festival; and
–– Cuba: Baila en Cuba [Dance in Cuba] promoted by Paradiso in Havana and Varadero.
Cultural and creative hotels15

–– Italia: Hotels by Armani, Bulgari, and Versace;
–– Germany: Scholsshotel by Karl Lagerfeld, in Berlin;
–– Spain: Silken Puerta América by Vitorio & Lucchino, in Madrid;
–– France: Le Petit Moulin Hotel by Christian Lacroix, in Paris;
–– Jamaica: Round Hill Hotel & Villas by Ralph Lauren, at Montego Bay; and
–– Dominican Republic: Tortuga Bay Hotel by Oscar de la Renta, in Punta Cana.
7.2 Efforts to achieve harmony between tourists and the host community
Cultural and creative tourism provides an opportunity for the diversification and sustainable
development of tourism destinations and products, helping to reduce the seasonality of tourism
activity and the territorial decentralization of supply, contributing as well to local development
by creating jobs and business opportunities. In this modality of tourism a key element requiring
attention is the community’s identity, which makes it necessary to develop processes of
participation for new as well as mature destinations to avoid and/or reformulate potential or
existing conflict between the community and tourists, which in extreme cases can degenerate
into “tourism phobia”. The development of indicators and reports to show the beneficial impact
of tourism is helping to inform communities about the positive and negative results of tourism
activity. However, it is essential to have an action plan developed through consensus and flexible
enough to adapt to external as well as internal factors.
In some Latin American destinations the concept of “traveling well” and “traveling sustainably
well” (inspired by the concept of “good living” or “Sumak Kawsay”, the Andean ancestral cosmic
vision of life) represented a paradigm shift in terms of the existing development models, envisaging
a more responsible form of tourism focused on improving the quality of life for persons dedicated
to this activity or visiting tourist destinations. This approach contemplates a social dimension,
promotes inclusion, community participation, decent work, gender equality and the protection
and promotion of diversity and cultural expression. It also promotes the generation of activities
and productive economic chains linking small, medium and large enterprises that can contribute
to the generation of sustainable tourist destinations, promoting joint production and business
networks among different service providers.
14 www.festivalesapac.com; www.bailaencuba.com.
15 www.armanihotels.com; www.bulgarihotels.com; www.palazzoversace.com; www.schlosshotelberlin.com;

www.hoteles-silken.com; www.paris-hotel-petitmoulin.com; www.roundhill.com; www.puntacana.com.
The difficulty of managing mass tourism at some destinations has led to the creation of
movements to promote greater citizen participation in decision-making through the configuration
of destination management organizations that reflect and represent the various social agents and
productive sectors in a framework of equality, dialogue and above all networking. It is important
in this process to structure solid plans with objectives, actions and results for the short, medium
and long term. These mechanisms are also necessary at emerging destinations, to avoid falling
into the same mistakes.
7.2.1 Cooperation between tourists and community
Synergies can be developed between tourists and community through experiences that can be
grouped in four niches:
Cultural and community tourism (rural and urban)
This consists of experiential travel aimed at promoting respect and good practices among travellers
(domestic and international) toward the host community of territories with identity, rural as well as
urban, taking an approach that permits cultural exchanges and contact between different customs,
social structures and ways of relating to others. The tourists attempted to become locals for a few
days or weeks and share experiences with the host community. There are experiences involving
indigenous peoples, Afro-descendent communities, rural farm communities, fishing villages, and
the grassroots neighbourhoods of large cities.
Creative tourism
Creative tourism allows new opportunities to be developed for activities centered on creativity,
addressing related intellectual property issues, through activities that range from traditional crafts
to complex productive chains for the cultural industries, structuring, while also forming part of, a
crosscutting business line of activities for the creative economy. The creative economy, and thus
creative tourism, go beyond mere commercialization. They are an effort to combine tradition with
innovation, using creativity as the unifying thread, generating development through participation
and the creation of opportunities for the community.
Creativity in this form of tourism provides a context (associated in particular with creative districts
or areas) in which participation and interaction are increased, making for what is considered
tourism for the new generation. Tourists moved from being mere observers to gaining first-hand
experience. This experience includes direct contact with the creator as part of the creative effort
with the opportunity to develop one’s creative potential through active participation in visits,
courses and learning activities characteristic of the tourist destination concerned.
There has also been a surge of interest among organized amateur and professional creators
wishing to visit creative territories not only to observe and interact with other creators but to create
and even coproduce with local creators. This has provided the basis for creative tourism initiatives
to secure the space needed for a concert, exhibition, meeting with local choirs, meetings with
local artisans and artists, shared workshops, learning or refining an artistic technique.
Creative tourism opens a wide range of possibilities. Such experiences include the aforementioned
Baila en Cuba programme, promoted by Paradiso – Grupo Artex, the Cultural Tourism Agency of
the Ministry of Culture of Cuba. Another interesting initiative is called “painting holidays”, offered
by such specialized operators as Alpha Painting Holidays,16 Authentic Adventures,17 GoLearnTo,18
Paint Andalucía19 or Painting Holidays20.
Collaborative tourism
Creative tourism has not been unaffected by the so-called revolution of collaborative tourism,
also known as shared, face-to-face or peer-to-peer (p2p) tourism. Digital marketing services and
platforms and social networks have changed how we travel, as borne out by initiatives permitting
contact with local people. Apart from being more economical, these trips are personalized with
unique experiences intended for more prepared tourists with much higher expectations to satisfy.
Collaborative tourism includes platforms for eating lunch or dinner in the home of a person
residing in the town or village visited, with possibilities for interaction and participation in shopping
for and preparing recipes. Some of the better-known platforms include Cookapp, Cookening,
Eatwith, Meetmeals and TryCook. There are more and more experiences of the tourist guides
with locals (or foreign residents) offering proposals for creative tourism outside the traditional
circuits, such as routes for specialized purchases, design, photography, gastronomy, as well as
participatory experiences, such as music or dance. Specializing in these areas are platforms such
as Couchsurfing, Guestinalia, Hospitality Club, Sherpandipity, Touristlink, Trip4real, Triperone,
Vayable or WithLocals.
These platforms operate in a simple way. Using a webpage an individual (or small business)
offers a service and persons interested pay for it directly or through intermediaries who receive
commissions either from those offering the service, those consuming it or both. This is a new way
of looking at tourism and the tourism sector needs these new modalities to be regularized with
respect to the rules and guarantees for travellers using these platforms.
Cultural voluntourism
The origin of this rubric is the intersection between international volunteer work and tourism,
also known as “volunteer work tourism”, “volunteer work vacations”, and “volunteer work travel”.
Cultural volunteer work is the tourism practice associated with cultural activities in the community,
such as collaborating with archaeological excavations, the conservation of monuments or the
programming of cultural centres, festivals or events.
16 www.alphapaintingholidays.com.
17 www.authenticadventures.co.uk.
18 www.golearnto.com.
19 www.paint-andalucia.com.
20 www.art-holidays.com.
What is important is to create spaces for community participation, but in a structured way. It
is important in cultural tourism to create networks for cultural tourism agents, such as cultural
tourism networks or specialized product clubs. It is important to also generate specific products
and markets for the promotion and marketing effort.
Peru
Community tourism
–– Community cultural tourism and the Valley of the Colca; and
–– The Rural Community Tourism Programme in Cuzco with proposals in the provinces of
Calca (such as the land of the Yachaqs), Canchis, Cuyuni, Urubamba (such as the town
of Maras and community of Huilloc); and Ancash, with experiences in the communities of
Humacchuco (Yungay) and Vicos (Carhuaz).
International
Community tourism21
–– Ecuador: Multinational Federation of Community Tourism of Ecuador – FEPTCE;
–– Colombia: ASOPRADUSE – Association of Farm Producers, Traditional Sweets and
Ethnotouristic Services of Palenque, in Palenque de San Basilio, Colombia;
–– Mexico: RITA – Indigenous Tourism Network of Mexico; and
–– Panama: Indigenous tourism in Kuna Yala, with varied supply including boutique hotels
with cabins offering different experiences of community tourism, managed by the Kuna
community.
Creative tourism
Spain: Tossa de Mar in the Costa Brava is a destination for painting holidays.
Cultural voluntourism
–– Platform for voluntourism;22
–– New Zealand: Cultural experiences with the Maorí community, promoted by Reledev Australia
Ltd, an Australian NGO registered with the Australian Agency for International Development
(AusAID); and
–– Chile – Tapati Rapa Nui festival held annually since 1968. It began as a fiesta among local
pascuenses but has evolved into a vehicle for sharing the island’s culture with tourist groups.
21 www.feptce.org; www.rita.com.mx.
22 www.voluntourism.org.
7.3 Development of cultural tourism in the local community context

