Tourism in Bolivia explained

Tourism in Bolivia is one of the key economic sectors of the country. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE), there were over 1.24 million tourists that visited the country in 2020, making Bolivia the ninth most visited country in South America.[1] [2] [3]

People have visited Bolivia for centuries in the form of movement of people during the pre-Inca and Inca period, in which wealthy groups within moved outside their habitual residence across the vast expanse of the Inca empire. that stretched 2,500 from Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south.[4]

Bolivia is a country with great tourism potential, with many attractions, due to its diverse culture, geographic regions, rich history and food. In particular, the salt flats at Uyuni are a major attraction.

History

People have visited Bolivia for centuries. During the pre-Incan and Incan period, privileged social groups could move away from their place of residence and settle in new towns. The Inca road system, a vast network of carefully engineered roads that connected settlements in present day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, facilitated the movement of people and goods across South America.[5] During the colonial era, several expeditions were carried out in Bolivia as a way to seek resources and wealth and expand the Spanish domain.

Tourism in Bolivia was formalized as an official entity in 1930 during the presidency of David Toro.[6] From that moment on, the Bolivian government began to regulate tourism within the country, to ensure the care of tourist attractions and to provide assistance to foreign tourists arriving in Bolivia.Organized tourism in Bolivia began in the 1940s. One of the precursors of this activity was Darius Morgan, a Romanian entrepreneur who came to Bolivia working for the Swedish company Ericsson.[7] When touring the Altiplano region around Lake Titicaca, Morgan had been fascinated by the scenic beauty of the area, which was not frequently visited at the time. Morgan eventually established the first travel agency in Bolivia and began offering organized tours to Lake Titicaca. Given the lack of accommodation establishments in the lake region, tourists stayed in camps with tents set up and food prepared in advance. However, Morgan managed to spread the word about the natural beauty of the region, impacting the arrival of more foreign tourists who wanted to visit the highest navigable lake in the world. In 1886, Darius Morgan was awarded the Order of the Condor of the Andes, the highest distinction in Bolivia, for his contribution to the development of tourism in the country.[8]

Land and climate

Bolivia is located in the center of South America, in what could be considered its western strip and is one of the two landlocked countries in the continent.[9] The western region of the country is dominated by the Andes mountains, more precisely in the Cordillera Real, bisecting the country roughly from north to south and the Altiplano, a high plateau where Lake Titicaca is located. This region includes steep slopes and many snow-capped peaks. To the east of the mountain range are lowland plains and tropical rainforests from the Amazon Basin.[10] These geographical characteristics have influenced the culure of Bolivia and contirbute with unique cultural and natural sites that are unique to the country.[11]

Due to its diverse geography, Bolivia has several geographical areas and climates, and the three predominant ones are Andean (28% of the territory), sub-Andean (13%), and plains (59%).[12] [13] The climate of Bolivia varies drastically from one ecoregion to the other, from the tropics in the eastern llanos to polar climates in the western Andes. This has brought about ecotourism to Bolivia and has also made it a popular tourist destination for outdoor activities, such as mountain climbing.[14] [15] The summers are warm, humid in the east and dry in the west, with rains that often modify temperatures, humidity, winds, atmospheric pressure and evaporation, giving place to very different climates. When the climatological phenomenon known as El Niño[16] [17] takes place, it provokes great alterations in the weather. Winters are very cold in the west, and it snows around the mountain ranges, while in the western regions, windy days are more usual. The autumn is dry in the non-tropical regions.

Major Attractions

World Heritage Sites

Bolivia has seven World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO.[18] They constitute important tourist attractions due to their historical and cultural legacy. Bolivia was among the first countries that ratified folklore as a cultural heritage at the UNESCO Convention of 1972, giving rise to profound debates, resulting in the creation of the "Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage" in 2003.[19]

Cultural sites

Cultural tourism forms an important sector of the tourism industry in Bolivia. Pre-columbian civilizations, notably the Inca Empire, Tiwanaku Empire, Wankarani, and the Aymara kingdoms, left a large archeological and cultural heritage.

Ecotourism

The landscape of Bolivia is beautiful and diverse lending itself to tourism, and also ecotourism. Although being a landlocked country, Bolivia is among the 15 most biodiverse countries in the world. This ecological diversity attracts tourists interested in nature and ecology.[38] The increase in ecotourism in recent years has prompted the Bolivian Government to invest more on tourist infrastructure. Bolivia is a country with very different regions. Around 43% of the national territory is covered by the Amazon Basin, mainly in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country. This region includes vast tropical rainforests, some of which remain pristine and untouched. On the other hand, 28% of the territory consists of the Andean region and the Altiplano, featuring a cold, dry climate and high elevations. Places of interest in the Andean region include Lake Titicaca, the Salar de Uyuni, and the cities of La Paz and Potosí.

