Taquile: A Peruvian Tourist Island Struggling for Control

Abstract

Lake Titicaca, located in the Andean altiplano at an elevation of 3,815 metres above sea level on the border between Bolivia and Peru, has become an increas ingly popular tourist destination. Visitors to the region can make excursions to various small islands that are inhabited by indigenous peoples. A sought-after and widely advertised tourist trip consists of a two-day journey by motorboat that can be booked in Puno, the largest Peruvian city on the lake's shore. Normally, the tourists who take this trip first visit the floating islands of the Uros people, which are built from totora reeds. The tourists are invited to learn about the indigenous peoples' daily lives, and to buy handicrafts. The trip then continues to the island of Amantani, where the tourists are offered a meal and a bed in the house of a local family. If they are lucky, they are allowed to dress up in local indigenous clothing and participate in a festival. The second day of the trip is spent visiting the island of Taquile. The tourists disembark at the western part of the island. Within two to two and a half hours, they are expected back at the dock, where the motorboats are waiting to take them back to Puno. During their walk on the island, the tourists face a steep climb up 538 stone steps, but their endeavours are rewarded by the magnificent view of the lake and the many Inca terraces on the island that are still used for farming. The tourists have time to eat a quick lunch and gaze at the men who are knitting while standing at the plaza dressed in their typical indigenous clothing, or perhaps visit the community store to buy the beautiful textiles for which Taquile is famous. In the debate on sustainable tourism, the need to include and involve local peo ple in the tourism development process is increasingly being recognized. This in clusion is often defined as participation in processes initiated by external institu tions such as national and regional governments or development agencies. (Mow fort and Munt 2003, 212-217). Local participation has become a new buzzword among tourism planners and scholars who intend to alleviate poverty through tour ism development. The importance of local participation is being increasingly rec ognized in the effort to make tourism sustainable and responsible. Behind this line of reasoning lies the assumption that tourism is initiated by external actors and that the local population is passively waiting until outsiders present their plans. The case of Taquile is interesting in this respect for two reasons. Firstly, Taquileans initiated development tourism on their island themselves, and, secondly, just par ticipating in tourism is not sufficient for them they strive for control. Tourism to Taquile started in 1976, at a time when backpacking tourists began to travel to South America in large numbers. In those early days especially, Ta quileans managed to control the tourist trade, and they have reaped its economic and social benefits. Besides textiles, Taquile became known for its community based development model that served as an example for development projects worldwide. However, in the 1980s and '90s, Taquileans slowly started to lose con