(glocalization)
To supplement what was said in the section on intangible cultural heritage in this document it
should be recalled that there are two types of events where special care is required in developing
cultural tourism to avoid conflict and trivialization. On the one hand, there are cultural expressions
related to religious practices associated with the personal or family life cycle (births, weddings,
funerals), and on the other, community cultural events that may be taken out of context or even
trivialized so that a social process can be transformed into a theatrical performance directed
exclusively at the tourist. In these cases the tendency is to make the ritual more exotic.
It was emphasized the need to avoid falsifying re-enactments as happened with the Yagua rituals
near Iquitos or the floating island spectacles of the Uros in Lake Titicaca.23 Historical re-enactments
for political or tourism purposes also need to be placed in context, as they can create false
histories, as happens in Cuzco with the Inti Raimi, which is a re-enactment and not a continuously
practiced historical ritual.
Spiritual tourism is also being developed in the Andes, in connection with the ancient pre-Inca
and Inca pilgrimage sites where, according to popular belief, a source of energy can be found to
strengthen the mind and spirit. It is important that such tourist experiences not affect the most
fragile expressions of intangible cultural heritage.
Consideration also needs to be given

to the objects used daily by craftsmen
which are valued by international
tourists as a symbol of the local
culture (viewed as exotic), producing
an effect of processing for commercial
purposes. In those cases it is important
to respect the value of production
and the price. On Taquile Island in
The toquilla straw hat of Catacaos was declared National Cultural
Peru and in Montecristi in Ecuador,
Heritage in 2013.
Renzo Tasso, PromPerú. localities famous for their high quality
textiles and woven straw hats. Given
the quality of these products, their price is higher than for other handicrafts. The development of
tourism generated the creation of products of lesser quality that place this heritage at risk. There
are initiatives to strengthen this commitment to the quality of products, such as the UNESCO Seal
of Excellence for Handicrafts.
Religious manifestations different from their own spark interest among some tourists in shamanic
rituals as an exotic experience, sometimes without contextualization and in some cases
associated with the use of drugs producing altered states of consciousness. Tourism enterprises
have marketed such experiences in Ecuador, for instance, without considering the risks involved.24
23 Urrutia, J. (2011), ‘Patrimonio, identidad y turismo’, in López Morales, F. J. and Quiroz E. (eds). Coloquio Internacional
¿Salvaguarda vs Turismo? Desafíos en la gestión de los elementos del patrimonio, INAH, Mexico D.F., pp. 17–21.
24 Cabanillas, E. (2015), ‘Cultural impacts of community based tourism in Ecuador on the role of the shaman and magical-
religious rites’, Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo, 24 (2).
The community generally prefers to keep these rituals for the initiated and not to trivialize them.
There are other ways of informing visitors about religious practices, by visits to sacred places
that can be accompanied with explanations and even demonstrations, and where respect for the
community is defined jointly, determining whether or not photographs can be taken or other types
of interaction will be allowed.
As these cases show, there is a fragile line here, and crossing it can threaten the sustainability
of cultural heritage when tourism activity creates pressures that can affect the preservation of a
cultural form of expression. It is therefore essential to consider tourism in the planning process to
safeguard intangible cultural heritage, so it will not be seen as a threat, but rather as an opportunity.
It is essential to establish a compromise between tourism and culture policymakers, cultural and
tourism enterprises and community actors (principally those in the role of carrying on traditions).
Other authors introduced the concept of “cultural agreement”, meaning the right of a community
to reject or accept tourism as part of its development strategy.25
“Participation alone is not enough and its recognition does not eliminate the exclusion
and discrimination faced by some ethnic, local or popular cultural expressions. On the
one hand, cultural standards rank the value of cultural expressions and, on the other,
we cannot forget that socio-economic or socio-political conditions determine who can
take part in cultural life. According to the principle of equality this should be avoided,
which introduces a new concession between culture and development. To combine both
concepts, cultural policies must take account of the development and legal dimensions
from a cultural standpoint, to provide equal possibilities for development”.
Prieto de Pedro J. (2005)
Peru
Tourism and expressions of religious heritage

–– Pago de la Tierra [offerings to earth]. Andean ceremony of offerings to Pachamama o
Pachamanka (Mother Earth);
–– Nocturnal visit to the cemetery of the Presbítero Maestro, administered by the Sociedad de
Beneficencia de Lima (SBLM) [Charitable Society of Lima]; and
–– Celebrations associated with the liturgical calendar, such as the Virgin of Candelaria
(February) en Puno, the Carnival of Ayacucho (February), Holy Week of Huamanga in
Ayacucho, la Virgen de Chapi (May) in Arequipa, Corpus Christi (June) in Cuzco, or el Señor
de los Milagros (October) in Lima.
Spiritual tourism
Chavín de Huántar (Huari) in Ancash region, in addition to being an archeological tourist destination,
based on the Chavín culture, has become a centre for spiritual tourism. The Olleros – Chavín
Llama Trek has been structured as a three-day journey over Andean trails with experiences of
interaction with the community.
25 Robinson, M. (1999), ‘Por un turismo concertado’, in Turismo y cultura, compañeros de ruta, The Unesco Courier,
July-August, pp. 21.
Historical re-enactments
Inti Raimi – Cuzco Festival of the Sun. This theatrical work is an effort to interpret the ceremony
held in Inca times, from at least the time of Pachacutec. This ceremony was created by Faustino
Espinosa Navarro in 1944, based on texts from Garcilaso de la Vega.26 The Peruvian Congress
furthered its recognition through two laws dealing with such events: Law 27,425, which formalizes
national festivals dedicated to rituals of national identity, and Law 27,431, which recognizes Inti
Raimi de Cuzco as a ceremony of national interest: the country’s First National Identity Ritual.
International
Seals of quality
–– UNESCO Seal of Excellence in Handicrafts; and
–– Cocina Catalana brand for traditional Catalan cuisine.27
Tourism and expressions of religious heritage

–– Cuba: Casa-Templo de la Sociedad Abakuá, in Matanzas, with visits and explanations about
religion, though neither photography nor participation by the uninitiated are allowed;
–– Ecuador: Management Plan for the Church and Convent of San Francisco, in Quito,
coordinated by UNESCO, including several measures to bring visitors and tourists together
in cultural and religious activities promoted by the Franciscan Order in Ecuador; and
–– European Route of Significant Cemeteries.28
7.4 Culture, tourism and community: synergies for contributing jointly to

development
To pursue development based on a strategy of combining culture and tourism, a cultural tourism
network must be created and strengthened, involving all interested actors and promoting a
strategic alliance to generate synergies among culture, tourism and community. If the destination
chooses to strengthen cultural tourism it is essential to develop a strategic plan with objectives,
actions, results, indicators and a timetable for implementation. The costs and revenues and the
actors to be involved in managing or performing the actions all need to be evaluated.
The wheel need not be reinvented. It is important in creating these networks to consider existing
guidelines and recommendations. It is also important to consider a series of strategic objectives
to be achieved in such areas as the following:
Governance
A public-private working group needs to be created to promote action plans, including objectives,
activities, results, indicators, budget and actors involved, as well as a financing strategy. It is
26 Pacheco Medrano, K. (2007), Incas, indios y fiestas. Reivindicaciones y representaciones en la configuración de la identidad
cuzqueña, National Institute of Culture, Cusco.
27 www.cuinacatalana.eu.
28 www.cemeteriesroute.eu.
advisable to define the cultural and creative tourism niches and the profile of actual and potential
visitors and analyse visitor behaviour to define what administrative arrangements and rules will be
necessary. To facilitate governance, there are models that can be replicated and adapted always
to the local context: consortiums, networks, associations or clubs for cultural tourism
Sustainability
It is important to develop a sustainability strategy that is cross-cutting. Risk avoidance mechanisms

are available, such as studies on carrying capacity as required for highly frequented sites, such as
the Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, or Pátzcuaro, on UNESCO’s
intangible cultural heritage list, one of the principal destinations for the Day of the Dead. Permitting
inclusive access for all is important, and “open-door days” or participatory days can be introduced
to avoid excluding the community.
Capacity building
Cultural and creative initiatives need to provide tools for tourism management that make efficient
use of the destination’s cultural resources. Trained personnel are required at all levels, not only
in management. The action plan needs to include training and technical assistance activities for
interested actors in the community. It is essential to coordinate these with local universities and
training centres to ensure continuity and sustainability of these processes, which could include
applied research projects, specialized training and the development of joint projects.
Communication
In general, the lack of socialization and participation in the tourism planning process, between
culture and tourism and more generally between planners and community, has been detected as
one of the main weaknesses. It is essential to develop communication plans to ensure that the
local community as well as visitors are informed and involved.
Individuals and communities
Spaces need to be created for community participation in cultural tourism planning, in terms of
design as well as execution, since the quality of life for citizens stands to benefit from opportunity
and inclusiveness.
Cooperation networks
The creation of or participation in networks provides a space for sharing experiences and best
practices from a local, regional and international perspective.
Certification, quality seals and product brands
These initiatives can help to ensure the supply of quality products and services.
Peru
Networking
Qapac Ñan – Principal Andean Trail, included on the World Heritage List in 2014. The Ministry of
Culture of Peru is coordinating the general office for all of the project’s Andean countries.
International
Regional cooperation29
–– Mundo Maya. Regional tourism project connected with the main Maya sites included on the
World Heritage List in El Salvador (Joya del Cerén archeological site), Guatemala (Quiriguá
Archeological Park and Ruins, National Park of Tikal), and Mexico (Calakmu, ancient Mayan
city and protected tropical forests) and National Park of Palenque, prehispanic cities of
Chichén-Itzá and Uxmal); and
–– Vía Francigena, pilgrimage route between Canterbury (United Kingdom) and Rome (Italy).
Networking30
–– Colombia: Network of Heritage Villages.
–– Mexico: Magic Villages.
–– Spain: Jacobeo Council - St. James Way Culture and Urban Tourism, association of inbound
tourism service providers specialized in urban cultural tourism.
Financing models
More streamlined management entities have been created for World Heritage Sites as well as
trust funds, such as the model followed for the management plan for the San Francisco Church
and Convent in Quito, coordinated by UNESCO–Quito and financed by the Italian Agency for
International Cooperation.
Accessibility31
Accessible tourism – Tourism for all. In Catalonia, for example, there are 23 accessible destinations,
all with cultural tourism supply. A good example is the Santiago Trail in Catalonia which has audio
and audio-sign guides. Carpe Guiem is the leading tourism enterprise in Catalonia specialized in
guided visits for disabled persons, offering a wide range of cultural visits. It received the CHARTS
2014 award from the European Network of Cultural Tourism for the best European cultural tourism
product.
29 www.viafrancigena.eu.
30 www.mcu.es; www.culturayturismourbano.com.
31 www.turismeperatothom.com/es.
T 95
Chapter 8
Cultural contents utilization
With the kind contribution of Greg Richards
8.1 Intangible heritage, living culture and creative tourism
Our analysis of the current state of cultural tourism in Peru indicates that there are three basic
trajectories along which development can proceed in the future. Firstly, attention needs to be
paid to the shift from tangible to intangible culture in tourism experiences. This requires the
development of new management and marketing strategies capable of dealing with the more
diffused and personalised nature of experiences.
Secondly, there has been a significant change in the way in which tourism experiences are
produced and consumed, with a more active role for the consumer in terms of prosumption or
co-creation with the producer. Very often, the consumer has as much or even more knowledge
about the experiences they seek than the tourism industry, so producers have to be able to capture
and utilise the knowledge and skills of the tourist in developing experiences.
Thirdly, there is a need for Peru to develop experiences that can reduce the dependence of
cultural tourism on a narrow range of heritage products. Moving beyond Machu Pichu means
decentralising the supply of tourism experiences and translating heritage into living culture and
creativity.
With the shift from cultural towards experiential and creative tourism noted in chapter 4, there
is a much greater need to develop collaboration between stakeholders, including the tourists, in
order to develop engaging experiences. This will allow producers to deal more effectively with the
growing fragmentation of the tourism market and the demand for ‘local’ experiences:
“In accordance with the market segmentation researched by PromPerú, 39% of

