Abstract

SANCHEZ CRISPIN, Álvaro; MOLLINEDO BELTRAN, Gerardo  and  PROPIN FREJOMIL, Enrique. Territorial structure of tourism in Guatemala. Invest. Geog [online]. 2012, n.78, pp.104-121. ISSN 2448-7279.

The aim of this paper is to reveal the nuclei, flows and surfaces generated by tourism in Guatemala that, nowadays, constitute the basis for the promotion of the country in the international market. Following the trend in Central America, and after a long civil war, Guatemala is encouraging the growth of its tourism economy. The starting point of this research is rooted in the fact that there are only a handful of places, distributed over the Guatemalan territory, that articulate the tourist flows (constituted mainly by international visitors) and onto which tourism surfaces are being constructed. We assume that this territorial structure is still weak, does not include all areas of the country and it is mostly dependant on regional emitting markets. The context of the territorial structure of tourism in Guatemala suggests that all countries in the region are competing to get access to the international tourism market and that this competition will be decided in favour of those nations that mastermind the administration of their natural and cultural resources. At the end of the text, we comment on the basics of the territorial structure found by our study.

Keywords : Territorial structure; tourism; Guatemala.

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