Destinations

Statistics

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia, the country recjeived around 2 million tourists in 2023, approximately 1 million were foreign nationals, while the remaining were domestic ones:[58]

CountryArrivals
1382 725
2203 201
367 629
452 967
548 595
637 458
724 073
820 130
919 593
1018 310
1110 668
1210 620
1310 081
148 701
158 135
167 973
177 870
186 683
195 495
204 596
214 392
224 283
233 806
243 539
253 106
262 758
272 430
282 259
291 830
301 655
311 637
321 635
331 616
341 568
351 221
36975
37937
38842
39837
40745
41669
42554
43544
44543
45482
46455
47428
48262
49198
50Other countries6 868
Total 1.009.267

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: International tourism, number of arrivals - Bolivia . 2023-07-17 . World Bank Open Data.
  2. Web site: Estadísticas de flujo de visitantes . 17 July 2023 . Instituto Nacional de Estadística . Ministerio de Planidicación del Desarrollo . es.
  3. Web site: 2023-07-10 . The 11 Most Visited Countries in South America . 2023-07-17 . Worldly Adventurer.
  4. Web site: Chopitea Chávez . Iván . 2010-05-31 . Historia del turismo en Bolivia . History of tourism in Bolivia . 2024-07-24 . gestiopolis.com . Bogota, Colombia . es.
  5. Web site: Cartwright . Mark . The Inca Road System . 2024-08-02 . World History Encyclopedia . en.
  6. Web site: Historia del Turismo en Bolivia . History of Tourism in Bolivia . 2024-08-02 . Scribd . es.
  7. Web site: Darius Morgan . 2024-08-02 . Darius Morgan . en-US.
  8. Web site: 4 August 2023 . 2018 . PDF . Balance de Hotelería 2018 . Nueva economía.
  9. News: 2012-08-21 . Bolivia country profile . 2024-08-15 . BBC News . en-GB.
  10. Book: Enciclopedia de Bolivia . Waldo Jordán Zelaya, María de la Cruz Cardiel, Alberto Cousté, Guillermo López Bisiach, Javier Martínez Edo, María Villanueva Margalef, Carlos Zeller . Editorial Océano . 84-494-1428-8 . Gisbert . Carlos . Spain . 13-15 . es . Encyclopedia of Bolivia.
  11. Web site: 10 Best Places To See & Visit In Bolivia . 2024-08-15 . National Geographic Expeditions . . en.
  12. https://www.paho.org/salud-en-las-americas-2017/?p=3974 "Health in the Americas: Bolivia"
  13. Abadi . Azar M. . Rowe . Clinton M. . Andrade . Marcos . 2020 . Climate regionalization in Bolivia: A combination of non-hierarchical and consensus clustering analyses based on precipitation and temperature . International Journal of Climatology . en . 40 . 10 . 4408–4421 . 10.1002/joc.6464 . 0899-8418 . 214147442.
  14. Web site: 2014-06-26 . Ecotourism in Bolivia . 2024-08-15 . VisitBolivia.net . en-US.
  15. Web site: Global Initiatives - Ecotourism . 2024-08-15 . WCS Bolivia . . La Paz, Bolivia.
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20050308110026/http://www.itdg.org.pe/archivos/desastres/reportemarzo.pdf Fortalecimiento de las Capacidades locales para enfrentar El Fenómeno del Niño en Perú y Bolivia
  17. Web site: Deja 56 muertos "El Niño" en Bolivia . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090708225400/http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm?docId=48449&docTipo=1&orderby=docid&sortby=ASC . 2009-07-08 . 2014-01-20.
  18. Web site: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) . 2024-08-01 . UNESCO.
  19. Web site: 2011 . 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage . UNESCO . pdf . Bali, Indonesia . 2011-11-22.
  20. Web site: Greenfield . Patrick . 2016-03-21 . How silver turned Potosí into 'the first city of capitalism' . 2024-08-01 . The Guardian.
  21. Web site: 2023-08-04 . 2022-08-22 . Giselle M. . en . Avilés . A short story about Potosi—the largest South American silver mine—in the Library’s Collections (Part 1) . The Library of Congress.
  22. Web site: 1 August 2019 . Bolivia (Plurinational State of). Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List . UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  23. Web site: 2023-08-08 . 2021-09-08 . Kyle . en-GB . Hoekstra . El Fuerte de Samaipata . History Hit.
  24. Web site: 1 August 2019 . Bolivia (Plurinational State of). Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List . UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  25. Web site: Sucre Bolivia, Map, Population, & Elevation . 2024-08-02 . Encyclopædia Britannica . en.
  26. News: Rodríguez . Andrés . 2018-09-30 . La cultura viva de las Misiones Jesuíticas de la Chiquitania se conserva en Bolivia . The live culture of the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitanía are preserved in Bolivia . 2024-08-02 . . es . Madrid, Spain . 2018-09-30 . 1134-6582.
  27. Web site: 2023-08-10 . en . Tiwanaku Pre-Inca Civilization, Bolivia Britannica . www.britannica.com.
  28. Web site: UNEP-WCMC . 2017-05-22 . NOEL KEMPFF MERCADO NATIONAL PARK . 2024-08-02 . World Heritage Datasheet . en.