tourists look for activities related to specific niches or diverse interests linked to real life
experiences, while the rest are interested in visiting iconic sites on traditional circuits. In
this way, niche and multi-themed activities tend to be more specialised. Moreover, they
attract tourists with higher average spending who are more adaptable to services”.
Sariego, L. and García, S. (2008)
The development of ‘living culture’ products and experiences implies giving tourists better access
to ‘everyday life’ in Peru. This also has the advantage that the economic, social and cultural
benefits of tourism development flow more directly to local communities – although it has to be
recognized that they will also experience the negative effects more directly as well.
At the UNWTO meeting on Community Empowerment through Creative Industries and Tourism
in Berlin in 2015, Amitava Bhattacharya, of Bangalantak.com, illustrated the advantages of a
community based approach to the development of living tourism. He emphasised that thinking
needs to shift away from investment in infrastructure towards investment in people to empower
them to develop tourism experiences. In the music hub developed in Gorbhanga, for example,
local musicians were able to increase their incomes from USD 10 a month in 2005 to USD 200
a month in 2014 through the development of ‘living tourism’ experiences. Such a shift requires
significant investment in human resources, as local people need to be facilitated in learning to deal
with visitors and to construct engaging experiences through animation and storytelling.
A general difficulty of developing such ‘living culture’ or ‘creative tourism’ experiences is that
locals often do not realize what is special about their culture, as many aspects of culture and
creativity that are interesting for tourists are simply part of everyday life for the locals. This makes
it important that local actors be involved in the identification of characteristic cultural and creative
experiences that can be developed for tourism.
In order to maximise the synergies between culture and tourism, it is important to take account
of the interdependency (culture and tourism), interculturality (harmony between tourism and
community) and interdisciplinarity (ability to use the different cultural knowledge and skills of the
community) of the cultural tourism system.
8.2 Existing and new products and services
In terms of the development of tourism products, services and experiences, there are challenges
related to the current deficiencies in supply and the relative lack of skills related to new experience
development. As the National Strategic Plan notes, there is limited capacity and variable quality of
tourism resources and services, particularly in regional destinations.
There seem to be a number of potential ways of addressing these problems, particularly through
the development of niche products and experiences that link tourism and local culture.
8.2.1 Creative hubs, districts and festivals
The development of creative centres can be an effective way of stimulating creative development
and establishing a link with tourism. The creative industries are in reality a kind of network in which
value is determined through social interaction among creative persons.1 It is therefore important
that these networks have locations in which members can come together and exchange ideas,
in order to create knowledge spillover and support innovation. For creative professionals this can
be a way of developing their services or careers, for local people this can be an effective way of
developing creative skills, cultural identities and social cohesion. There are numerous examples in
different parts of the world of creative centres developed and in operation.2
1 Potts, Jason D. et al. (2008), Social network markets: a new definition of the creative industries, Journal of Cultural
Economics, 32(3), pp. 166–185.
2 Marques, L. and Richards, G. (2014), Creative Districts Around the World (online), available at:
www.creativedistricts.imem.nl.
Cultural contents utilization 97
For example, on the creative cluster formed by the “Wari Ayllu Associated Workshops of Quinua”
association, which has 19 families who produce ceramics, textiles and altarpieces. With the
formation of their association, artisans have developed workshops with the help of financing from
NGOs and universities. The association markets its products through export and reception of
experiential tourism that respects the principles of fair trade and seeking to improve the quality
of life of its members. The workshops mainly engage people in the pottery and other local craft
products, using the skills of local people to develop engaging experiences for tourists.3
In the development of such creative hubs, attention needs to be paid to the link between creative
production and consumption. Many creative activities are not easily accessible for consumers,
and therefore need to be articulated with tourists in some way. This is an area in which the
development of creative festivals and events can be particularly important, because event provide
a synchronising mechanism to bring different stakeholder groups together at the same place and
time. In order to involve consumers more fully in the experience, strategies of co-creation also
need to be considered.4
8.2.2 Gastronomic tourism
The universal nature of food means that gastronomic experiences are among the most accessible
and inclusive. There are many successful examples of gastronomic tourism development in
Latin America, and the current popularity of Peruvian and New Andean Cuisine presents a good
opportunity for Peru in this market.5 Peru already engages in gastrodiplomacy activities to promote
Peruvian gastronomy and food abroad, and these can also be linked to tourism development and
promotion.
Peru’s ongoing gastrodiplomacy to promote the country’s food and cuisine abroad can be linked
to tourism development and promotion. In Chile, emphasis has been placed on the potential
for developing tourism in connection with quinoa, with special reference to the “growing global
recognition of the high nutritional value of quinoa and its biodiversity as heritage”.6 The authors
examine different strategies for tying quinoa to tourist experiences, including the development of
hiking trails in connection with quinoa and experiences related to the culture of quinoa and its use
in restaurants.
This underlines the need to encase such projects in a broader national or regional gastronomy
strategy that focuses on the synergies to be gained from the use of food as a stimulus to local
production, sustaining food cultures, attracting tourists and promoting Peru abroad.
3 Cayeman, C. (2014), ‘Creative artisans districts in the province of Lima’, in: Marques, L. and Richards, G. (eds.), Creative
districts around the world, Breda (online), available at: www.creativedistricts.imem.nl.
4 Crowther, P. and Orefice, C. (2014), ‘Co-creative events’, in: Richards, G.; Marques L. and Mein, K. (eds.), Event Design:
Social Perspectives and Practices, Routledge, London, pp. 122–136.
Cabanilla E. (2015), ‘Impactos culturales del turismo comunitario en Ecuador sobre el rol del chamán y los ritos mágico-
religiosos’, in Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo 24: pp. 356–373.
5 Schluter, R.G. (2012), ‘Promoting regional cuisine as intangible cultural heritage in Latin America’ in: Dodd, D. (ed.), Food
and the Tourism Experience, OECD, Paris, pp. 89–98.
6 Bazile, D.; Martinez, E.; Negrete, J.; Thomet, M.; Chia, E.; Hocde, H. and Nunez, L. (2011), Biocultural Heritage: Quinoa as
an important resource to be maintained through tourism experiences for food security in the face of climate change. Paper
presented at Tourism and Heritage: Opportunities and Challenges for Conservation Geography conference of the Tourism
Commission of the International Geographical Union, Valparaiso, Chile, 10–13 November 2011.
8.2.3 Homestay tourism
One approach to the development of accommodation capacity, particularly in the regions,

is to support local forms of accommodation, including homestays and hostels. The desire of
many tourists to experience local life means that many are willing to stay in locally run forms of
accommodation, as the success of Airbnb attests.
There are a number of forms of community-based tourism that can be developed to support local
accommodation development:7
–– Village tourism: tourists visiting villages on day tours or staying overnight in local
accommodation, eating local cuisine and experiencing village life and cultural traditions;
–– Ecotourism: often ecotourism and village tourism are combined with the tourists experiencing
both the natural environment and local cultural patterns of the villages;
–– Arts and crafts tourism: can include stopovers on day tours or longer-term stays with the
tourists living in the village and learning about the arts and crafts;
–– Rural tourism, with tourists staying in farmhouses or small-scale accommodation and
experiencing farming activities, touring nearby areas, and often engaging in local recreation
activities such as hiking and fishing; and
–– Agrotourism, a type of rural tourism, with tourists visiting on day tours or staying overnight
on farms, livestock ranches or plantations specifically to observe and engage in agricultural
activities.
“For tourists it’s an added value because they don’t stay in a hotel, which is a very cold experience,
where they don’t have very much contact with local people, they stay, they eat the food that they
prepare for them, and this is the best part, isn’t it? I think this is the new trend in tourism and
it’s something quite positive”, according to a person interviewed in a recent study on tourism
development in Peru8.
Such encounters can also be used to support local cultures, traditions and creativity, although
care has to be taken to avoid local culture losing its meaning through a tourist-imposed notion of
‘authenticity’.9
“Small, remote and traditional communities are increasingly beginning to experience

