Tourism as an asset for sustainable development

Abstract

Trujillo, is the second most populous metropolitan area of Peru, with a population of around 950 000 inhabitants. Its urban growth has happened within unsustainable patterns, like massive urban sprawl in low density, and it seems to continue in the same direction.
Next to that, the tourism sector in the country has grown in the last decades, and Trujillo has experienced this growth as well, due to the wide array of socio-cultural and environmental attractions, both natural and built, that it posses. In this context, the district of Moche holds one of the main spots that attract tourists to visit Trujillo, the Huacas del Sol y la Luna. However; the profit generated from the tourism sector does not necessarily go to improve the spatial conditions of the district, which currently faces unregulated urban sprawl, putting into risk its agricultural and archeological assets.
Hence, it is urgency to think in ways of how can tourism be a tool that helps the district to reach levels of sustainable development, in all its dimensions: social, economic and environmental.
This thesis research aims to find linkages on how by improving environmental conditions (of both urban and rural areas), the social and economic ones can also be positively affected. Moreover, the proposal, a strategic spatial plan, considers the governance aspect, thought as a key element for making the plan possible.
And although the scope of the proposal goes at district level, it takes into account its context at metropolitan and even regional ones, in order to make a balance of how the proposed projects could have an impact in the bigger tourist route.