Chapter 8: Indigenous Tourism and Political Recognition of Rights in Chile

This chapter analyses indigenous tourism as both a form of indigenous resistance and revindication and a public policy implemented jointly by public institutions, universities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The concept of indigenous tourism has a relatively short history in Chile. However, it has acquired particular importance in light of the country’s constitutional process, triggered by the social uprising of 18 October 2019. This process incorporates the recognition of indigenous peoples and their rights as transversal areas.

To explain the process, this chapter examines indigenous tourism from the standpoint of indigenous initiatives, considering the context in which it has developed while also looking at how this concept is incorporated into the public institutional framework. It also examines the different influences and political context of the concept’s installation and how it has acquired increasing importance and complexity in public affairs. Given that it requires a multidimensional and multilevel approach, it can be analysed as a wicked problem.

Finally, this chapter discusses how indigenous tourism takes a political form of revindication of rights and territorial control and as an alternative to the neoliberal and extractivist model of other types of tourism.