Tourism-based development in Cusco,Peru: comparing national discourses with local realities

This article qualitatively compares national-level development discourses in Peru with local perceptions of poverty and tourism practice for four rural communities of the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley), located just outside the ancient Inca capital of Cusco, Peru. Copestake's global designs of development (income first, needs first, and rights first) provide the framework for this comparison, linked to local accounts and on-the-ground observations from six months of field work carried out in the region in 2013. Sources of data, which were collected and initially analyzed using Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI), included semi-structured interviews (N = 93), field notes from participant observation, and documents and reports from government institutions, travel companies, and community associations. Results indicate that a strong degree of overlap exists between local perceptions and income first, needs first, and rights first development discourses. However, frustrations with tourism practice reveal an underlying struggle against neoliberal economism and the ever-increasing foreign presence in the region. Findings suggest that tourism-based development outcomes may be enhanced when policies consider both agreements and contradictions between broader discourses and local views and interests, uncovering issues of power linked to the putative common sense of promoting tourism as a principal component of national development strategies.