Marco Antonio Abastoflor Portugal, (Bolivia)
I. Summary
Rural tourism in Bolivia, exemplified by Toro Toro, shows how training, community leadership, and the valorization of heritage can transform communities. Through competencies in hospitality, sustainability, and management, an inclusive and resilient local economy is fostered. Educational institutions—from primary schools to universities—play a key role in this process. True development emerges by empowering people, recognizing that Bolivia’s greatest tourism capital lies in its people, their hospitality, and their collective capacity.
II. Development
To speak about tourism in rural Bolivia is to speak about dreams that, through effort and dedication, become reality. Working in tourism involves far more than showcasing a landscape or telling a story; it is about touching lives, transforming communities, discovering talents, and above all, building a dignified future with one’s own hands.
Toro Toro is a small community located in the northern part of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia and is perhaps one of the best examples of what can happen when a community embraces tourism as a vital part of its development. For years, I have witnessed how the development of competencies—that set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes—has made the difference between incipient tourism and a flourishing local economy. It is not an easy path. At times, resistance appears disguised as shyness, fear of change, or doubts about whether it is really worth committing to such an uncertain occupation. But it is worth it.
The first lesson learned is that natural wonders alone are not enough; people are everything. Continuous training in customer service, business management, languages—yes, even basic English opens doors—and sustainable practices is not merely desirable, it is essential. When a local guide tells the story of a canyon or a community mother prepares an ancestral recipe in her restaurant, competencies take shape and elevate the tourism experience to a more authentic and meaningful level.
Moreover, these training processes have given rise to genuine forms of leadership—rotational, supportive, and horizontal—that sustain collective management. In Toro Toro, I experienced this firsthand: community members themselves became trainers, and knowledge was passed from parents to children, friends, and neighbors. In this way, knowledge ceased to be the privilege of a few and became a common good. When everyone understands that development goes hand in hand with personal growth, tourism stops being merely a source of income and becomes a pathway to comprehensive well-being.
In practice, the professional competencies developed by each person working in the sector also enable communities to face challenges: communicating better with visitors from around the world, innovating in services, solving problems collaboratively, and—most importantly—feeling proud of their heritage and culture. One can clearly see collective self-esteem grow. Tourism can help revive festivals, traditions, and typical dishes, while simultaneously encouraging improvements in education, health, and infrastructure. The virtuous circle is there, waiting to be activated.
However, the key lies in never stopping learning. Changes are rapid and tourism demands are increasingly high. Strengthening competencies is not something achieved in a single weekend workshop; it requires continuous support, adaptation, and a great deal of creativity. The greatest challenge is making training an inclusive, dialogical, and tolerant process in which no one is left out because of their origin or age.
The role of educational institutions in developing competencies for rural tourism is fundamental and must be approached in a coordinated manner, respectful of local contexts, and with a long-term vision.
Primary schools can plant the seeds of motivation and curiosity about the local environment from an early age, teaching students to value natural and cultural heritage through active methodologies that incorporate living history, oral narratives, and direct observation of the surroundings. Foundations for teamwork, communication, and intercultural respect can be built there, through community projects and learning experiences linked to everyday reality.
Technical institutions play an essential role in initial professionalization, allowing young people and adults to acquire specific skills such as customer service, basic management, gastronomy, and local guiding. Their flexibility, through short and focused training processes, enables direct responses to the immediate needs of the sector, especially in rural contexts where university education may not be accessible to everyone.
Universities, in turn, are called upon to lead comprehensive processes of training, research, and outreach. Their most valuable contribution lies in designing holistic training programs, providing academic certification, and promoting inclusive and rotational community leadership. As demonstrated by the experience of the Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo,” La Paz campus, in Toro Toro, academia can create educational models based on inclusion, dialogue, and equality, “respecting cultural differences and enhancing participants’ self-esteem through collaborative and supportive work in what are known as ‘territorial laboratories.’”
The Toro Toro study clearly indicates that in rural areas, working in tourism—serving and welcoming visitors—was not initially understood as a means of generating income and fostering regional economic development. As a result, tourism has grown very slowly compared to other Latin American countries, leading to limited economic progress for rural populations, despite the region’s high tourism potential and rich natural and cultural resources. I fully agree: transformation begins when awareness is cultivated, hospitality is valued, and local talent is turned into opportunity.
The program “Teaching–Learning Communities in Biocultural Community Tourism,” certified by the Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo” through its Tourism Administration program, demonstrates that leadership can be rotational and education a community good. Seeing local residents guiding tours, delivering workshops, and innovating in experiential tourism is deeply rewarding, because that is where true development lies.
In conclusion, the message is clear: sustainable rural tourism in Bolivia will only be possible if we invest in the growth of the people who make the experience possible. If we embrace diversity, cultivate empathy, and commit to collective work, no goal is unattainable. Because, at the end of the day, the greatest capital of our territory is not its canyons, mountains, or caves, but the capacity and the heart of its people. And that is, undoubtedly, our most valuable competence and our greatest source of pride.
