Descolonizando la comunicación del turismo comunitario en países en vía de desarrollo

Abstract

Community-based tourism is a management model that seeks to empower vulnerable or poor communities to improve their quality of life, prioritizing the environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability of the destination. Community-based tourism faces obstacles, such as access to the international market or the dependence on international funds for its development, that place barriers for local communities to lead or control their own tourism promotion discourses and the projection of their image in the market. Furthermore, these obstacles may lead to the reproduction of colonial dynamics where international organizations can favor initiatives that are not necessarily aligned with the community’s genuine interests. This article aims, through a systematic review of the existing literature, to propose a decolonial perspective model that allows historically marginalized communities to break with the colonial ideas established in the collective imaginary through the narratives created from the touristic communication. It is concluded that with the help of decolonial theory it is possible to provide a safe space for the traditionally subalternized knowledge of former colonies, giving them back the narrative control and decision power to determine how they wish to be portrayed in the international market.