Tourism Implementation, an Issue of Territoriality: National Approach and Local Action Methods and Resources

Abstract

This article analyses the tourism implementation process in two Colombian municipalities, La Mesa (Cundinamarca) and Villavieja (Huila), based on a two-tier observation at national and local levels. First, we review how territorial public action is implemented to develop tourism (Négrier 2007; Duran 2011) at a national level by the most important stakeholder involved, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MINCIT). This involves examining how this government body intervenes in sub-national authorities, based on the decentralisation and planning policy for tourist activity. At a local level, we address the specific dynamics in both municipalities and the progress they have made in implementing the national tourism policy. This two-tier observation reveals tensions between the national facilitators’ view on what needs to be done and local facilitators’ view on what can be done. We highlight the major local challenges this activity involves, in terms of administration and management in the municipalities, and also considerations linked to the construction of territoriality (Sack 1986; Raffestin 1982) and territory, which are crucial for the process in question.