TOURISM AS GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY: THE INSTITUTIONAL TRAJECTORY OF TOURISM PUBLIC POLICIES IN ECUADOR Текст научной статьи по специальности «Социальная и экономическая география»

РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ ТУРИСТСКОГО СЕРВИСА

REGIONAL ISSUES OF TOURISM SERVICE

UDC 338.48 EDN: JPQYBXG

DOI: 10.24412/1995-0411-2022-1-42-63

Thiago Duarte PIMENTEL

Federal University of Juiz de Fora (Juiz de Fora, Brazil)

PhD in Social Sciences, Associate Professor, Post-doc in Social Theory (Critical Realism); e-mail: thiago.pimentel@ufjf.edu.br. ORCID: 0000-0003-1889-069X

TOURISM AS GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY: THE INSTITUTIONAL TRAJECTORY OF TOURISM PUBLIC POLICIES IN ECUADOR

Abstract. This paper analyzes how tourism has been used as a geopolitical strategy by the Republic of Ecuador throughout the last century, gaining remarkable relevance in the recent period, being considered as an alternative source of development in the context of the restrictive capacities and resources of the National State. In particular, we analyzed the institutional trajectory of tourism public policies in Ecuador, between 19902020, focusing on the role and form of state action in this process. To this end, an empirical study was carried out, based mainly on secondary data collected from the official press of the Republic of Ecuador, in its three branches (executive, legislative and judiciary). From a total of 19,026 documents initially identified, we reviewed and found a total of 223 normative acts specifically dedicated to the tourism issue. This material was analyzed using the institutional model of public policy analysis elaborated by Pimentel (2011; 2014), structured in 3 dimensions and 5 categories, which deals with the normative, regulatory and cognitive dimensions, drawn upon a synthesis of several categories identified by Scott - among others - on institutional theory. The data showed that: a) there is a clear growth in the volume of national normative acts in the period in question, which suggests that tourism has become a State policy, b) the policies are "initiated" and have the executive as the main participating actor, c) however, they are mostly generic acts and poorly linked to operational actions (with plans, projects and measurement instruments) what suggest that extraofficial actions have been taken in order to promote and operate the sector, and d) they are characterized by the absence of resources to make them feasible. We conclude tourism has become a state policy, in terms of the discursive and also institutional level of official actions taken by the national government, as well as the practice we can see in relation to inbound and domestic flows. However, the way the subject is handled lacks support, especially material and financial one, for its effective execution, which suggests that it may have any other - no official and/or institutional -different force driving the sector, while public policies appear as a shadow on the sector's performance.

Keywords: Geopolitics, Institutional Analysis, Public Policies, Tourism, Ecuador.

Citation: Pimentel, T. D. (2022). Tourism as Geopolitical Strategy: The institutional trajectory of tourism public policies in Ecuador. Sovremennye problemy servisa i turizma [Service and Tourism: Current Challenges], 16(1), 42-63. doi: 10.24412/1995-0411-2022-1-42-63.

Article History

Received 8 January 2022 Accepted 15 April 2022

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

УДК 338.48 EDN: JPQYBXG

DOI: 10.24412/1995-0411-2022-1-42-63

ПИМЕНТЕЛЬ Тьяго Дуарте

Федеральный университет Жуис-де-Фора (Жуис-де-Фора, Минас-Жерайс, Бразилия) кандидат социологических наук, доцент, докторант; e-mail: thiago.pimentel@ufjf.edu.br

ТУРИЗМ КАК ГЕОПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ СТРАТЕГИЯ: ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ ТРАЕКТОРИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ В СФЕРЕ ТУРИЗМА ЭКВАДОРА

В статье анализируется, то, каким образом туризм использовался Республикой Эквадор в качестве геополитической стратегии на протяжении ХХ века. Это имеет особую актуальность сегодня, т.к. туризм может рассматриваться как альтернативный источник экономического развития при ограниченных возможностях и ресурсах национального государства. В частности, мы исследовали институциональную траекторию государственной политики в области туризма в Эквадоре в период с 1990 по 2020 гг. с точки зрения ее нормативного, регулятивного и когнитивного аспектов, выделив роль и форму роли государства в этом процессе. С этой целью было проведено эмпирическое исследование, основанное в основном на вторичных данных, собранных из официальных документов Республики Эквадор, издаваемых тремя ее ветвями власти (исполнительной, законодательной и судебной). Из первоначально выявленных 19 026 документов мы рассмотрели и обнаружили в общей сложности 223 нормативных акта, специально посвященных вопросам туризма. Этот материал был проанализирован с использованием институциональной модели анализа государственной политики, разработанной Т. Пиментелем (2011; 2014), структурированной по 3 измерениям и 5 категориям, которые имеют дело с нормативными, регулятивными и когнитивными измерениями, основанными на синтезе категорий Скотта, в т.ч. по институциональной теории. Данные показали, что: а) наблюдается явный рост объема национальных нормативных актов в рассматриваемый период, что свидетельствует о превращении туризма в государственную политику, б) политика «инициируется» органами исполнительной власти, т.е. именно они являются основными участниками процесса, в) при этом такие действия в основном носят общий характер и плохо связаны с практическими результатами и процессами (с планами, проектами и инструментами измерения), из чего можно предполагать, что с целью реального продвижения и управления отраслью туризма предпринимались и неофициальные меры, г) рассматриваемый процесс характеризовался отсутствием ресурсов для воплощения и реализации всех намеченных правительственных планов. В итоге мы приходим к выводу, что, несмотря на то, что туризм стал государственной политикой, с точки зрения дискурсивного, а также институционального уровня официальных действий, предпринимаемых национальным правительством, было недостаточно для достижения необходимых показателей как состояния отрасли, так и объемов въездного и внутреннего тур-потоков. Исследование позволяет предположить, что в условиях дефицита ресурсов, в особенности материальных и финансовых, для эффективного достижения поставленных задач привлекались иные - не государственные - ресурсы и возможности, в то время как внешне достигнутые показатели развития отрасли выглядят как следствие реализации государственной политики.

Ключевые слова: геополитика, институциональный анализ, государственная политика, туризм, Эквадор

Для цитирования: Пиментель Т.Д. Туризм как геополитическая стратегия: институциональная траектория государственной политики в сфере туризма Эквадора // Современные проблемы сервиса и туризма. 2022. Т.16. №1. С. 42-63. DOI: 10.24412/1995-04112022-1-42-63.

Дата поступления в редакцию: 8 января 2022 г. Дата утверждения в печать: 15 апреля 2022 г.

