Native-controlled tourism?
I found interesting to note in Chapter 9 the early examples of community-based tourism (of “natural growth”) which has expanded widely today, as a breed of tourists seek to differentiate themselves from mass tourism: there is eco-tourism, indigenous self-regulated cultural tourism, and increasingly, tourism that seeks to associate itself with environmental and human rights education.
In an unprecedented case in northern Chile, the government has turned over the control of pre-Columbian archaeological sites back to the Native communities, who have received no training in tourism or site management and conservation, and who are now actively seeking engagement with the tourist industry, seeking alternative, sustainable and low-impact models of eco-cultural tourism. Many of these communities have had internal consultations to determine if and how they will use these sites, which include burial grounds that are now off limits to researchers and tourists. While the idea of tourism was shunned as non-Native to the communities of one area in particular, it was also seen as a viable way of self-preservation. Basically, there was the knowledge that someone was going to profit from Native attractions, and that it was less damaging if the control of tourism was in Native hands. I am interested in how these indigenous communities perform their take on tourism; how they will determine tourism will fit sustainably into their culture.