Geographic Research on Tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1970–2020

Geographic research on tourism has been an integral part of CLAG publications since the first benchmark volume in 1970. Early research focused upon the tourism industry and development, whereas later work examined impacts of tourism (economic, environmental, and social), often from political ecology, mobility, social justice, and gender perspectives. Thirty research articles appeared in CLAG publications since 1970. Half of the articles were published between 2010 and 2017, and half of those were in one special issue of the Journal of Latin American Geographydevoted to lifestyle migration. By comparison, Tourism Geographiespublished twenty-three research articles on Latin America and the Caribbean since 1999. Dozens of additional journals publish geographic research on tourism—including many interdisciplinary journals as well as Spanish- and Portuguese-language journals. Some of the research topics proposed in LAG’s benchmark 1970—including cultural preservation, preservation of natural areas, and agriculture-tourism linkages—are still important today. Future geographic research on tourism—especially in areas such as sustainability, authenticity, social responsibility, migration, gender issues, and nature-based tourism —will most likely comprise an even greater proportion of overall geographic research on Latin America