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This paper aims to focus on the impact of cultural heritage tourism in North Coast Peru on local communities and artists, in particular, on efforts to use the burgeoning interest in pre-Inca cultures to involve local communities in the development of tourism. A number of studies have explored the connection between archaeology, cultural heritage, and tourist development in Peru and Latin America. While North Coast Peru is an area rich in pre-Inca cultural heritage, many residents near the impressive archaeological sites are in need of an improved quality of life and more economic development opportunities.

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews with site directors, local development personnel, government officials, and artists as well as observations of relevant tourist-related sites and events, conducted by the author during 2011-2012 in the North Coast cities of Trujillo and Chiclayo.

The so-called “new archaeology” plays an important role in the region by using archaeology, in a sense, as a pretext for community development, while exploiting the historical ties between ancient and modern cultures in the area has provided economic development opportunities for local residents. Projects such as those developed in Chotuna, the Pomac Zone, and Túcume provide opportunities for community participation and development at multiple levels. Further, the historical ties posited between ancient and modern local communities in the area have led to successful projects that recuperate artisan techniques and indigenous crops.

As the North Coast undergoes a larger process of re-imagining its historical past and cultural heritage, a focus is needed on efforts to involve local communities in the development of tourism in ways that empower local people and have the potential to lift them out of poverty. In part, then, this project is intended to connect the growing concern for a more nuanced understanding of the non-Quechua [Inca] indigenous cultural heritage of Peru with cultural heritage preservation and tourism studies.

This paper aims to critically review the contributions made by the articles in this theme issue with reference to the literature and by examining the link between tourism and poverty and the conditions that shape this link in Latin America.

The paper reviews the most important contributions through critical content analysis of the papers contained in the theme issue.

Tourism matters to the poor, but its relevance is defined by a number of factors including economic development, inequality, and destination life cycle. Alternative tourism, while promising, may be too limited in scope and scale to affect poverty alleviation that is broad and fast enough to benefit Latin America.

More research is needed to understand the link between tourism and poverty reduction, and the conditions that determine the strength of the link in Latin America.

The theme issue explores the tourism poverty link from different perspectives with inputs from multiple stakeholders with experience and expertise in poverty alleviation in Latin America. This approach offers the reader a unique opportunity to explore different facets of the tourism development conundrum in the region.