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Tourism and indigenous populations: Space, Time and Resources

Abstract:

The indigenous populations who work in tourism are denounced by tourist companies for their lack of planning and professionalism, informality, lack of responsibility and scarce interest. The indigenous person is simultaneously the "desired object", "marketable"/commodified, directly in so called experiential tourism or ethnotourism, or indirectly through nature tourism. Tourism businesses, in turn, are accused of provoking profound changes in indigenous societies and of obtaining most of the revenue, while the Indian companies themselves encounter serious difficulties in their consolidation. Various actors (States, companies, NGOs, Cooperation/Donor agencies, tourists, indigenous peoples) act on spaces, times and resources which should suit the demands of the market, albeit under radically different parameters. To understand the role of the indigenous peoples en these processes we focus on tourism, with and in indigenous populations in the Amazon region of Madre de Dios (Peru).