Final destination: culture.

• Author: Footer, Kevin Carrel
• Position: Americas !Ojo!

DESPITE ARGENTINA'S economic woes, there is one industry that is booming: tourism.

Encouraged by the favorable exchange rate, tourists are flocking to Argentina to visit the country's myriad attractions, from the urbane beauty of Buenos Aires to the savage expanses of Patagonia.

But it is not only tango dancers, hotel operators, or luxury dude-ranch owners who are looking to court tourists; indigenous communities in Argentina as well have been alerted to the idea that their history, cultural heritage, and natural wonders have the power to draw visitors from foreign lands.

Recently, Joan Timeche, an expert in cultural tourism from the Native Nations institute at the University of Arizona and a member of the Hopi tribe, visited Kolla and Mapuche communities in Argentina to discuss the benefits and challenges of cultural tourism.

Timeche says that the central question is always the same: "How much do we want to share? It's a decision each community has to make."

Drawing from her experience in the U.S., Timeche explained that what might be a successful approach for one community, would fail in another. She pointed to a thriving Apache program that teaches basket weaving to visitors, then added, "We [Hopis] would never teach a non Indian how to make these baskets. These are made by young women and you have to pass an initiation ritual to learn how to make them."

While there are challenges inherent in opening up native communities to tourists, there can also be benefits that go beyond the economic. Many times, cultural tourism is a way of preserving--or even bringing back--traditions that would otherwise be lost.

Victor Bretscher, an Argentine geologist and inveterate traveler, was asked by the Kolla community Finca Santiago in the northwestern province of Salta how they might attract tourists. Their communally held lands, stretching from tropical jungles to sixteen thousand-foot Andean peaks, have much to offer, but are not easy to discover as access is only on foot. And since there are no hotels, Bretscher's plan included putting up tourists in private homes.

Having traveled to more than fifty countries on five continents, Bretscher knew that there were plenty of people who would not only...