1 Introduction

This study1 addresses the theme of tourism within the framework of the contemporary international division of labor (Marcussen, 1982; Kiljunen, 1989; Janoski, 2015; Grimberg, 2016), in particular what has come to be considered as post-industrial society (Touraine, 1969; Harvey, 1992) or labor and immaterial economy2 (De Negri; Lazaratto, 1992; Laza-ratto, 1992; 1993; Lessa, 2001). Particularly, it focuses on the question of how the tourism activity has acquired relevance3 in this recent context, on a global scale and particularly among developing countries. This lays on the discourse of rapid generation of employment and income and increase in the export agenda, to the point of being considered a structuring strategic axis (Eddy, 2016) transforming the production matrix of these countries in favor of tourism (Restrepo Quintero, 2014).

From the second half of the twentieth century tourism became a new sector of the world economy and a social practice with the expansion of capitalism, the development of technologies, the social and international division of labor and the workers' demand for free time (Araujo; Gelbcke, 2008). The great expansion of this sector over the last decades (Dias, 2003; Beni, 2006) has generated expectations in the most diverse publics, and for many countries the sector has become a bet in terms of development (Ansarah, 2000). But, by assimilating diverse roles throughout the twentieth century, the State and its governments can establish goals, create structures, allocate resources, and provide expectations in different ways for the development of national tourism.

The empirical fact, however, is that the growing number and extent (in terms of the

1 This study is part of a larger study comparing 5 countries in Latin America. The central argument defended here

is that peripheral countries have given significant importance to tourism in the economy, thus conferring a greater relative dependence of the economic system on this activity than that one verified in the developed countries; and that tourism has been adopted by such countries as a fleeting attempt - fast and ephemeral - to seek short-term economic and social results, but that do not prove effective due to the fact that this economic activity has low intensity in economic value addition (if compared to technological activities, for example), which leads to the maintenance of comparative advantages in trade between nations in favor of developed countries and the deterioration of the terms of trade in the long term and, with this, the reproduction and deepening of the difference between countries.

2 "[...] Une première synthèse de ces résultats, conduite selon un point de vue particulier (celui de la définition de la composition technique et subjectivo-politique de la classe ouvrière), pourrait être exprimée par le concept de travail immatériel, le travail immatériel étant le travail qui produit le contenu informationnel et culturel de la marchandise. Ce concept fait référence à deux phénoménologies différentes du travail: d'un côté, pour ce qui concerne le « contenu informationnel » de la marchandise, il fait allusion directement aux modifications du travail ouvrier dans les grandes entreprises de l'industrie et du tertiaire où les tâches de travail immédiat sont de plus en plus subordonnées à la capacité de traitement de l'information et de communication horizontale et verticale. De l'autre côté, pour ce qui concerne l'activité qui produit le « contenu culturel » de la marchandise, il fait allusion à une série d'activités qui, normalement, ne sont pas codifiées comme travail. C'est-à-dire toutes les activités qui essayent de définir et de fixer les normes culturelles et artistiques, les modes, les goûts, les standards de consommation et plus stratégiquement l'opinion publique. Autrefois réservées à la bourgeoisie et à ses enfants, elles ont été investies, depuis la fin des années 70, par ce qu'on a appelé l'« intellectualité de masse ». [...]" (Lazzarato, 1992, p.1).

3 The main justification mobilized in favor of tourism, as a relevant activity in contemporary societies, comes from the economic field - even when challenged by critics, who want to use the economic to change the social, the economic premise does not leave the scene - (regarding the platforms of legitimization - or defense - of tourism, (cf. Jafari, 2005), because statistics show that this has been one of the economic activities of greatest foreign exchange generation worldwide. Throughout the 20th century tourism emerged as one of the largest and fastest growing industries worldwide. Particularly since the 1980s, especially, the growth in this sector's activities has been fast and intense way. According to Hong (2008), the estimated financial output of tourism in 2005 was 6.2 trillion dollars, which would represent 10.6% of the world's economic output, and 221 million tourism jobs, which represents about 8.3% of employment worldwide. Estimates further indicated that by 2015 the real growth rate of output would be approximately 4.6%, reaching 10.7 trillion dollars.

issues addressed) of tourism public policies is emerging as a common and recurring background, not only in developed countries but also in developing ones. In particular, Latin American countries have seen a true "wave" (Pimentel, 2017) of expansion and institutionalization of tourism, through public policies, in the recent context (Harvey, 1992). Its adoption, however, is not always accompanied in a planned and critically reflected way, due to the characteristics and structural constraints of the country, but often occurs uncritically, being seen - as Cerqueira (2016) points out -as a quick and easy alternative to generate employment and income and increase exports.

The crucial point, however, is that even under the economic aspect (seen as an export sector), tourism does not always generate a trade balance surplus by virtue of (except in specific countries4) a total volume of tourist inflow (considering the inflows of foreigners and outflows of residents to other countries) are generally close, having a more prominent significance in the differential spending rates between inbound tourism and outbound tourism (Ouriques, 2005; 2008).

Moreover, studies on the tourism economic chain show that about 75% of tourism GDP is concentrated in the operating segments of the activity: airline companies, hotel chains, and travel agencies, which are, in general, and on a global level, dominated by large transnational business conglomerates based in developed countries (Bull, 1994). One implication is that tourism does not seem to be as profitable an economic activity as it promises, especially for poor countries (Vercellone, 2017).

Despite this, one witnesses a growing space dedicated to tourism as an increasingly relevant and even strategic economic activity in their national development agendas, almost always empirically effecting a change in their productive matrix in order to give more and more space to this activity (Eddy, 2016;

Pimentel, 2017; 2021). In a way, such phenomenon has been repeated in several countries, thus characterizing a global phenomenon, although its adoption in a more accentuated way is in the peripheral countries, mainly due to their low investment capacity and the low value that this industry requires.

In this sense, considering the emergence and institutionalization of tourism in the new world order of the international division of labor, we start from the following research question: how does the emergence, expansion and institutionalization of tourism take place in Ecuador, through its national public policies? The objective, therefore, is to map the institutional trajectory of tourism public policies in Ecuador over the last 30 years (19902020), from its normative, regulatory, and cognitive dimensions, in order to highlight how this "issue" acquires a status of "public interest".

We start from the assumption that tourism has assumed a growing role and relevance in contemporary Western capitalist societies and that this manifests itself in a more notorious way to the extent that its National States recognize it as a theme of public interest and integrate it in their agendas, discourses and actions. It is hoped that this study can contribute to the programmatic revision of courses of action adopted in tourism public policies, which eventually take the activity in an overvalued manner in relation to its contributive potential in generating employment and income in the economic-productive matrix of the country.

