Humberto Rivas Ortega (Chile)
I. Summary
ECLAC identifies three major “traps” that hinder development in Latin America and the Caribbean—low growth, high inequality, and weak governance—which also affect the tourism sector, and are further exacerbated by climate change. This context calls for a revision of tourism development models and the strengthening of coordination between the state, the private sector, and universities. The World Bank proposes improving the business ecosystem and promoting stronger university-business-society links to drive productive transformations. Tourism has not yet regained its pre-pandemic dynamism, and regional heterogeneity makes uniform responses difficult. Higher education institutions face challenges in terms of evidence-based practices, quality training, and strengthening sectoral governance.
II. Development
A recent report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) analyzed several critical factors affecting the region’s development. The tourism sector—regardless of its internal conditions of competitiveness—faces a complex scenario in which the organization identifies three “traps”: “a trap of low capacity to grow; one of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion; and a third of low institutional capacities and weak governance. These three traps are enormous obstacles to building a more productive, inclusive, and sustainable future, so it is not an exaggeration to say that the region is going through a development crisis. In addition to these traps, the region faces the challenge of climate change and of promoting environmentally sustainable development” (ECLAC, 2024, p.13).
Given this complex landscape, it is necessary to ask whether the tourism development models and instruments currently implemented by authorities and the private sector—still in recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—are effective in addressing the productive transformations required to overcome this triple trap.
At the same time, considering the expectations of a society that demands responsibility, relevance, quality, and inclusion from higher education institutions, what role can these institutions—particularly universities involved in training professionals and promoting outreach and applied research in tourism, hospitality, and gastronomy—play in addressing the region’s competitiveness and sustainability challenges?
A recent World Bank report outlined several action areas that authorities and tourism associations should consider when implementing productive development policies and designing mechanisms for university-business collaboration. The report stated: “Rather than focusing on increasing the creation of new firms through policies such as reducing registration costs or entry barriers to stimulate growth, a comprehensive approach is needed to improve the business ecosystem in order to support transformative ventures and remove the barriers that hinder their development. A joint effort by universities, established firms, financial institutions, government think tanks, and business promotion agencies is needed to identify and address missing elements or eliminate distortions in a coherent and comprehensive manner” (World Bank, 2025, p.67).
According to UNESCO, “this does not mean that universities are at the service of businesses—since they must primarily serve societal needs—but it is essential, through appropriate triple and quadruple helix projects, to foster permanent interaction between university, society, state, and business” (López, 2023, p.52). This situation becomes more acute during extended periods of low growth, which could be described as a “crossroads scenario.”
This becomes even more evident when observing that, in recent years, the GDP generated directly by tourism—as a proportion of total GDP—though showing a positive trend, especially in countries the World Bank categorizes as “tourism-dependent” (St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Belize, and Barbados), still has not recovered the levels seen at the end of the 2000s (Figure 1).
Figure 1. GDP Growth Rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2008–2023
Source: United Nations, 2025
Other indicators commonly used to measure tourism performance, such as international tourist arrivals and tourism revenue, also show a deceleration in growth, likely returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Figure 2. Growth Rate of Tourist Arrivals and Foreign Exchange Income in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2015–2024
Source: Own elaboration based on UN Tourism data, 2015–2024
However, we acknowledge that it is not feasible to intervene based solely on these types of indicators in a region characterized by environmental, demographic, economic, political, and social heterogeneity, and by the institutional diversity of tourism governance structures.
The need to move forward under a new paradigm that decisively confronts the traps affecting regional development and their impact on tourism implies adopting new models that systemically integrate the various levels of tourism management (national, regional, or local). These models must support the timely implementation of the transformative initiatives required by the sector, under future-oriented perspectives in tourism planning processes (ECLAC, 2023).
World Bank-led research in the region (World Bank, 2025) demonstrates that increased educational attainment does not guarantee labor market access unless business productivity and competitiveness improve, alongside other complementary structural measures that stimulate transformation processes in productive sectors and government management. In this regard, the report states: “Without this, more educated workers risk being trapped in low-productivity jobs, and the promise of education as a path to upward mobility and inclusive growth may remain unfulfilled” (World Bank, 2025, p.39).
This evidence allows us to identify at least three key challenges for institutions that are currently part of the broad academic network specialized in tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean:
a) First challenge:
Promote learning based on evidence from the impacts and outcomes of outreach and service projects developed by higher education institutions specialized in tourism, hospitality, and gastronomy. Emphasis should be placed on initiatives that effectively contribute to revitalizing the growth of emerging destinations by articulating productive linkages focused on locally scaled “clusters” of special interest, aimed at creating innovative experiences that strengthen regional tourism networks and clusters built around natural ecosystems and heritage identity. This challenge requires a systematic academic effort to promote new entrepreneurship models that respond to regional constraints amid biodiversity crises, climate change, and water scarcity.
b) Second challenge:
Advance decisively in professional training and capacity-building efforts that ensure excellence in learning and the retention of top students in tourism higher education. The effects of reducing inequality and enhancing mobility and social cohesion in the tourism sector cannot be addressed with temporary or superficial measures, such as offering trend-driven courses or responding to circumstantial demand. Therefore, an education model based on quality standards is required—one that not only meets the accreditation requirements of each country but also provides the competencies needed to broaden employment opportunities and productive job integration for the thousands of young people graduating from tourism schools each year.
c) Third challenge:
Develop competencies and knowledge to strengthen sectoral governance processes—not only for public institutions, which still face pending tasks in terms of multi-level and multi-stakeholder coordination—but especially at the local government level. The ability to lead tourism development processes under the responsibility of local governments, and therefore municipalities in tourism territories, is a decisive factor in overcoming barriers such as limited funding, human capital, or regulatory frameworks. These often restrict the effective functioning of tourism units (departments, offices, or other bodies) within municipal organizational structures.