significant attention from tourism, as an increasing number of travellers wish to experience
living cultures and traditional ways of life. Both the advantages and disadvantages of
tourism are arriving in small and traditional communities, often ill prepared to deal with
them. Sometimes a community is suddenly “discovered” and tourists arrive in numbers
which stress the capacity of the community to cope. Other destinations may have more
time to prepare and to make decisions on how much of what kind of tourism they want”.
7 World Tourism Organization (2002), Enhancing the economic benefits of tourism for local communities and poverty
alleviation, UNWTO, Madrid.
8 Carnaffan, S. J. (2010), Peru: Land of the Incas? Development and Culture in responsible, homestay tourism in Peru.
PhD Thesis, Newcastle University, Tyne and Wear.
9 Ibid.
8.2.4 Adventure tourism
Adventure tourism includes ‘cultural activities’ according to a recent UNWTO report, which defines
adventure tourism as:
“A trip that includes at least two of the following three elements: physical activity, natural
environment, and cultural immersion. While the definition of adventure tourism only
requires two of these components, trips incorporating all three tend to afford tourists
the fullest adventure travel experience – for example, a trip to Peru that involved trekking
(physical activity) through the Machu Picchu trail (natural environment) and genuine
interaction with local residents and/or indigenous peoples (cultural immersion).
UNWTO and ATTA (2014)
The report indicated that the adventure travel sector was worth USD 263 billion in 2013, and
constituted one of the fastest growing sectors of global tourism. In fact, much of the ‘adventure
tourism’ sector includes cultural activities, such as learning a language or visiting historic sites.
In this sense there is a close link between adventure tourism and cultural tourism, particularly in
destinations such as Peru.
The report also notes that adventure tourism has a number of advantages, including:
–– Resilience: Adventure tourists are passionate and risk-taking and therefore not easily
dissuaded from travelling or visiting remote regions;
–– High value customers: Adventure tourists are willing to pay a premium for exciting and
authentic experiences. Adventure operators have reported an average spend of USD 3,000
per person;
–– Supporting local economies; and
–– Encouraging sustainable practices.10
There is therefore considerable potential in developing cultural experiences as part of adventure

tourism, and vice versa. This will require close collaboration between tourism intermediaries and
local communities.
8.3 Cultural routes: local, national and international
Some authors point out that the Inca Trail is an important brand for Peru.11
Having been promoted internationally through guidebooks and trekking operators, the trail became
a popular ‘experiential pilgrimage’ destination, leading to environmental problems caused by the
intensity of use of some sections of the trail.12 The most established and heavily touristed circuit
takes in Lima, the Nasca Lines, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca, Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
10 World Tourism Organization and Adventure Travel Trade Association (2014), Global Report on Adventure Tourism, UNWTO
and ATTA, Madrid.
11 Timothy, D. J. and Boyd, S. W. (2015), Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues, Channel View,
Bristol.
12 Maxwell, K. (2012), ‘Tourism, Environment and Development on the Inca Trail’, in: Hispanic American Historical Review 2012,
volume 92, no. 1, pp. 143–171.
This concentration makes it difficult to establish a wider network of trails to spread tourism to new
regions.13
“Tourism becomes established around certain ‘points’, or centres, and along ‘corridors’.
Tourism in rural communities also depends on ease of access, that is, good roads and
proximity to tourist centres.. there needs to be a pre-existing tourist infrastructure in
terms of access and services for rural homestay tourism to become established. Very
remote, rural communities are not ear-marked for homestay projects because of difficulty
of access”.
Carnaffan, S. J. (2010)
However, there are now some moves in this direction, with the Cuzco-Puno Corridor/Rural Tourism
Network achiving reasonal results in rural and tourism development:
“The number of users reached was much greater than planned (more than 48,000, belonging to
44,000 families, almost triple the 15,000 families projected in design). […] [Many users] gained
access to new markets and outlets, improved their business information management and, as
a result, were able to charge higher prices” according to the International Fund for Agricultural
Development, in 2006.
In Chile specific efforts are also being made to develop local and regional tourist circuits. The
Ministry of National Assets created “Rutas Patrimoniales”, [Heritage Routes] allowing access to
natural spaces with high landscape and historical value throughout the country.14 This programme
has 65 routes classified into four categories: natural routes, cultural routes, human rights routes,
and indigenous routes. The programme aims to:
–– Become a gateway to all Chileans in the knowledge of the beauty of our territory, our local
expressions for your enjoyment;
–– Contribute to the development and projection of local identities in a world of increasing
globalization; and
–– Encourage the development and diversification of small and medium enterprises at local and
regional level, promoting sustainable tourism; while expanding and improving alternative use
of leisure time of the population.
This programme is a potentially interesting example because it emphasizes the need to develop
tourism products on the basis of domenstic tourism in order to create sufficient critical mass to
operate the services that can also cater for international tourists. It requires a re-orientation of
policies. According to UNWTO:
“The economy of Peru is experiencing a time of growth and consolidation in the

international market, thanks above all to the programmed investments of the private
and public sectors. Peru’s tourism sector expects domestic tourism to be incentivized,
especially along the micro tourism routes. Promoting micro tourism (short routes), which
13 Carnaffan, S. J. (2010), Peru: Land of the Incas? Development and Culture in responsible, homestay tourism in Peru.
PhD Thesis, Newcastle University, Tyne and Wear.
14 www.rutas.bienes.cl.
are very low-cost, generates and incentivizes tourism awareness. Foreign investment in
the sector has remained constant in recent years and is directed to essentially toward
inbound tourism.”
8.4 Intra-inter communication mechanism
In communicating effectively in international markets, there is a need to encapsulate the special

nature of Peruvian culture, emphasising the link between culture, nature and landscape. This
seems to be the direction that PromPerú is moving in its latest campaigns.
8.4.1 Tourist culture and behavior
Peru has an apparently paradoxical position in regard to tourist culture. It is one of the countries
in the world with the highest level of inbound ‘cultural tourism’ (measured in terms of tourists
undertaking cultural activities), and yet the concentration of tourists at a few key sites means that
much of Peruvian culture is overlooked by tourists.
One particular problem of decentralising inbound tourism flows is the length of stay for international
visitors, 10 days on average in 2013. This means that tourists have a time-pressured programme
which reinforces the tendency to only see the highlights. In developing a stronger and more diverse
tourist culture, it is therefore also important to look for time-rich visitor groups who can engage in
more ‘slow tourism’15 forms of travel.
One prospect in this respect are youth travellers, who spend longer travelling than the average
tourist, and are also more likely to get ‘off the beaten track’. Youth tourists aged between
25 and 34 currently account for 32% of all international arrivals to Peru. Research by WYSE
Travel Confederation also indicates that backpackers visiting Latin America tend to be relatively
advanced in their ‘travel careers’, which means they are likely to be relatively adventourous
and have more money to spend.16 Partnerships with specialist youth travel providers and the
development of targeted social media campaigns can be very effective in reaching this segment.
The demand for youth travel in Peru is being matched by an expansion of hostel accommodation
aimed at this market. In 2012 Peru ranked fourth in terms of countries with the highest levels of
planned hostel expansion.17
15 Such tourists prefer to travel at a more relaxed pace, visiting fewer places and staying longer in each, making the destination
itself an opportunity to experiment up close with local life, history and culture.
16 WYSE Travel Confederation (2013), New Horizons III, WYSETC, Amsterdam.
17 STAY WYSE (2012), Youth Travel Accommodation Survey, WYSE TC.

Table 8.1 Planned youth travel accommodation expansion by country (2012)