2 Geopolitics and Tourism

Geopolitics - the interface between power and space - as a field of social practices has always existed in the human universe (Lacoste, 1972). However, its importance was dramatically accentuated in the last quarter of the 19th century, when there is a deliberate process of reflexivity on the subject, emerging as an area of study, and more recently in the

4 Montejano (1991) classifies them as small countries, generally islands or of small territorial extension, with little productive diversification and an economy weakly based on the service sector, in general, and on tourism, in particular. Examples include Cuba, Costa Rica, Malta, among others.

last 50 years. If in the beginning, geopolitical issues were more concentrated in the hands of the rulers - governors, emperors, feudal aristocracy, etc. -; in the last century, the situation has become more "democratized" as a new type of actors gained access to influence political decisions, for example large corporations (such as international car factories in developing countries). However, it has become more complex, polarized and multifaceted, as in the stable world of the feudal era power was exercised in a bidirectional (or more often unidirectional) way, in the modern world multiple actors emerge, with distinct capitals and with them spheres of influence, and power relations come to be redefined in a multidirectional network. The political power of National States, exercised by their governments, is now disputed (and interfered too) by "non-political" actors, most of these "new" actors, large international corporations5.

However, if at the beginning of the studies more attention was paid to the focal point of the external factors on the geopolitical process, over time, researchers have changed their orientation in order to expand it and see the whole process as a relationship, in which, on one side there is the central focus on geopolitical decisions, but, on the other side, there are the people who receive the decisions and can accept and legitimize or refuse and contest those decisions. This reorientation, more open, indeterminate and relativ-istic (in keeping with the spirit of postmoder-nity) will lead to the establishment of critical geopolitics (O Tuathail, 1998, Agnew, 2003; Dodds, Kuss & Sharp, 2013). Thus, the field of studies encompasses a set of new categories and accessories to deal with the subject.

On the other hand, even though in the beginning the most common themes in geopolitics were economic and military, a new way of doing geopolitics has emerged in the last half century. It was tourism. Even though it was thought or associated with a set of non-

serious activities, as leisure and other no productive activities (read not important) performed in peoples free time; tourism played an important role in the process of coexistence after World War II. In the new period, ideological geopolitics (Agnew, 2003), tourism has been used as an economic activity to non-militarily occupy areas in contending influence in a world divided by the cold war (Da-chary, 2018).

From an economic perspective, in particular its production apparatus, tourism is embedded at the macroeconomic level in a new functional form (Dachary, 2015) of articulating and maximizing capitalism (Harvey, 1992), in which it operates in two ways: (1) increasing the circulation of capital between spaces and regions - including peripheral ones - thus increasing the possibilities of resource allocation and thus optimizing the differential advantages that can be exploited from the asymmetries between these regions; and (2) the inclusion within the productive and economic system - i.e. production, distribution and consumption - of a new class of leisure time-related products and services6 (Zuzanek, 2018; 2020a, 2020b), thus increasing the scope of the capitalist system through the introduction of new, typically non-productive products and areas (Briceño & Muñoz, 2015). In other words, tourism becomes a symbol of accumulation even by the inclusion in the market (and the logic of working time and its rules) of free (and "unproductive") time.

In the macro-sociological context (Wallerstein, 1974; 2000), a new framework of international division of labor operates in the second half of the twentieth century, with the consolidation of post-industrial societies (Tou-raine, 1969) and the expansion of the service sector and the contraction of the industrial sector. It is in this context that tourism is inserted in this new world order, where, on one hand, the more developed countries absorb this activity, but selectively, especially the

5 See Lenin V. I. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.

6 Sphere previously not penetrated by the market and, from the outset, productive without value economic growth, since it did not produce goods. To a good overview of the leisure through the time, see Zuzanek (2018).

more technical and operational parts of this system, yet in a diluted way among all the other activities of their economic system; while, on the other hand, the peripheral countries incorporate it more markedly, because with a less diversified economic system and products of lower added value, this activity would be incorporated and accommodated in an easier way, still specialized in areas destined for tourism, due to the lower investment capacity in commercial and productive apparatus of the activity (Pimentel, 2020). Thus, in these countries, what would remain would be the exploitation of natural resources through international management equipment, capable of making the necessary investments in the transformation and exploitation of such resources (Arend, 1990; Pochmann, 1991).

Tourism has become an economically important "industry" and has been massively replicated in several countries around the world (Dachary, 2018). Such an economic activity has been adopted by countries, especially developing countries, as a form of development, as it does not require large investments (compared to other activities, such as the automobile or cell phone industry, innovation, etc.). However, tourism is a less profitable sector than manufacturing-intensive manufacturing, and even within the tourism sector, there are different levels of income according to the subsector of the tourism chain (e.g., most of the GDP (75%) stays with international hotel chains, tour operators and airlines, while restaurants, attractions, etc. -activities typically carried out in destinationsare less profitable) (Bull, 1994). Thus, tourism has been "pushed" into developing countries as a form of development, however, it can be an illusion if only the (plantation) pattern in which it is hegemonically preached is followed. In order to put it back on its (developmental) course it is necessary to make a more specific assessment and see the ways and (under what conditions) it can be emancipatory.

3 The Institutionalization of Public Policies in Tourism

Institutions are a central object of the social sciences, and for some authors are their

own object of social sciences (Hughes, 1936). This is because they metonymically represent the three pillars of all social analysis: action, change and structure (Vandenberghe, 2010). In these social phenomena. the characteristics of permanence and collective behavior "meet in a particular way, so that the very form assumed by collective behavior is socially permanent" (Hugges, 1936, p. 180).

The 20th century witnesses the rise and centrality of this object of study, in its most varied forms. At least since Max Weber, various sociological studies have considered bureaucratic structures, such as ministries, businesses, schools, and interest groups, the result of striving for the formation of increasingly effective structures to fulfill the formal tasks attached to these organizations (Hall; Taylor, 2003).

In the subfield of institutional theory, this story can be told in three stages: from the old institutionalism, which extends from the 1930s to the end of the 1960s; the new institutionalism, which runs from the 1970s; and a third moment, from the 1980s onward, what maybe could be called "newest institutional-ism", in which there is a theoretical and discursive fragmentation into localized concepts such as institutional work and institutional entrepreneur.

While the first phase tended to focus on institutions from their organizational aspect and the infusion of value into these structures -that is, for Selznick (1948) institutionalization is a "process", something "that happens to the organization over time"; the new institution-alism embraces a more symbolic and cultural-ist perspective, grounded by a constructivist epistemological perspective, in vogue in the 1960s. According to Berger and Luckmann (2004), the process by which actions are repeated over time and take on similar meanings among actors is defined as institutionali-zation. In this sense, we will try to identify how the State, through tourism public policies, institutionalizes this activity7.

In the 1980s institutionalist theorists gave a new impetus to the field and laid the foundations for its contemporary discussion.

