New Geographies of Tourism in Peru: Nature-based Tourism and Conservation in the Cordillera Huayhuash

Abstract

This research examines new tourism networks, conservation, and social and economic changes in Peru. In doing so, the article illustrates how current political and economic change, global tourism and new forms of conservation are contributing to new geographies of tourism in the country. Through a case study of the Cordillera Huayhuash, the article evaluates the nature of recent increases in tourism in the region, the ways in which these new tourist-related activities are interfacing with new conservation areas, and how they are contributing to local environmental, economic and political change. Based on a mix-methods qualitative approach, the article's major findings illustrate the magnitude and composition of recent increases in tourism to the Cordillera Huayhuash and the economic and social impacts of these activities on communities and households in the region. The article concludes with a set of questions for further geographical research concerned with the ways in which tourism is related to these changes in the Andes.