ABSTRACT
Latin America awoke the interest of travelers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who, anxious to become familiar with the exotic flora and fauna of the region, ignored the discomforts and risks they had to face during their long voyages. The situation changed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when local elites decided to build luxury hotels for their own use and for wealthy foreign visitors. Nevertheless, it was not until the 1960s that Latin America tried to achieve development through tourism either as an economic alternative to achieve growth or as a supplement to economic activities (Schlüter 1998). According to Getino (1993), tourism appeared as a kind of life-saving resource within a frame of dominant improvisation, and it was expected that through tourism the difficulties caused by a lack of capital and foreign currency, as well as market scarcity, could be solved. In the 1960s, some countries in Central and South America began focusing
on tourism as a means of developing their economies. Heritage, both tangible and intangible, was highlighted as an important resource upon which they could base their efforts. This chapter describes some of the types of heritage resources that exist in Latin America that have become an important element of the region’s tourism product. It also examines some of the challenges facing leaders and heritage planners, the most troubling and difficult of which is political instability. Empirical cases from Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Argentina are presented to illustrate some of these important topics.