DiMaggio and Powell (1983, p.148) considered the process of institutional definition by the expansion of the degree of interaction among organizations in the field, by the emergence of domination structures and coalition patterns, and by a greater mutual knowledge among the participants involved in the same enterprise.

Scott (1995), for example, has systematized the various approaches according to their emphasis on normative, regulatory, and cognitive regulations. The approach that falls under the regulatory pillar has norms, laws, and sanctions as its legitimation basis. Under the normative pillar, legitimacy comes from group values and expectations. Finally, in the cognitive pillar, a set of shared knowledge legitimizes institutionalization.

Despite the much that has been discussed about public policies in general (Souza, 2006; Faria, 2003, 2005; Melo, 1996; Paiva, 2010), only recently has tourism policy been gaining prominence and being studied and evaluated in a systematic and intermittent way.

Studies in the area of tourism based on the assumptions of institutional theory are still recent and incipient (Song, Dwyer, Li & Cao, 2012; La-vandoski, Albino Silva & Vargas-Sánchez, 2014; Pimentel, 2014a, 2014b; Carvalho, 2015; Cintra, Aman-cio-Vieira & Costa, 2016; Falaster, Za-nin & Guerrazzi, 2017; Endres & Matias, 2018), being even scarcer when specifying the type of institutional theory strand, for example, historical institutionalism (Endres & Matias, 2018; Estol, Camilleri & Font, 2018; Falaster, Zanin & Guerrazzi, 2017;

Carvalho, 2015) and especially when applied to the topic of tourism research (Falaster, Zanin & Guerrazzi, 2017; Pimentel, 2016b; Pimentel, Carvalho & Bifano-Oliveira, 2017; Pimentel, Carvalho & Pimentel, 2017; Pimentel, Carvalho & Oliveira, 2018). (Pimentel et al, 2019, p. 18).

Some works, in the international field and also in the regional (Latin American) and local (Brazilian) context, contribute to the studies in which institutional theory is used in tourism, either in the theoretical or empirical sphere (Table 1).

The institutional approach in the study of the state is interested in issues such as the in-stitutionalization of procedures and the consolidation of government actions, the effect of political institutions on the behavior of actors or the content of political decisions (Arretche, 2007). Understood as what governments decide to do or not to do (Dye, 2009), public policies can have their themes, formats, objectives, and effects diversified (Pimentel; Pimentel, 2019) not only when comparing different national states, but as the roles assumed by a given state vary in the course of its history (Kliksberg, 1998).

In the wake of these systematization processes and drawing on their contributions, Pimentel (2011) applied the synthetic framework established by Scott (1995) in the study of tourism at the municipal level in Brazil, being one of the first studies and that effectively dialogued with institutional theory in this sector. Based on Berger and Luckmann's (2004) conception of institutionalization: "the process by which actions are repeated over time and take on similar meanings8 among actors"

7 For Berger and Luckmann (1966; 2004) human existence results from sociocultural and psychological formations, which reflect a social order, which precedes the individual, and at the same time influenced and maintained by the human being's own action, in a continuous process. The authors use the idea of institutionalization to explain the causes that lead to the emergence or maintenance of a social order, considering that human activity, which is apprehended and reproduced in the same way, with the same effort, over time, becomes a pattern, coated with a meaningful character for the individual.

8 Meaning is understood, as Taylor (1979) apud Alencar (1999), as a concept that articulates an individual to a thing (object of signification) that is in a context. Based on Taylor's (1979) considerations, we assume that meaning refers to the qualities that the social actor (individual or collective) perceives in the objects that make up the situation in

(Pimentel, 2011 : 84), the author develops a protocol based on the following categories: (a) the characteristics that constitute them, namely: 1. objectives; 2. expected effects; (b)

the institutional reference arrangement, defined by: 3. position in the organizational structure; 4. proponent; and 5. Resources (Pimentel, 2011; 2014).

Table 1 - Summary of recent studies on institutional theory in tourism

Authors Context / Level Type of Study Contributions

Lavandoski, Albino Silva e Vargas-Sánchez (2014) World / International Theoretical review They analyze tourism with respect to studies on: the environment, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, social responsibility, institutional arrangements, governance, public policy and political trust, often focusing on the articulation between various stakeholders in a specific context

Song et al. (2012), World / International - They propose the broadening of the adoption of the institutional perspective in studies on tourism economics in order to extend the existing knowledge frontiers on the subject

Carvalho (2015) Brazil / National Theoretical-empirical They observe the conjuncture of formation of the national tourism public agenda (Brazil) based on historical institutionalism

Falaster, Zanin e Guerrazzi (2017) Brazil / Local Empirical Research They propose institutional theory as a framework for analyzing the image of a destination and its relationship between tourists and the ocal population, grounded in sociological institutionalism

Endres e Matias (2018) They use historical institutionalism to analyze the trajectory of the main actors that are directly involved with the development of tourism

Le et al. (2006) Vietnam / Nationa They analyze the factors that interfere in the adoption or rejection of environmentally friendly practices in hotel organizations

Wilke e Rodrigues (2013) - They start from the premise that the norms and regulations created and consolidated in society make up a set of institutional forces that put pressure on organizations to seek legitimacy in their sector

García-Cabrera e Durán-Her-rera (2014) - They discuss how the effects of an economic crisis stimulate tourism companies to generate innovation in order to remain competitive

Gomes, Vargas-Sánchez e Pessali (2014) Spain / Local They analyze the interaction of the tourist trade, emphasizing the concepts of entrepreneurship, governance and public policies

Cintra, Aman-cio-Vieira e Costa (2016) - They analyze the configuration of the organizational field of tourism

Araújo e Mal-heiros (2013) Brazil / Regional They analyze the evolution of regional development (South Region of Brazil) using the organizational model of the Local Productive Arrangement (APL) among firms and other institutions

Aureli e Baldo (2019) - Empirical Research They analyze the role of private organizations, focusing on the administration of Convention Bureaus, with particular attention on the diversity among the members that form the entity and the need for integrated information about the actions at the institutional level

Fazito, Scott e Russell (2016) Brazil / Local Observes the process of social construction of the discourse on sus-tainability in a biological reserve

Silva (2017) Brazil / Regional Analyzed how the public power, in its various spheres, historically established stimuli to the tourist activity, from an economic approach and its reflexes in the institutionalization of municipal tourism in Brazil

Source: own elaboration based on the material reviewed.

which he or she acts. Thus, we intend to associate tourism public policies with situations in which the target actors of this work are inserted, in order to verify the qualities/characteristics that these actors attribute to such policies.

In his view this instrument would be useful in capturing elements of the institutionaliza-tion process related form the normative aspects, given by the very institutionality of the institutional arrangement, for example: regulatory, via the sector's own legislation, its normative acts and formal elements; as well as cognitive, by the social construction and sharing of meanings underlying the processes (Pimentel, 2014). We then used this conceptual-methodological framework to guide the study.

