The town. The first local development agent. The visible face of public management in front of citizens. The main contact and recipient of the multiple needs of civil society organizations. There is no doubt about the importance of local governments in decentralization and local management processes. In relation to the latter, the significance of the municipality in the tourism field is undeniable. In this context, the success of local destinations will be determined not only by the uniqueness and capacity of the existing tourist attractions and how they are capable of satisfying the needs of visitors, but also by the “administrative capacity” with which The territories count for their enhancement.
It is up to the municipalities to plan, manage, regulate, protect, promote and incentivize this area. This sector is constantly growing and experiencing dizzying changes. This process is greatly influenced by high globalization, communal territories and their units, whether offices, departments or tourism directorates of each of the regions of Chile.
There are still few cities in Chile that have a structure and management model that encourages and promotes tourism at the communal level. In relation to this, it is valid to ask: How many communes are prepared? How many have their own budget? Is current tourism training adequate to take on the challenges of local tourism management? Taking the challenges into consideration, is the number of people working in the different local tourism units optimal?
Data? Here they go. Until 2022, the year of the last “Municipal Tourism Management Report” of Sernatur, only 29% of the municipalities have a tourism planning instrument (Pladetur, ZOIT) and according to the same report, but in 2019, the total of municipal officials who work in tourism offices add up to a total of 633 in the country. In terms of budget, this is still insufficient. Until the 2015 report from Sernatur itself, on the amount of economic resources granted by local governments for the area of tourism, 40% have an annual budget of less than $1,000,000 and the total number of people who work in tourism, including the person in charge It is only one person in 48% of the municipalities. This for a country that in its law 20,423 of February 2010 declares tourism as a “priority” for the state, it is evidently very scarce in quantity and dimension.
The truth is that from time to time we see no less number of local authorities vociferating and exclaiming about the importance of tourism for the revitalization of communal economies. However, this is not always reflected or reflected in the strengthening of its tourism units. At the same time, we see the “institutionality” of tourism launching strategies and plans from a lack of understanding of communal realities. When will the endogenous development of tourism prevail and will we build from the bottom up? When will be the time when municipal tourism management is strengthened and invigorated to give it the place it deserves? When will national-level tourism strategies and plans stop being built in an office in Santiago Centro to obey the interests of a few and thus maintain their privileges?
Everyone assumes the relevance that municipalities have for the development of tourist activity at the local level, however, the need to carry out transformations in the legal powers, linked to positioning this activity, is observed, with the purpose of improving both management aspects internally, in increasing budgetary capacity and human resources, as well as in intersectoral planning processes taking into consideration the articulation with other departments and units that affect tourism such as Environment, Public Works, Culture and Heritage, Social Development , Transportation or security. Likewise, it is important to recognize that no commune is isolated in the territory, therefore, the work that municipalities can carry out will produce direct and indirect impacts on communes that are nearby or neighboring, since tourism has no political limits. administrative. Challenges? A lot of? As you can see, in municipal tourism management we still have a lot to do.
Let’s hope that municipal tourism management finds its glory and that it is wise blood that makes its history.