  29. Burbridge . Rachel E. . Mayle . Francis E. . Killeen . Timothy J. . 2004-03-01 . Fifty-thousand-year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon . Quaternary Research . 61 . 2 . 215–230 . 10.1016/j.yqres.2003.12.004 . 0033-5894.
  30. Web site: Noel Kempff National Park . 2024-08-02 . Missouri Botanical Garden.
  31. Book: D'Altroy, Terence N. . The Incas . Blackwell Publishers Inc . 2002 . 0-631-17677-2.
  32. Raffino, Rodolfo et al. Rumichaca: el puente inca en la cordillera de los Chichas (Tarija, Bolivia) – in "Arqueologia argentina en los incios de un nevo siglo" pags 215 to 223
  33. Web site: 2015 . The Four Suyus, Engineering the Inka Empire . 2024-08-02 . . Smithsonian Institution.
  34. Kolata . Alan L. . 1986 . The Agricultural Foundations of the Tiwanaku State: A View from the Heartland . American Antiquity . 51 . 4 . 748–762 . 10.2307/280863 . 0002-7316.
  35. Sammells . Clare A. . 2012-07-22 . Ancient Calendars and Bolivian Modernity: Tiwanaku's Gateway of the Sun, Arthur Posnansky, and the World Calendar Movement of the 1930s . The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology . es . 17 . 2 . 299–319 . 10.1111/j.1935-4940.2012.01221.x . 1935-4932.
  36. Web site: Puerta de la Luna - Tiwanaku . 2024-08-19 . www.sfu.ca . Simon Fraser University.
  37. Hauwert . Tara . 2023-01-01 . History of the Mines of Potosi Retold: The Continuation of Colonialism in the Present . PDF . Texas State Undergraduate Research Journal . en . 11 . i . 11–20 . 2998-3495.
  38. Web site: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) - Country Profile - Biodiversity Facts . 2024-08-19 . www.cbd.int . . en.
  39. Web site: 2014-12-09 . An Expanse of White in Bolivia . 2024-08-18 . earthobservatory.nasa.gov . . en.
  40. Book: Atkinson, David . Bolivia: The Bradt Travel Guide . 2007 . Bradt Travel Guides . 978-1-84162-165-4 . en.
  41. Web site: Helton . Isabella . 2023-10-02 . Bolivia's Lithium is Like White Gold in the Salar de Uyuni . 2024-08-19 . Research Blog . . en-US.
  42. Web site: Centre . UNESCO World Heritage . Lake Titicaca . 2024-08-19 . UNESCO World Heritage Centre . en.
  43. Web site: Isla del Sol Bolivia, Map, & Facts Britannica . 2024-08-20 . www.britannica.com . en.
  44. Turismo comunitario en el lago Titicaca un análisis comparativo de su desarrollo : estudio en: Insla del Sol, Isla de la Luna, Shuiña en región de Copacabana, Bolivia. Isla Taquile, Isla Amantani, Isla de los Uros flotantes en la región Puno, Perú . 2013 . Thesis . es . Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. Angela . Loayza Céspedes.
  45. Sands . Hannah . 2017-01-01 . The Islands of the Sun and the Moon: Indigenous Community- Owned Tourism Development in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia . Scripps Senior Theses . Claremont Graduate University.
  46. Web site: Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve (REA) in Bolivia . 2024-08-20 . Global National Parks . en.
  47. Web site: 2020-12-13 . La Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa cumple 47 años de creación . The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve celebreates 47 years since its creation . 2024-08-20 . Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (National Service of Protected Areas) . es.
  48. Web site: Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve: Bolivia's High-Altitude Sanctuary LAC Geo . 2024-08-20 . lacgeo.com.
  49. News: 2018-05-22 . Is This the World's Most Diverse National Park? . 2018-05-28 . . en-US . 0362-4331.
  50. Web site: Madidi-Tambopata . 2024-08-20 . bolivia.wcs.org . Wildlife Conservation Society.
  51. Varumo . Liisa . 2016 . Community-based tourism as the interface of indigenous and non-indigenous worlds . . en.
  52. Web site: SciELO Bolivia- Scientific Electronic Library Online . 2024-08-20 . www.scielo.org.bo.
  53. Web site: Centre . UNESCO World Heritage . Noel Kempff Mercado National Park . 2024-08-20 . UNESCO World Heritage Centre . en.
  54. Web site: 2024-06-08 . Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: Bolivia's Natural Treasure . 2024-08-20 . Latin America & Caribbean Geographic.
  55. Web site: The World Factbook. cia.gov. 27 April 2015.
  56. Web site: Highest restaurant. Guinness World Records. 20 November 2017.
  57. Vitry . Christian . Los Caminos Ceremoniales en los Apus del Tawantinsuyu . Chungará (Arica) . September 2020 . 52 . 3 . 509–521 . 10.4067/S0717-73562020005001802 . 0717-7356. free .
  58. Web site: 2024 . Bolivia - Llegada de visitantes internacionales, según nacionalidad, por año y mes 2008 - 2024 . International arrivals according to nationality, by year and month 2008-2024 . 2024-08-13 . . Ministerio de Planificación del Desarrollo . es . XLS.