4 Methodology

This research is of an empirical nature and based on secondary data from official sources of the Republic of Ecuador, in its three branches (executive, legislative and judiciary), plus strategic institutional documents of the Ministry of Tourism (policies, plans and action programs). Its object of study is the "normative acts", at the national level, of the Federative Republic of Ecuador, specifically related to the tourism sector, being here these tourism normative acts (ANT) understood simply as tourism "public policies" (PPT).

For the identification and collection of data, this research resorted to searching the official press of that country, since this would be responsible for communicating the institution of the normative acts and, therefore, when they are published, they would clothe themselves with the official status they are entitled to. By official press, here we take the main means and channels of communication of the three powers - executive, legislative and judiciary - through which, necessarily, at some stage of the process, whether downstream or upstream, such normative acts go through; in general, being, at least, at the end, filed in such registers (or database). Thus, we initially took the data from the "Official Registry"9 repository of the Republic of Ecuador, as

the exclusive source for the research, to which, in a second moment, data from the institutional repository of the "National Assembly"10 and the "Ministry of Tourism"11 were added for consultation, due to the scarcity and/or incompleteness of the data12 originally found in the "Official Registry" 13.

The study covered the period of the last 30 years (1990-2020). A total of 431 documents containing the word "tourism", "turistico(a)" and "turis" were found in the aforementioned official repositories. All documents found were downloaded and saved in Google Drive (Phase 1). After this stage of search and collection of initial data, we moved on to the stage of classification and screening of the material, whose goal was to verify inconsistencies, eliminate redundancies and produce the refinement of the sample (Phase 2), thus reaching its final form. For the execution of this phase, the documents were first counted, and all of them were reviewed, individually, to verify if they were really documents tourism about normative acts on tourism.

This way, the documents were classified into four different groups: a) ANT (tourism normative acts) that mention the search term and deal specifically with the tourism theme, b) ANT that mention the search term, but do not have specific tourism content, c) ANT of other levels "Municipal and/or State" outside the scope of the research, and, finally d) repeated ANT. After sorting the documents (Phase 2), the final sample of the analysis (Phase 3) was consolidated. From the total of 431 (100%) documents originally identified mentioning tourism, 122 (28.3%) were not specifically about tourism (although they mentioned this word in some part of the text), 85 (19.7%) referred to municipal and/or state ANTs, 1 (0.23%) document was repeated14

9 This repository would be the equivalent to the Diario Oficial da Uniao (DOU), in Brazil, being responsible for the

publication of all the constitutional normative acts of the country.

10 Available at: https://www.asambleanacional.gob.ec/es/leyes-aprobadas?leyes-aprobadas=All&title=&fecha=& page=9

11 Available at: https://www.turismo.gob.ec/biblioteca/

12 Due to the difficulty of finding normative acts in the website of the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly, the Ministry of Tourism was used.

13 Available at: https://www.registroficial.gob.ec/index.php/registro-oficial-web/publicaciones/buscador.html?

searchword=turismo&searchphrase=all

and finally 223 (51.7%) were actually about tourism.

After identifying and quantifying the normative acts at the national level in Ecuador from 1989 to 2020, we moved on to Phase 4, which was to organize, classify, and analyze each normative act according to the PPT organizational analysis method used by Pimentel (2014). The script below summarizes the proposed syste-matization (Pimentel, 2014, p. 274):

1. Identify the main tourism public policies;

2. Analyze the means used by governments to institutionalize tourism public policies. For this purpose it was sought:

a. the institutional arrangement by which tourism policies are outlined, defined by: i) position in the organizational structure; ii) proponent; iii) investments.

b. the constituent characteristics, namely: i) objectives; ii) expected effects.

In possession of such analysis, reconstitute the agenda of tourism public policies, seeking to group public policies into periods with distinctive characteristics, defining an organizing principle and the expected effects in each period.

After the survey, classification and grouping of the data, we proceeded, specifi-

cally, to use content analysis as a method of analysis and treatment of the data collected on Public Tourism Policies/PPTur in Ecuador to trace the meanings of how the legitimating and propelling discourses of these policies were constituted starting in 1990.

Thus, over the last century, the growth and multiplication of actions of the Ecuadorian State in relation to tourism public policies has been witnessed, and the set of structures and mechanisms created over time constitute today an institutional apparatus represented by the Ministry of Tourism, which from 2000 began a process of decentralization, with periodic national plans, programs and projects, which are carried out in a decentralized manner, through articulation and participation with involving local governments and other entities to promote development and self-management (Carrion; 2003; Serrano, 2011). Policies at the provincial and cantonal level must be articulated with policies at the national level, that is, with the policies developed by the Ministry of Tourism. Therefore, the decentralized, provincial and cantonal public bodies are not free to relay their own policies and projects, but must follow and implement - through their plans and projects -the national tourism policies, thus contributing to implement the guidelines of the national tourism policy (Cevallos, 2015).

Table 2 - Number of records according to source

Source / Repository Description Official Register* National Assembly Turismo Ministry Subtotal

Period* 2001-2020 2009 a 2018 1989 a 2017 1989 a 2020

Total of Normative Acts / NA 9307 147 59 9.513

Total of Normative Acts / NA "tourism" as criteria of search 344 28 59 431

Total of Normative Acts / NA with no real tourism contend ("no tourism") 113 8 1 122

Total of Normative Acts / NA on municipal or state level ("no national level") 85 - - 85

Total of Normative Acts / NA repeated 1 - - 1

Total of Normative Acts / NA with real tourism contend (sample) 145 20 58 223

* The periods have different date among themselves because they have different data availability according to the each database.

Source: own elaboration based on the research data based on the data from Official Records, National Assembly and Ministry of Tourism.

' These 3 initial categories were rejected and filed as they were outside the original scope of the research.

Table 3 - Summary of the evolution of the state apparatus, policies and mechanisms _related to tourism in Ecuador from 1930-2020_

Period Main characteristics

Decade 1930 (first actions, Tourism Law) ■ Government of Insidro Ayara Ecuador became really interested in developing tourism; ■ Regulations to facilitate the entry of travelers into the country; ■ Promotion of tourism in embassies and consulates; ■ First efforts to protect the Galapagos Islands Reserve (1934-1936); ■ Government of General Alberto Henriquez Gallo is created the "Tourism Law", which was based on issuing the tourist card as a document to enter and circulate in the country; ■ Granted benefits to those who built new hotels and inns.