Country No. of new establishments planned
Spain 16
Brazil 15
United States of America 13
Peru 12
Malaysia 11
Source: STAY WYSE (2012).
Other groups that also have a tendency to stay a relatively long time in the destination (and also
have higher spend levels) are:
–– Ecotourists;
–– Creative tourists;
–– Adventure tourists; and
–– Gastronomic tourists - 10% of foreign tourists listed gastronomy as a motivation in 2013
(PromPerú)
Attention needs ot be paid to the best means of communicating with these different groups.
In many cases there are specific affinity groups that can provide a useful means of access to
these markets, such as gastronomic clubs or groups related to specific creative activities (such as
photography, textiles, ceramics or painting).
8.4.2 Public and private sector relationships
In developing sustainable cultural tourism, stakeholder collaboration is vital. Given the current
tendency to concentrate on isolated projects, there is an imporant role for government to play in
terms of overall coordination and facilitation of stakeholder collaboration.
The relative lack of tourism and general infrastructure also means that public sector leadership
is important in this area. In order for tourists to reach more areas of the country and to penetrate
new tourism regions more development of basic transport infrastructure is needed, and this needs
to be linked to adequate development of accommodation and attraction facilites by the private
sector. The private sector also has a leading role in the development of new tourism experiences
in cultural and creative tourism. To create the conditions for effective public sector leadership,
there is also a need, as identified in the National Tourism Strategy for a shift from seeing tourism
as theoretically important to making it practically important.
There is also a role for government in providing the market information needed to stimulate other
stakeholders to become implicated in development processes. This should involve more targeted
research on cultural segments, covering motivations and actual tourist behaviour and encounters
with local people, cutural and creative experiences, to understand what these niche markets are
seeking and which aspects of the experience need to be developed and improved.
There is an argument for promoting a ‘triple helix’ model in which government, the private sector
and educational organizations collaborate in development processes. This system basically links
the facilitation role of the public sector with experience development by the private sector and
knowledge and skill development by education and training organizations.
In the Peruvian case, however, there is a case to be made for a ‘quadruple helix’ model of
governance in which local communities and civil society also plays a more direct role in the
development of tourism. This is consistent with the idea of a ‘tourism culture’ as outlined by
PromPerú, but perhaps most importantly it links directly with the role of local communities in
developing experiences for tourism which provide more access to ‘living culture’ and locally-
based experiences. As experience in other areas (for example Ecuador and Thailand) has shown,
there is a need to take a long-term view of the capacity-building process for local communities,
who are often unaware of the cultural and creative riches that they possess.
This is also a question of seeing the world through the eyes of local communities, and not taking
econoimc benefit as the only form of advantage to be derived from tourism. In addition to top-
down direction from Foreign Travel Operators and Destination Management Organizations, there
needs to be involvement and facilitation of local communities on their own terms. This requires
intensive collaboration between communities, public organizations and private companies.
The implication of the local population can be increased by giving local people more knowledge
of their local area. In this sense, the development of a ‘culture of tourism’ among Peruvians
as envisaged through schemes such as the local routes in Chile would help to strengthen the
implication of local communities in tourism. It would also help local people to be able to define
experiences related to local culture that are more closely suited to tourist needs.
The development of new segments of tourism also needs to be based in experiences rather than
market segments. At the moment the National Tourism Strategy still identifies segments such as
El mejor prospecto de vacacionista [top potential holidaymakers] as the key object for marketing.
However, in order to articulate better with local cultural, creativity and communities, it is important
to define tourism experiences that can be developed locally and then targeted at different tourists,
according to their needs.
Commercialization of new cultural tourism products is a task that basically needs to be undertaken
by the private sector, with appropriate support from the public sector. Because Peru already has
a rich base of cultural resources, there is a lot of potential to commercialize existing resources
by adding narrative and interpretation, especially where this is capable of linking tangible and
intangible cultural resources. Such commercialization should involve collaboration between the
local community (as originator and owner of the cultural narratives), local tourism operators and
(inter)national tour operators and suppliers. Local initiatives could be supported by knowledge
exchange at national level through the creation of a network of cultural destinations, along the
lines of the ‘Culture Club’ of cultural tourism organizations in Catalunya.18
18 www.act.cat.
T 105
Chapter 9
System of tourism policies: heritage management
9.1 Mechanisms for collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Trade

