| Abstract: | International residential tourism is a recent phenomenon in the Andean area. However, in places where it has been established, rapid changes in social and economic structures have occurred. The Municipality of Cotacachi (Northern Ecuador) is paradigmatic. Having become a destination for American retirees, residential tourism has generated a sharp increase in the price of rural land and has decelerated a land market that once allowed young farmers to continue agricultural activities. Residential tourism has promoted land exchange value while sacrificing use value, threatening peasant reproduction mechanisms. |