■ Increased momentum for the tourism sector, has increased aviation and travel agency services; ■ First domestic airline SEDTA (Servicios Ecuatorians de Transportación Aérea) began operating in 1940, ceased operations a year later due to World War II; ■ The Pan American airline Grace Airways Panagra, in 1941, offered routes to several cities; ■ In 1947 the country's first travel agency (Ecuadorian Tours) was created, with packages to visit different tourist attractions in the country; ■ In the second presidency of Valasco Ibarra (1944), the Directorate of Tourism del Estado (DITURIS) was institutionalized under the tutelage of the Ministry of Economy. ■ The aim of the creation of this institution was to promote the country's tourism resources, but were not very successful due to the lack of resources and service providers

1940s (operative companies and creation of organizational structures)

1950s (Emphasis on International Tourism - private tourism operation and the State assumes responsibility for promotion and infrastructure) ■ In 1950, the Plaza government aimed to boost the country's tourism within the framework of modernization policies, so international tourism was seen as an instrument for the development of the country in a process known as the "indigenous cultural mission"; ■ It promotes basic hotel infrastructure in Quito, ecuador's capital, and a private metropolitan touring agency is established; ■ The destinations promoted are: Galapagos and Otavalo (Pietros, 2011); ■ Quito has consolidated its position as the most important tourist center in the country through the creation of the international airport, the Pan American Highway and the presence of attractions in nearby areas such as Santo Domingo de los Colorados, Otavalo, Quito's Historic Center and The Middle of the World (PLANDETUR, 2007); ■ In 1956, the Turismundial agency was established; ■ The government officially promoted tourism in the United States; ■ In 1957, the airline Ecuatoriana de Aviación was created.

1960s (Parks and tourism promotion) ■ Several Parks and National Reserves were created with the aim of preserving the great diversity of flora and fauna of the country; ■ In 1964, tame began operations. During the military dictatorship (1964), the Ecuadorian Tourism Corporation (CETURISMO) was created, but it did not have many results, as it was the private sector that managed the tourism promotion of the country (Caiza; Molina, 2012).

1970s (No actions on tourism) ■ The country has devoted itself to oil exploration.

1980s Community Tourism ■ New service providers have appeared, increasing the number of international arrivals. ■ Several community initiatives emerge, making the country a pioneer of community tourism in Latin America (Saant; Caires, 2017). ■ Creation of the Multinational Federation of Community Tourism from Ecuador (FEPTCE)

1990s Tourism Institu-tionalization ■ During the government of President Sixto Durán Babén, with the aim of strengthening the tourism system through institutions and policies, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Information and Tourism was established in 1992; ■ In 1998, President Jamil Mahuad merged the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Corporation of Ecuador into a single entity. ■ In 1999, the Tourism Competition Plan was created. ■ In 1999 and 2000, the Ministry of Tourism was merged with other ministries (Caiza & Molina, 2012).

2000s Institutionaliza-tion and ■ In 2000, under the presidency of Gustavo Noboa Bejariano, tourism is declared a central axis of state policies (Ordónez, 2001); ■ The Ministry of Tourism has become an institution with full legal, financial and

Period Main characteristics

strengthening of tourism administrative independence (Caiza & Molina, 2012); ■ In 2001, state policies were established for the sector, and the National Government declared the development of tourism as a national priority. Thus, MINTUR promotes actions so that tourism becomes the most important currency generator of the national economy (National Plan for Tourism Competitiveness, 2012). ■ In 2002, the Organic Law of Tourism was created, which regulates the tourism sector. ■ In 2007, the Strategic Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Ecuador was created (PLANDETUR, 2020), and sustainable tourism has become a key element in the country's agenda. ■ PLANDETUR (2020) is led by the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) and aims to coordinate public, private and community actions for the development of tourism, aiming at equity, poverty reduction, competitiveness, decentralization and sustainability, promoting the economic and social development of the country (MINTUR, 2007). ■ In the period 2008-2011 all actors, from small traders to large companies, had a strong presence in making decisions of transcendental importance (Caiza & Molina, 2012). ■ In 2008, the Government of Ecuador, in the first term of President Rafael Correa (2008-2011), declared Tourism as a State Policy (Caiza & Molina, 2012). In this way, several plans have been introduced into the government's agenda to make tourism one of the strategic sectors that contribute to the change of the productive matrix. ■ In 2009, the Comprehensive Tourism Marketing Plan for Ecuador was published (PIMTE, 2014). ■ With the reform of the Constitution in 2008, a process of decentralization began for the Autonomous Decentralized Governments (Regional, Provincial and Parish) (Serrano, 2011).

2010s to 2020 Professionaliza- tion ■ The country's brand was changed in 2010 to "Ecuador, loves life". ■ The Comprehensive Tourism Marketing Plan for Ecuador is created (PIMTE, 2010-2014). ■ In rafael correa's second term (2012-2015), an analysis of the functioning of government policies at national, provincial and cantonal level was made, with emphasis on tourism development policies at the cantonal level, in order to better understand how they are applied and which actors are present in this process. ■ Ecuador's National Development Policy is called the Buen Vivir Plan, which focuses on outlining the country's socio-economic development guidelines for the period 20132017, where tourism is a strategic sector to drive the transformation of the production matrix (SENPLADES, 2013); ■ According to Renato Cevallos, tourism training coordinator at the Ministry of Tourism, ecuador's Strategic Plan for the Development of Sustainable Tourism 2020 (PLANDETUR, 2020) has been in disuse since 2014. Instead of PLANDETUR 2020, some projects and programmes were created for the period 2014-2017. These MINTUR Plans (20142017) have five basic pillars: Security, Destinations and Products, Quality, Connectivity and Promotion15. ■ In 2017, under Lenin Moreno Garces, tourism is a central axis of development; ■ In 2017, the National Tourism Policy is created, which aims to convert Ecuador into a tourist powerhouse (MINTUR, 2019)

Source: own elaboration based on the bibliography revised (Serrano, 2011; Pietros, 2011; Caiza; Molina, 2012; Oliveira; 2016; Saant; Caires, 2017).

Since the 2000s tourism has been incorporated as a strategic axis for economic development in Ecuador because of its ability to improve the inflow of foreign exchange, reduce the fiscal deficit, and generate new jobs (Ordonez, 2001). In this way, tourism gains centrality in State policies (MINTUR, 2019),

which recognizes it as a sector of importance, giving emphasis in a particular way, to community tourism (Saant; Caires, 2017; Bravo et al., 2021). The country seeks to develop tourism in a sustainable way, as it recognizes that sustainability goes beyond the environmental issue, and is also related to social and gender

15 Interview with Renato Cevallos, training coordinator at the Ministry of Tourism, on July 28, 2015. The purpose of the interview was to find out what the tourism policies are at the national level and whether they are related to the rest of the tourism stakeholders at the provincial and cantonal level.

equity, with citizen and local participation, with an emphasis on decentralization (Ordonez, 2001; SENPLADES, 2013; Ramos, 2016).

