Regional Inequalities in the Peruvian Tourist Industry

Abstract

Invesugatons dealing with the spatal distributon of tourists and tourism services within developing countries are few. This paper offers an original analysis of the regional distributon of internatonal and domeshc tourism in Peru using a range of up-to-date Department and provincial data bases. Internahonal tourist distributons more than domesuc tourist distributons are shown to be highly concentrated (and persistent) in a relauvely small number of Departments and locatons. Such concentrahon is linked to complex regional variatons in tourism attractons, aransport access, basic tourism seivices and government regional promoton of the industry. Analyses show that tourism, particularly the hotel and restaurant sector, brings important benefits to the regions of Peru in terms of GDP and employment creaton. However, a regional distributon analysis of hotels and restaurants shows that the industry is benefihng the already better-off Depal-tIllents rather than the poorer ones. Current investment patterns and government laissezfaire policies would indicate that there is unlikely to be any sign of diffusion or dispersal of the tourism sector to new areas.