Around the dialectic tourism and heritage. Manifestations and materializations of tourist practices (1960-2019) in the town of San Pedro de Atacama and its surroundings

The present deductive work is presented as a case study focused on the town of San Pedro de Atacama (SPA), since it is one of the most important tourist destinations in Chile due to its high visitation rates that respond to its significant culture. and landscape diversity on the high plateau desert. From a geographical reading of this place, it is intended to analyze the problem of the tourism -heritage dialectic from 1960 to 2019 based on the historical reconstruction and mutual influence of its tourist practices and valuations of heritage assets. Methodologically, the work offers a tourist documentary analysis of specialized magazines, accommodation statistics, tourist facilities, development plans, decrees associated with heritage assets in SPA, among others, applying field visits and cartographic analysis on the distribution of heritage assets and tourism facilities. The main results highlight a recognition and recategorization of three periods: exploration and incipient tourism growth; opening and consolidation of the tourist market and enhancement of attractions and reinvention of tourism practices. Marked by the insertion of new regulatory orders, activities, and forms of tourism. It concludes with a "stagnation" in the processes of patrimonialization and return to the consumption of natural rather than cultural heritage.