Tourism has acquired priority in the productive matrix of the country, from the foundation that the Ecuadorian economy is basically dedicated in the extraction of natural resources, is intensive in primary goods and resource-based manufacturing, not generating great returns, and tourism is an important activity in the increment of production (SEN-PLADES, 2013). According to MINTUR (2019) tourism in the last 6 years has had an average growth of 5%, in 2018 the direct contribution of tourism in Ecuador's GDP was 2.8%, and the total contribution was 6%, even in a study by CEPAL (2020), in 2019 tourism represented around 10% in the country's exports of goods and services.

The main normative and governing instrument of tourism public policies in Ecuador, currently underway, is its national tourism plan, which have as a general proposal the integral development of society, generating quality of life for its population, emphasizing happiness, cultural and environmental diversity, harmony, equality, equity and solidar-ity16. Among its objectives is the promotion of the transformation of the production matrix, in which tourism is incorporated as the most important activity in the change process17. Specifically, in relation to Goal 10: Promote the transformation of the production matrix,

it proposes to promote the transformation of production structures with the objective of promoting import substitution and productive diversification. Thus, this objective aims to encourage "national production, systemic productivity and competitiveness, knowledge accumulation, strategic insertion in the global economy and complementary production in regional integration" (SENPLADES, 2013, p.292).

This goal mentions the synergies that must exist between social equality and economic dynamics and proposes the creation of new industries and new sectors; the promotion of public investment, public procurement and the promotion of private investment; the promotion of import substitution, disaggregation and transfer of technology, endogenous knowledge and the prioritization of diversified national production.

In this proposal for Buen Vivir socialism, according to the plan, the goal is to achieve the transition - from a neoliberal country to a socialist country - which also means a change in production relations and in the mentality of the citizens. It therefore seeks balanced and sustainable growth in contrast to neoliberal trends that seek opulence and infinite economic growth. In this sense, it proposes a state of regulation and planning that gives priority to the distribution of resources and where the interest of the people is the supreme order. On the other hand, the plan refers to the modification of power relations,

16 In order to fulfill its proposals, the plan refers to the following objectives: (1) Consolidate the democratic state and the construction of popular power, (2) Sponsor equality, cohesion, inclusion and social and territorial equity, in diversity, (3) Improve the quality of life of the population, (4) Strengthen the capacities and potentialities of citizenship, (5) Build common meeting spaces and strengthen national identity, diverse identities, plurinationality and interculturality, (6) Consolidate the transformation of justice and strengthen integral security, (7) Guarantee the rights of nature and promote territorial and global sus-tainability, (8) Consolidate the social and solidarity economic system in a sustainable way, (9) Guarantee decent work in all its forms, (10) Promote the transformation of the production matrix, (11) Ensure the sovereignty and efficiency of strategic sectors for industrial and technological transformation, (12) Guarantee sovereignty and peace, deepen the strategic insertion in the world and Latin American integration.

17 As Oliveira (2016, p.: 121) points out, "these proposals are based on the fact that the Ecuadorian economy is basically dedicated to the extraction of natural resources, that is, it is intensive in primary goods and resource-based production, and does not generate great returns. In this sense, tourism is a priority activity in the country's production matrix, that is, it is an important activity for increasing production. It is expected to increase from 57.1% to 64.0% the revenues from tourism over total service imports (SENPLADES, 2013)".

that is, "the transformation of the state is expressed in the appropriate distribution of power through decentralization processes that, in turn, are part of democratization" (SENPLADES, 2013, p.17). Another relevant aspect is the emphasis given to democratization and citizen participation in the fulfillment of the proposed objectives, where such participation has a major importance to the nationbuilding of the country.

5 Tourism Public Policies/PPTur in Ecuador

When the temporal distribution of ANTs in Ecuador is verified (Figure 2), it is observed the vast majority (93.72%) of these NA concentrated in the recent period, from the decade of 2010 to 2020, with emphasis on the years 2019, 2017 and 2020, respectively with 32.28%, 16.59% and 13.0%. This confirms that there is an ongoing process of accentuation of the relative importance of the tourism activity by the State, as previously identified as the strategy of change in the productive matrix of the country (SEPLANDES, 2013). In addition, it suggests a continuity of public policies due to the relative stability and maintenance of a certain regularity, particularly seen from 2014 and extending over the period 2014 to 2020.

Analyzing the months in which the normative acts were published, we see that February, March, April, July and December, are

the months with the highest frequency, i.e., at the beginning and end of the year, which may suggest a coincidence with the beginning of the legislature and the end of fiscal years, and the limit period for commitment of resources, respectively (Figure 3).

Of the 223 normative acts analyzed: 84 are Agreements, 18 are Interministerial Agreements, 38 are Ministerial Agreements, 16 are classified as Decree, 4 as Executive Decrees, 1 as Supreme Decree, 28 are Laws, 33 are Resolutions, and 1 is an International Instrument (Table 4).

Regarding the institutional arrangement (Table 4), the ANTs perpetrated by the executive represent 89% of the total, followed by the ANTs of the legislative branch with 11% (Figure 1). We did not identify any ANTs concerning the judiciary. This difference is, in a way, expected, since it is up to the executive to implement the State's actions, giving, for this, an outlet for its demands through normative acts of different types and purposes. On the other hand, the lower relative performance of the legislative power suggests a lower participation of this power in the regulation of this sector, which can be due to an eventual "greater" economic freedom of the agents to explore the sector or else a lack of "perception" and assimilation, by this power, of the economic and social importance of tourism in the country.

Figure 2 - Distribution of Tourism Normative Acts, at the national level, by year Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

15

28

20

29

Figure 3 - Distribution of Normative Tourism Acts, at the national level, by month

22

17

15

16

14

15

24

y ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ y y y y

V- ,e> «u- ,<£>

Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

Table 4 - Types of normative acts according to the type of bureaucratic organization

Grouping / Type of bureaucratic organization Types of Normative Acts Total %

Executive Decree 4 1,79

Supreme Decree 1 0,44

Decree 16 7,17

Normative Acts of the Executive Branch, at the national level Ministerial Agreement 38 17,04

Interministerial Agreement 18 8,07

Agreement 84 37,66

Law 3 1,22

Resolution 33 14,79

International Instrument 1 0,44

Normative Acts of the Legislative Power, at the national level Law 28 12,55

Normative Acts of the Judiciary, at the national level Not found 0 0

Subtotal Normative Acts 223 100%

Besides the prominence, in terms of their relative importance, of the executive's ANTs (Figure 4), an asymmetric distribution among their types is observed. While 21.97% refer to primary ANTs, i.e., universally binding, the vast majority (79.03%) are secondary and administrative NA of the public administration, such as agreements and resolutions. This suggests that the measures taken by the State have, in the majority, an ordering, instructive and disciplining character, placing conditions whose force of compliance is less restrictive and more discretionary by the agents.