and Tourism and the Ministry of Culture
One of the main challenges in developing cultural tourism is to take advantage of the tourism
resource offered by a country’s cultural heritage, while at the same time preserving its values and
contending with the risks that tourism marketing may entail. Nonetheless, strategies centered on
obtaining the benefits of tourism based on cultural heritage are now a universal and fundamental
phenomenon. They increase the global value of cultural heritage and also help to improve the
quality of life for members of the community.
In Peru, different ministries are responsible for tourism policies on the one hand and business
activities related to heritage on the other, which can make effective cooperation difficult. The
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism should be responsible for coordinating all of the areas
involved, and especially the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Environment – but also others,
including Transportation and Communications, Health and Education.
In recent decades, the public institutional structure for tourism has been consolidated. It now
consists of PromPerú, the Vice Ministry for Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of
Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Relations, in addition to 25 regional offices for tourism
development, with budget and decision-making autonomy, and local municipal governments, also
with their own tourism offices, budget and decision-making powers.
In the case of the Ministry of Culture, one of its missions is to preserve cultural heritage. It was
determined, for instance, that the use of cultural resources must be limited to the culture and
artistic production industry. The Ministry of Culture ensures that cultural policies have the purpose
of achieving, through culture, coexistence in society between the values of change and those of
social cohesion.
The essential issues with respect to culture are remembering history and thinking about society,
with the aim of improving the quality of life. Particular attention is given to preserving the national
cultural heritage, which the Ministry of Culture is responsible for protecting and preserving.
Cultural heritage in Peru is regulated by Law 28296, General Law on the Cultural Heritage of the
Nation. The law says that all tangible and intangible cultural heritages are intrinsically important.
One of the directorates of the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate of Cultural Industries and Arts,
is responsible for collaborating with the cultural industries and related interests and for promoting
artistic creativity. Value is added by the production of videos, publications or spaces in the new
communication media. All of the opportunities the creative industries could offer the tourism
sector, however, may be underestimated.
Closer relations between the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism and the Ministry of Culture could
strengthen the value of culture. In other words, even though the strategy for tourism development
represents a very important part of Peru’s strategy for national development, it appears that the
cultural sector does not consider the use of tourism resources to be a matter of priority.
It is also important to point out that greater promotion of Peru’s cultural heritage will require
a better management system. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism prepared a National
Strategic Plan for Tourism for the period 2008–2018. It contains strategic, specific and practical
recommendations for tourism development in Peru. It also offers a summary of the short- and
long-term measures that need to be adopted in the public as well as private sector. This plan
stresses the need for policies to strengthen tourism’s contribution to sustainable development of
the country. Certain elements of the programme are described below:
–– Regional level, the development of tourism infrastructure: sanitation, electricity, connectivity,
transport, waste management and guidelines for infrastructure and basic tourism services;
–– Communication, promotion, and marketing: benefits derived from the broad variety of jobs in
the sectors related to tourism and summary of the measures to consolidate those benefits;
–– Coordination and management at the institutional level: this section describes the current
situation of the tourism industry and stresses the need for collaboration between public and
private sectors. In particular, the domestic tourism strategy emphasizes that it should be well
established at the regional level that external agencies should participate on the advisory
committee and in the regional tourism sector to develop private-sector investments in the
tourism industry; and
–– Tourism development: discusses the difficulties associated with developing a public tourism
sector at the national level without investments from the private sector. This is particularly
true at the local level in order to create specific tourism products, highlight the aspects
that should be addressed in preparing a programme for tourism in cooperation with the
agricultural sector, or develop high quality human resources to perform that work. It would
also be useful to examine questions related to handicrafts and craft products.
Here, special attention needs to be given to the economic repercussions of tourism, aspects of
the marketing strategies and tourism infrastructure as well as the fact that tourists are a decisive
factor for progress in the tourism industry. In most cases similar characteristics arise in the early
stages of the tourism development strategy.
To develop the cultural heritage of Peru as a tourist attraction it is essential to implement specific
political strategies at the national level. Otherwise the tourism synergies cannot be achieved at
the national level and at the cultural heritage areas where tourists are principally concentrated.
While Peru’s cultural heritage offers an excellent resource, with infinitely diverse possibilities for
organizing content, following a “one source multiple uses” (OSMU) strategy, it will not be possible
to take advantage of all of the derived benefits without the preparation of a concrete and practical
political strategy. Some of the main forms of tourism supply with respect to cultural heritage are
therefore focused only on market behaviour, as opposed to more general effects or synergies at
the national level.
In that context, close collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign
Trade and Tourism is an imperative necessity. It is also of vital importance to ensure better
coordination with the Ministry of Environment, which is responsible for managing the country’s
natural resources.
System of tourism policies: heritage management 107
Another recommendation to take into account would be the creation of a National Competitiveness
Council to act as control entity between the various agencies responsible for Peru’s cultural
heritage.
In short, the conceptual key of this proposal should be the viability of good relations between
cultural tourism and the conservation and protection of natural and cultural resources. This line
of work should be formalized in a national policy on cultural tourism that involves the various
ministries in an effective way, as well as interested regional and local governments and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs as strategic ally abroad.
9.1.1 Strategies for developing a system of professionals trained in cultural tourism
At the beginning of the 1980s, the first university departments of tourism were established.
Currently more than 120 universities in the country have such a department. The most important
tourism training centre in Peru is the Centro de Formación en Turismo (CENFOTUR), established
36 years ago and virtually the only public institution dedicated to tourism training. The centre does
good work in the areas of training and education for operational personnel but there are gaps in
terms of university training and competitiveness in tourism-related subjects.
Training is provided in hotel services, food preparation and service, restaurant services, services
related to accommodation and travel and those related to basic tourism infrastructure. According
to internal data provided by CENFOTUR, 85% of its graduates find jobs. Half of the students
specialized in the hotel sector, 15% in food, 20% in tourism administration and 5% in guide
services.
This institution, which is the most important in the areas with tourist attractions in Peru, is the only
one that focuses on the training and employment of workers in the field. There are individuals with
the training necessary to plan the most modern responses to the rapidly evolving tourism market.
New institutions are being created to address these new trends, though still subject to limitations.
The development of cultural tourism requires training for a wide variety of professionals, such
as programme planners, specialists in local culture, experts in gastronomic tourism, festival
organizers, professional narrators, cultural tourism coordinators, tourism route guides and experts
on culture and tourism.
The development of cultural tourism also requires the availability of experts in various fields. This
cannot be assured automatically: it does not depend solely on the establishment of a tourism
infrastructure but is based on processes that take time. Professional training for this sector is
therefore a fundamental element of the strategy for developing cultural resources for the purposes
of tourism.
It is important to recognize human assets as the principal axis on which cultural management
rotates. It is particularly urgent to have professionals who are qualified to manage relations with
UNESCO in the field of heritage and research; ensure effective conservation, management and use
of World Heritage Sites; communicate their own specific knowledge and establish a professional
organization related to their work, for the preparation of a good training programme.
9.1.2 Diversification of tourist destinations through cultural heritage
As indicated earlier in this document, a problem that arises in connection with cultural tourism
in Peru is the tendency of the public to focus on particular places with cultural heritage. It is
therefore essential to establish a diversification strategy and improve accessibility to different
cultural resources.
Peru is obviously a very attractive destination. It offers a great variety of archaeological and cultural
resources that will play a decisive part in defining the future of tourism in Peru.
Tourism has a considerable effect on the economy, in particular compared to other sectors. Peru’s
tourism industry has taken giant steps in recent years. The number of inbound tourists doubled
over the last 10 years, and yet their visits were limited to a few places only. It is therefore crucial
to extend tourism activities and destinations throughout the country.
Machu Picchu is a tourist attraction where sustainable development as well as cultural and
environmental development can be observed. It has been subjected to strict regulations
to minimize the damage caused by an excessive number of tourists. Peruvian authorities are
concentrating only on Machu Picchu and Cuzco, continuing to view tourist routes from a one-
dimensional perspective, as reflected also in resource limitations.
Greater intervention on the part of the country’s tourism policymakers is also needed. PromPerú is
a national organization whose purpose is to position the Peru brand and promote tourism, exports
and business competitiveness through expanded international trade. The mechanism dates
back to the 1990s, and out of its 300 employees, 80 are dedicated to tourism-related activities.
PromPerú performs functions in the area of international cooperation, carries out international
cooperation projects and endeavours to improve export capacity toward the European market.
Promotion of the tourism industry and of tourism requires the organization of a system of tourism
content prepared for continual updating. At the same time, intensification of the efforts and
economic value added will help to market tourism using various tactics. To do that, professionals
are needed to perform the tasks correctly. These professionals will be responsible for initiating a
system to improve the training of human resources in tourism, giving them the necessary training
and thus helping to create jobs in new sectors. These professionals of course share their work with
the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism. However, it appears that the current tourism policies of
the Peruvian government adhere more closely to the public relations strategy of PromPerú, whose
major priority is the establishment of a specific roadmap for the preparation of new strategies for
cultural tourism product development.
9.1.3 Cooperation among the central government, local authorities and the community
The central government and local authorities need to establish a system of close cooperation
to consolidate value added vis-à-vis the local cultural heritage. The Global Sustainable Tourism
Council (GSTC) considers Machu Picchu, Cuzco and the Sacred Valley corridor important assets
for the sustainable development of one of the most opulent resources of Peru and perhaps all of
South America. It therefore emphasizes the need for proper planning, referring in this particular
case to tourism management systems and especially a business system based on the community’s
economic interests.
Limitations with respect to Peru’s tourism infrastructure make rapid growth in this sector difficult.
On the other hand, if access can be strengthened and visits can be channeled to a greater number
of places with cultural heritage of interest, an expansion in sustainable tourism is achievable over
the long term.
Complaints about air transport have been numerous, particularly from local residents upset that
international flights do not land at local airports. Domestic tourism is concentrated in the capital,
Lima. The geographical characteristics of Peru place a limit on the short-term expansion of
infrastructure for ground transport. Long-term infrastructure planning should therefore provide for
a gradual expansion in the available connections to local and regional destinations.
9.2 Tourism policy system
9.2.1 Agreements for consolidation of a roadmap
The link between sound and practical national tourism policies, planning and environment needs
to be strengthened. According to World Bank data, Peru’s GDP has increased by 6.8% per year
over the last 10 years.1 The tourism industry has been growing rapidly thanks to a better economic
situation and improved security.
The National Strategic Plan for Tourism 2008–2018 contains a series of strategic guidelines
for tourism that have made it possible to actively promote international tourist arrivals to the
country. This document proposes several strategies to increase the competitiveness of tourism.
Possibilities for optimizing the effects of tourism in line with the concept of sustainable tourism
generally are also highlighted.
This document places particular emphasis on four points: modernization of tourism infrastructure,
the improvement of transport and communications, investment in promotional activities and
technological advances through the combined efforts of the public and private sectors.
9.2.2 Coordination and cooperation between the public and private sectors
To lay a sound foundation for tourism development, close cooperation between the public and
private sectors is essential. Since the start of the 1990s, Peru has pursued an open door policy,
particularly with respect to trade. It signed Free-Trade Agreements (FTA) with the United States of
America and several Asian countries. It has similar agreements with 92 countries and has closed
an agreement on visa exemptions.
Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico form part of an economic integration mechanism to permit the
unhindered circulation of various goods and services throughout their territories. This, of course,
1 www.bancomundial.org
applies to the tourism sector as well, which facilitates border crossings for those wishing to visit
any of those countries.
Peru’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policies have opened up the market and removed
impediments to foreign capital investment. The same fiscal measures are applied to nationals
and foreigners to avoid placing the latter at a disadvantage when they invest in the country. The
principles of free trade now prevail. They consist of trade agreements between countries, freedom
of investment for foreign capital, and the unfettered flow of capital within and across borders,
thanks to the provisions adopted by such a broad range of public and private sector agents that
the market can be considered almost completely open.
While on the one hand these policies help to strengthen the country’s economic capacity for free
competition and a thriving private sector, on the other hand, placing extreme limitations on the
State’s ability to intervene could undermine its national leadership role in driving development
strategy.
Another point to consider is the recent surge in Peru in the number of foundations and similar
entities dedicated to the protection and conservation of heritage, tangible as well as intangible.
These include the Peruvian Chapter of the World Monuments Fund, established in 2012, as well as
the Mario Testino Foundation, the Breca Foundation (soon to be launched), the BBVA Continental
Foundation, the Tourism and Gastronomy Departments of the University of San Martín de Porres,
the Backus Foundation, the Wiese Foundation and others.
9.3 System of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)
The professional and technical capacity for public management of tourism has been strengthened
in Peru over the last decade. Profiled strategies are now in place for inbound and domestic tourism
that have been producing visible and quantitative results.
However, the norm for higher education in tourism studies (at universities and institutes) is geared
to business administration and specific professional qualifications, such as guide services,
gastronomy, bartending, etc.
It is therefore urgent to plan comprehensively for the professionalization of tourism workers. The
system should have a mechanism for human resource training that responds to current demand
in the tourism sector and prepares professionals serving tourism industry segments where future
demand is projected.
The biggest problem is an excessive preponderance of informal labour in Peru, which creates an
imbalance between the supply and demand of human resources. According to the experts, up to
79% of employment in Peru is informal, which directly affects the possibilities for offering some
very attractive expressions of cultural tourism, particularly community tourism. This informality is
also an obstacle to gaining more economic impact for the community from the cultural industries
and make it difficult for tourism enterprises to include certain community experiences in their
supply, complicating both the marketing of local products and opening the way for enterprises
that are formal but which on occasion trade in community experiences that may be of inferior
quality and authenticity.
A complete survey is still needed on the imbalance between worker supply and demand in the
national tourism sector. Only restaurants and hotels have been surveyed so far. Employees are
often hired through unofficial channels. In consequence, some enterprises in representative sectors
or industries (airlines, food service, hotels, etc.) cannot exist unless a system or programme is in
place to ensure systematic training of human resources in the tourism sector. At the current time
sufficient data are not available for a precise analysis of the mechanism for recruiting, and the
situation of, employees in the tourism sector. This makes it impossible to project demand and the
vicious circle continues.
It is clear that the current system of higher education does not meet this need. It is organized by
institutions not directly concerned with tourism, since the official evaluations consider the current
public education system as an independent training programme. As a result, private institutions
are as common as public ones in many situations (see the case of CENFOTUR), but of course
there are no statistical data available to identify those situations.
The biggest difficulty is attempting to train new employees in the tourism sector by correcting
deficiencies in the existing training programmes for this sector. According to data provided in
2014 by the Ministry of Trade and Tourism, of the 5856 persons to be hired in the tourism sector,
only 167 were professionals and 138 technical experts. So the greatest concentration of personnel
to be hired by these enterprises consists of unspecialized service workers, suggesting that more
trained professionals, such as specialized bilingual guides, are still needed to provide quality
cultural tourism experiences.
The cultural tourism programme referred to in this study depends on human resource training
combined with efforts to strengthen value added to related services with the relevant context and
content. Training is also required in marketing and to encourage the local population to develop
its own forms of tourism supply.
According to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, demand for
professionals represents only 3% of total demand. Promotion of the cultural tourism sector will
unquestionably require the presence of several experts in the field, although there is currently
virtually no demand for specialists. Demand is focused largely on unskilled service labour.
Figure 9.1 Peru: demand for labour in the tourism sector by occupational group
(absolute terms and %)
Employees 964 (16.5)
Service workers 3,712 (63.4)
Workers 875 (14.9)

