Tourism and nativistic ideology in Cuzco, Peru

The city of Cuzco, Peru, is a major attraction, both in its own right and as a gateway to Machu Picchu. This study explores the relationship between the development of ethnic tourism and a local ideology of incanismo or reverence for the Inca past and for all aspects of indigenous culture, including the Quechua language. Although incanismo and tourism have quite different roots, they feed symbiotically on one another: both art elite phenomena. The former is a rallying ideology of local pride and badge of regional identity, especially for the urban educated classes of the city of Cuzco which are also the principal beneficiaries of tourism. At the same time, however, incanismo articulates and helps maintain a patrimony that attracts tourists, and this fosters the packaging of a tourism commodity.