Can tourism be seen as a part of the “Otavalo Miracle”? Who profits? What is the matter with race?

The “Plaza de los Ponchos” overflows with textiles and handicrafts with “indigenous design”, there are Otavalo-Shops in Madison, Wisconsin, Otavalo music is known beyond Ecuadorian borders – Leo Rojas, who is from Otavalo, was the winner of the Supertalent Show in Germany with his interpretations of Andean songs and instruments – and the town has about 440.000 visitors every year. The classification made before may show something about how Otavalos use their image in a different way than other Andean cities or peoples do. But can we really talk about an Otavalo miracle?

Our argumentation goes further and we are looking at who profits from the tourists coming to Otavalo: is the indigenous population really profiting from tourism? It is still a great debate how tourism enriches minorities or if tourism has a negative influence. First of all tourism has “the potential to bring economic and social benefits” and in fact parts of the indigenous population in Otavalo do profit from this by selling products or also lifestyles (Yang 561). On the other hand scholars argue that tourism can “adversely impact the culture and sense of identity of ethnic groups” (561). The demand of authentic, cultural, exotic, extraordinary experiences in ethnic tourism can create and increase stereotypical views about indigenous peoples. With that goes an image of indigenous peoples as the “living otherness” (Trupp 142). This is problematic in the sense that indigenous people as the “exotic other” can be touched, looked at and used to build an image of a romanticized idea of a minority group (144). The power relations between tourist and indigenous local seller show clearly who can demand what: if the tourist wants to see sweet children in nice traditional clothes the local person will do everything to make this possible because by not doing so the source of income disappears. The local seller will not have the possibility to start another business, like the homepage of Otavalo shows: goods and services around tourism and ethnicity are the mayor source of income for the Otavalos (visitotavalo.com). So who has the power to define what is really authentic or folklore or extraordinary?