Total 5.856
Professionals 167 (2.9)
Technical experts (2.4)
Note: The sum of the parts may not equal the total, because the figures have been rounded.
Information on the managerial and executive group is not provided, because it is not representative.
Source: MINCETUR (2014).
The restaurant sector is no exception when it comes to predominately low-wage salaries, with the
exception of a few experts usually hired on a very short-term basis. The low wages are necessary
to create new jobs in the tourism sector so as to respond growing world demand. Worker skills
should also be strengthened through parallel training courses.
9.3.1 Management mechanisms
The most important aspect of tourism policy is clearly understanding the current situation. Priority
should be given to ensuring that information about the hiring and training of employees in the
cultural tourism sector is systematically obtained, which would require the introduction of a
system to manage that information.
An effective human resource management system is as essential to tourism development as

are investments in tourism infrastructure. In Peru, however, more training opportunities need to
be provided, both with respect to tourism-related practices as taught in public education and
the criteria for selecting tourist attractions. As in other sectors, human resources in the tourism
industry are characterized by a high proportion of informal service jobs, a situation perpetuated
by the difficult market conditions in this environment.
It is also recommended that a plan be developed to address the labour market imbalance and
improve the system for monitoring the tourism market, the information on tourism, the system of
members and the quality of the human resource management system.
9.3.2 Specialized human resources
Comparing its competitiveness in tourism to that of 141 other countries, Peru ranks 63rd in terms
of the quality and competitiveness of human resources, 61st in terms of worker qualifications,
and 92nd in terms of extended worker training. Given that the competitiveness of its natural and
cultural resources ranks 16th, the country’s rankings with respect to human resources appear
quite low.
Content and instruments are extremely important to tourism development, but the quality of workers
increases the value added of tourism resources. If tourism professionals are not continuously
dedicated to creating new value, it will be difficult to maintain lasting growth in this sector.
To do so, it is absolutely necessary for the relevant ministries to work on a joint basis. For the
moment, however, collaboration and cooperation on policy matters between different Peruvian
agencies appear quite limited. Relations between the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Trade and
Tourism in particular require in-depth study and improvement.
To achieve results, the high value of tourism and interministerial coordination on policy matters
need to be consolidated. Good human resource management is essential to achieving both
objectives. In addition, recent increases in rural tourism, ecotourism, gastronomic tourism
and diverse tourism programmes centered on experience, reveal incipient demand for tourism
professionals to develop and manage such programmes.
9.3.3 Legislation and certification for cultural tourism guides
Peru’s tourism certification system is a positive factor. However, the country’s tourism agencies
grant that certification directly, a set-up sometimes at odds with reliability. The national certification
system in the tourism industry requires systematic integration in order to identify and manage
the conditions of supply and demand in the sector, by means of an appropriate mechanism to
facilitate a rapid response in accordance with the relevant policies. It is essential for specialists to
take the measures necessary in this regard. When certification is issued, the institution conferring
the certification, the regulating agencies and related educational institutions must remain mutually
independent.
Introducing a certification system requires the adoption of multiple provisions. Decisions must
be made, for example, about the criteria for determining the type of tourism certification to be
issued, the registration of recognized qualifications at the national level, selection of the institution
responsible for tourism certification, development of a training programme, the system for
managing certification and creation of a mechanism to manage and evaluate it, preparation of the
manual, the institutes of higher education, the professional training centres and the standardization
of knowledge to raise the level of university studies in tourism, as well as the interaction between
qualifications in the tourism sector and the standards for developing a training system.
Measures need to be taken to encourage the adaptation of human resources and the tourism
sector, considering the new characteristics of tourism that have been emerging in recent years. At
a time when the tendencies in the sector are evolving rapidly, with a surge in new forms of tourism,
such as ecotourism, adventure tourism, gastronomic tourism, medical tourism, social tourism,
educational tourism and others, a great variety of resources are being combined and demand for
mixed products as well as specialized tourist attractions is increasing.
T 115
Conclusions and recommendations

As described in this document, and based on the input received from UNWTO’s team of experts,
it is clear that strengthening the strategic alliance among tourism, culture and community in
Peru offers multiple development opportunities that would be beneficial for all three parts of this
triangular relationship.
As indicated by the experts in their contributions to the study, this combination can serve as a
strategic tool to improve the quality of life in local communities, offer new job opportunities and
income and help to create ties between tourists and residents, promoting a culture of encounter
that enriches both parties.
Thus, tourism and culture can work together to advance development and social stability, putting
people in contact with different ethnic identities, religions and ways of life and offering them a
space in which to experience living traditions first-hand and thus helping to foster understanding
and mutual respect.
Tourism and culture can also work together to help protect and conserve heritage by managing
tourism responsibly, raising awareness among tourists and host communities and ensuring
coordination and collaboration between conservation and tourism. It needs to be recalled that
culture is not something static, but a dynamic, continually changing phenomenon, offering multiple
opportunities if managed in a sustainable way. It must also be recalled that the concept of culture
is intrinsically linked to living and intangible culture, which is in continuous transformation.
In Peru, cultural and creative tourism also present an opportunity for diversification and the
sustainable development of tourism destinations and products, by reducing seasonality and
decentralizing supply geographically.
It must be emphasized finally that cultural tourism development represents an enormous

opportunity to help reduce poverty and social conflict by contributing in particular to processes of
social inclusion and gender equity.
Recommendations
Taking into account the benefits described above, resulting from a dynamic interaction among
tourism, culture and community, the main recommendations arising from this study are as follows:
Research and cultural identity
The intrinsic relationship among tourism, culture and community needs to be better understood
through scientific studies and research on each of these interrelated aspects. Market research to
profile cultural tourist motivations and behaviour, for instance, would help to identify new cultural
products and develop new tourism segments based on the experiences observed.
This study has shown that developing the cultural identity of each community is a key aspect for
the development of any tourism product or service related to culture in Peru. Exploring that cultural
identity can result in the short term in new tourism products of great value, for international as well
as domestic tourists. Thus, the promotion of tourism products based on heritage and culture can
be of considerable benefit to small and medium-sized tourism establishments.
Coordination across sectors
As an activity that cuts across sectors, tourism needs to take the lead in coordinating with the
other areas, especially culture, environment, transport and communications, security, education
and health, establishing an action plan and monitoring framework for the implementation of
cultural tourism programmes.
It is recommended specifically to develop tourism management plans for heritage sites with the
participation of the different areas of government concerned in some way with tourism, such
as culture, environment, infrastructure, transport and others. For the design of these plans it is
essential to obtain input from the private sector and the active participation of the communities
where these heritage sites are located to ensure that benefits flow back to them.
It is also recommended to strengthen coordination among the different regions of the country to
optimize the results of cultural tourism development for the territory. It is essential in that regard
to design training and awareness programmes for public authorities, private businesses and
members of local and regional communities.
Public-private cooperation
Another area requiring attention is interaction between the public and private sectors in
structuring, promoting and marketing tourism products. Strengthening public-private cooperation
with communities can help to mitigate the effect of globalization and strengthen “glocalization”
based on cultural diversity, innovation and the creation of new products, such as cultural routes.
Along the same lines, networking needs to be promoted between public administrations, the
private sector, professional associations, the academic sector and international organizations in
developing creative cultural tourism projects. A public-private sector working group could be
assigned to promote action plans including objectives, activities, results, indicators, budget and
actors involved and a financial resources strategy that could result in cultural tourism consortiums,
networks, associations or clubs.
Conclusions and recommendations 117
Active community participation
Another key aspect in the interaction between tourism, culture and community is developing
programmes designed to help preserve the native aspects of their cultures, strengthening their
capacity, promoting cooperatives and associations and offering financing opportunities for micro-
enterprise. In doing so, special attention must be given to how the introduction of tourism is
presented to the community. The community’s adaptation to tourism activity should be gradual,
with understanding about its role as the subject, not object, of tourism or marketing inappropriate
for its cultural values. An authentic culture should therefore be transmitted, its identity preserved
and neither distorted nor trivialized.
To achieve these objectives, tourism activities must be developed at the grassroots community
level, taking into account the territory and its characteristics as well as the human/environmental
relationship that is the essence of cultural expression.
Depending on the nature and characteristics of the various cultural expressions it is necessary to:
–– Work with communities to help reach consensus about the possibility of interacting with
tourists;
–– Empower those communities to organize and manage their own resources, offered as
products;
–– Revive and conserve cultural practices at risk of distortion and/or disappearance (languages,
handicrafts, dances, music, agricultural practices, etc.; and
–– Design ways to make those resources of value to cultural tourists, with support from the
community, the State, international cooperation or specialized agencies, with community
members in the role of protagonist, guide and service provider in the intercultural dialogue.
Actions
Among the steps to be considered in gradually developing new tourism and cultural products for
the benefit of the community the following represent a series of actions to strengthen effective
interconnection among tourism, culture and community:
–– Gain better knowledge of the cultures that have inhabited Peru, which could entail the
development of manuals, brochures, updated webpages, and even the interpretation of
archaeological and historical sites, with, for instance, sign posting for tourists;
–– Understand the importance of handicrafts from the standpoint of culture and tourism,
strengthening the productive chain so as to keep the traditions alive and expand the
opportunities tourism activity can offer. The importance of handicrafts as living culture
should be highlighted, so as to reduce the risk of their disappearance or trivialization,
without forgetting their importance as cultural production that can be promoted as a tourism
resource and generator of income. For example, the incorporation of tourism circuits to
visit craft workshops can provide tourists an authentic experience of traditional production
methods, allowing them also to learn more about the local culture;
–– Another short and medium-term measure to be considered is to develop not only current
but also prospective World Heritage Sites, which can provide a basis for devising new
strategies in anticipation of the demand and needs that would be generated once such sites
are recognized by UNESCO;
–– Possibilities should be examined for conducting environmental and cultural impact studies
prior to the development of new infrastructure near traditional heritage and community sites;
–– Training programmes should be put in place for cultural tourism, recognizing that people, the
human asset, need to be the protagonists of their own local development;
–– A calendar of religious and cultural events could be developed, providing basic information
on popular ceremonies and festivities, contributing to better organization of the entire
chain of value in the tourism sector. This would in turn allow for smoother management of
tourist flows based on greater predictability. This calendar could also be used as a powerful
marketing and promotion tool, domestically and internationally;
–– Another important area of cultural tourism is gastronomic tourism, which should continue
to be strengthened with new products and services geared both to visitors and resident
populations;
–– The importance of introducing new technologies for the management of cultural tourism
attractions should not be forgotten, taking advantage also of possibilities to disseminate
greater awareness about cultural assets and sites;
–– New community projects should be undertaken, based on rigorous technical as well as
quantitative growth criteria, facilitating the creation of small enterprises, seeking alliances
with the private sector and avoiding false expectations in the communities; and
–– Continue creating formulas for innovative and sustainable rural community tourism
experiences.
Lastly, as discussed throughout this document, it is clear that the triangular partnership among
tourism, culture and community can represent a key factor for sustainable tourism development
in Peru. To that end, it is essential to ensure not only public-private cooperation and coordination
across sectors, but more fundamentally, the active participation of communities and the
strengthening of their cultural identity so that they can manage their own development.
All of this will facilitate a greater contribution from tourism to a better quality of life for the
populations and deepen their sense of pride and belonging, generating new jobs and opportunities
for the future.
T 119
Biographies
Esper, Federico Richards, Greg

Consultant specialized in domestic and international tourism Greg Richards is professor of Placemaking and Events at NHTV
development and management, market research and training. He Breda University of Applied Sciences, and professor of Leisure
worked for more than six years at UNWTO headquarters in Madrid Studies at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands. He has
(Spain) where he took part in sustainable tourism projects and worked on numerous projects for national governments and
strategies, working with international organizations, national and national and local tourism organizations, having gained extensive
local governments, enterprises and educational institutions. He experience in research on tourism and education in different
has collaborated on and supervised the publication of several European countries. As a consultant to UNWTO he has prepared
UNWTO publications on sustainable tourism, and the cultural, several reports on urban tourism, youth tourism and cultural
social and ethical aspects of tourism. He has spoken at tourism. He has collaborated with OECD in analysing the growing
international conferences in Spain, the United States of America relationship between tourism and the creative economy and
and several countries in Latin America. He was Director of between tourism and gastronomy and has participated in
Research for the Tourism Office of the City of Buenos Aires, where numerous European tourism plans concerned with cultural
he was responsible for creating the Tourism Observatory as a key tourism, craft tourism, the tourism labour market and SMEs.
tool for the design of sector policies. He holds a Master’s degree
in Cultural Management (Madrid, Spain), a Masters in Tourism
Administration and Management (Alicante, Spain) and a Bachelor’s Ryoo, Jeungah
degree in Demography and Tourism (Argentina). He is currently a Jeung-ah Ryoo received a doctorate in Social Anthropology and
member of the Panel of Experts for the UNWTO Barometer and French Ethnology from the School of Superior Studies in Social
Director of the Masters Programme in Tourism Economics and Sciences, in France, in 1994. Her main areas of research have
Development at the National University of San Martín, in Argentina. been cultural tourism, regional festivals, regional cultural content
and cultural diversity, among others. She is currently Director of
Research on Culture and Art at the Korea Culture and Tourism
León, Rafo Institute (KCTI). She was previously Secretary to the President of
Rafael (Rafo) León was born in Lima in 1950. He is a graduate of Tourism Policies (2013–2014), member of the National Committee
the Language and Literature Department of the Pontificia for Regional Creative Development (2013) and Adjunct Professor
Universidad Católica of Peru. He holds a Master’s degree in for International Studies at the University of Hanguk (2008–2013).
Population Communication Services from Johns Hopkins
University. Since the beginning of his professional career he has
Tresserras Juan, Jordi
been involved in journalism, commercial publicity, and social
marketing, and since 1999 has hosted a television programme Expert on cultural and creative tourism. Director of the Heritage,
called Time to Travel, on which he travels throughout Peru (as well Creativity and Cultural Tourism Laboratory (LABPATC), a spinoff
as other countries) with an eye more to travel than tourism, from the University of Barcelona and the IBERTUR network.
involving himself in living cultures. This programme has been Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona where he
running without interruption for 15 years (Movistar, Canal 6, Plus coordinated the postgraduate Cultural Tourism Programme and
Tv), totalling more than 300 broadcasts, making it the longest directs several doctoral theses for the doctorate on Society and
running programme on Peruvian TV. He currently collaborates on Culture on the subjects of tourism management of World Heritage
the weekly programme Caretas (Peru’s oldest and most Sites, expressions of intangible cultural heritage and creative
prestigious) and is an author and/or editor of numerous cities. He is an educator with the Andean University of Simón
publications on Peruvian culture, in coffee table format, as well as Bolivar (with campuses in Quito and Sucre) and of the National
tourist guides for the domestic market. He is Ambassador for the University of Córdoba (Argentina). He is a member of the UNITWIN/
Peru Brand and is consulted frequently by the Vice Ministry of UNESCO Chair in Heritage Tourism and Development, coordinated
Tourism as well as PromPerú. by Université Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne. He is a consultant to
international organizations (World Bank, IDB, Council of Europe,

European Union, OEI, SEGIB, SICA, UNWTO, UNESCO) and
cooperation agencies (Spanish Agency of International
Cooperation for Development, Alliance Française, Cooperazione
Italiana allo Sviluppo, Cooperation Suisse, Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Hivos).
T 121
List of figures and tables

List of figures
Figure 1.1 System of sustainable cultural tourism 27
Figure 3.1 Comparison of countries by number of visits in 2013 (as recorded by UNWTO)
and number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites 36
Figure 9.1 Peru: demand for labour in the tourism sector by occupational group
(In percentage and absolute terms) 112
List of tables
Table 2.1 Number of entries and overnight stays by non-residents of Peru (2009–2013) 30
Table 2.2 List of countries generating inbound tourism for Peru, by foreign-exchange receipts
and number of tourists received 30
Table 2.3 Peru’s ranking in selected areas (from a list of 141 countries) 32
Table 3.1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (2015) 39
Table 8.1 Planned youth travel accommodation expansion by country (2012) 102
T 123
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The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. As the leading
international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes responsible, sustainable and universally
accessible tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism
know-how. UNWTO’s membership includes 157 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 permanent
observers and 500 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism
associations and local tourism authorities.
Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru
Tourism and Culture

Partnership in Peru
Models for Collaboration between Tourism,
Capitán Haya 42, 28020 Madrid, Spain
World Tourism Organization Tel: (+34) 915 67 81 00 / Fax: (+34) 915 71 37 33 Culture and Community
omt @ UNWTO.org / www.UNWTO.org.
with the support of :

2016 Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru Models For Collaboration Between Tourism Culture and Community

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World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284417599 - Monday, October 16, 2023 12:28:40 PM - IP Address:200.104.33.194

Tourism and Culture Partnership in Peru

Tourism and Culture

with the support of :

Models for Collaboration between Tourism, Culture and Community

Copyright © 2016, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

Published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Tel.: (+34) 915 678 100

Permission to photocopy this material in Spain must be obtained through:

CEDRO, Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos Tel.: (+34) 913 08 63 30

1.1 Tourism and culture 17

1.2 Cultural tourism 20

1.3 Triangular partnership: tourism, culture and community 23

Chapter 2 An overview of tourism in Peru 29

2.1 The importance of tourism at national level 29

2.2 Tourism figures in Peru 30

2.3 Competitiveness and economic impact of tourism in Peru 31

2.4 Structural limits and improvements for tourism in Peru 31

2.5 The importance of domestic tourism 32

Chapter 3 Cultural tourism in Peru 35

3.1 Motivations for cultural tourism in Peru 35

3.2 Tangible cultural heritage 39

Chapter 4 Intangible heritage: opportunities for Peru 45

4.1 Festivities and celebrations 48

4.3 Creative industries 55

4.4 Cultural routes 64

5.1 Linguistic pluralism and multiculturalism 67

5.2 Community: dynamic entity 68

5.3 The essence: popularity 68

5.4 Variants of cultural/community tourism 69

5.5 Variants of the term “community” 70

5.6 The role of the community in community cultural tourism 71

5.7 The Rural Community Tourism Program 72

Chapter 6 SWOT analysis 77

7.1 Degree of interdependency between tourism and culture 81

7.3 Development of cultural tourism in the local community context (glocalization) 90

Chapter 8 Cultural contents utilization 95

8.1 Intangible heritage, living culture and creative tourism 95

8.2 Existing and new products and services 96

8.3 Cultural routes: local, national and international 99

8.4 Intra-inter communication mechanism 101

Chapter 9 System of tourism policies: heritage management 105

9.3 System of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) 110

Conclusions and recommendations 115

List of figures and tables 121

Bibliography and references 123

Magali Silva Velarde Alvarez

Chapter 1 describes the general framework for triangular, tourism-culture-community collaboration

Accordingly, the sustainable development of cultural tourism needs to:

Accordingly, this project pursues the following objectives:

1.1 Tourism and culture

other cultural sites remain unknown:

the development of “cultural tourism”.

1.2 Cultural tourism

“In contrast to conventional holidaymakers, cultural tourists don’t concentrate solely on

Richards, G. (1996, ed.), Cultural Tourism in Europe, CAB International, Wallingford.

–– Growing attractiveness of creativity as a form of expression.

1.3 Triangular partnership: tourism, culture and community

This guide indicated that sustainable tourism should:

This view of sustainable tourism as constituting a relationship between environmental, cultural,

Reconciling these different stakeholder interests is important in order to achieve sustainable

“Tourism decentralization takes into account the diversity of stakeholders and