Another important issue refers to the specific preponderance of agreements as the most frequently used ANT modality (37.66%),

Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

Figure 4 - Distribution of Normative Tourism Acts, at the national level, by type

Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

which is even higher if we consider the modality of ministerial and interministerial agreements, totaling (62.77%), in these 3 types, the most used type of ANT. Next come resolutions (14.79%) and only in third place are laws (12.55%). When analyzing, qualitatively, the agreements, it is verified, for example, that they are instruments used, mainly, in two ways: a) one regarding the proposals of potential partnerships or an initial step in relation to cooperation with another country on a specific theme; or b) between agencies and ministries of the national public administration itself in order to standardize and

parameterize matters, or regulate the realization of joint actions.

Figure 5 - Distribution of Normative Tourism Acts, at the national level, by type, focusing only on the Executive branch

ion based on the research data.

Source: own elabora

Ecuadorian Navy

Technical Secretariat of the National System of Professional Qualification« National Secretariat of Public Administration President of the Republic and Ministry of Tourism President of the Republic and Director of the Official Registry

president of the Republic ymmmmmmmmmmmmmm 27 Internal Revenue Service ■ Tax Policy Committee Ecuador National Customs Service Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility Ministry of Tourism

Ministry of Tourism - Ecuadorian Tourism Corporation* Executive body (Company|i of Tourism at the federal level in...

Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Interior Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Environment and Water Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of the Environment Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Government, Police and Worship Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Public Health Ministry of Transportation and Public Works Ministry of Labor and Employment and Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Government, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Health Ministry of Government and Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Government and Police and Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Culture and Heritage

Ministry of Environment, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Transportation

Ministry of Environment Ministry of industries and Productivity - Quality System Undersecretary Ministry of industries and Productivity - Quality System Undersecretariat Ministry of Industries and Productivity Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fishing - Undersecretariat of Quality

Ministry of National Defense

Ministry of Urban Development and Housing - Technical Council for Land Use and Management Ministry of Economy and finance - Economic and Productive Sectorial Cabinet Coordinating Ministry of Production, Employment and Competitiveness - Production Sectorial Council

Directorate General of Internal Revenue Services Directors of the N ational Agency of Regu lation and Cont rol of Land Transport, Traffic a nd Road Secu rity 10

National Competencies Council Council of Planning and Development of the Amazon Special Territorial District Board of Directors of the National Agencyforthe Regulation and Control of Land Transport, Traffic and Road Safety

Galapagos Special Regime Government Council

National Congress 3 Galapagos, CaFiar, Pastaza, Manabf and Imbabura Assembly National Assembly and General Secretariat

National Assembly is

Figure 6 - Distribution of Tourism Normative Acts, at the national level, by their position in the Organizational Structure Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

ib

Of the 223 normative acts analyzed 89% (total 198 acts) are from the Executive, and 11% (total 25) are from the Legislative. Of the 198 policies prepared by the Executive: 84 are Agreements, 18 are Inter-Ministerial Agreements, 38 are Ministerial Agreements, 16 are classified as Decree, 4 as Executive Decrees, 1 as Supreme Decree, 3 are Laws prepared by the Executive, 33 are Resolutions and 1 is an International Instrument (Figure 5).

When only the ANTs of the executive are analyzed, it can be seen that most normative acts were prepared by the Ministry of Tourism with a total of 106 documents. Next, the Presidency of the Republic has a total of 27 normative acts, followed by the National Assembly with a total of 18 acts, and the Directory of the National Agency of Regulation and Control of Land Transport, Traffic and Road Safety with a total of 10 acts. The remaining bodies have fewer normative acts as can be seen in Figure 6.

From the 223 normative acts analyzed we identified that 53 had as their objective the "Creation and approval of norms and regulations", followed by 49 acts with the objective of "Delegation of functions and responsibilities", and 28 with the objective of "Regulation of commercial activities related to tourism" (Figure 8).

Considering all the normative acts analyzed, none of them presented any type of

economic resource destinated to their execution. Of the 223 acts, 216 did not specify if the proposed policy would have some kind of burden, and 7 indicated that the normative act would generate revenue (Figure 7).

Figure 7 - Distribution of Normative Tourism Acts, at the national level, according to the Resources committed for their execution Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

In order to delve deeper into those normative acts in which the resource was not specified, we analyzed from its objective whether this resource was omitted. In this way we generated three other categories: "there will be no burden" in the case where the normative act referred to a standard or regulation and did not really generate any type of burden; "there will be a burden" in the case where it indicated, for example, the need for a trip by a public representative, but the burden was omitted; and "there may be a burden" in those cases where the proposed normative act indicated some type of expense.

Covid-19 ■ 2 Transportation/Signaling S

Regulation in protected natural areas Community Tourism and Popular and... 3

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Regulation of commercial activities related... 28

Reforms to statutes, laws, etc.

Search

Appointments to positions Decentralized self-government Fiscal tax

Appointments and representations in... Delegation of functions and responsibilities Creation and approval of norms and...

Travel Authorization

25

25

49

53

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Figure 8 - Distribution of Normative Tourism Acts, at the national level, according to their Objectives Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

This deepening allowed us to reach the result that of the 216 normative acts in which the resource was not specified, 194 normative acts actually there would be no burden when it comes to the creation of norms, law reforms, statutes, delegation of functions, etc.; in 15 normative acts we identified that their implementation would generate some kind of burden (there will be burden) with salary, research, holding events, public works, etc. salary, travel, exoneration of tourist tax, exoneration of tariff, and exoneration of taxes; and 7 normative acts we identified that there may be burden, such as a redistributive policy, feasibility study, road control, etc. (Figure 9).

;x"; ■ Will be a burden Ж : » Will be no burden ШЛ Щ ■ May be a burden :'/}■■)':

Figure 9 - Distribution of the Tourism

Normative Acts, at the national level, according to the Type of Resource Source: own elaboration based on the research data.

6 Discussion: tourism public policies and geopolitical analysis

What data show in terms of geopolitical analysis? Geopolitics, in classical terms, deals with the strategic conduct of the State aiming to reach a better position in the international scenario. In Ecuador, we can witness an ongoing process of geopolitical action in terms of tourism, due its recurrency and stability over the years and specially in the current century.

First of all, we have identified that the number of normative acts has increased more than 200% on the last 2 decades (after 2,000). This is an indicator which - allied to other observations (Eddy, 2017) - shows us that there is a conduct of the State in terms of considering tourism as a national strategy, in order to make a change in the productive structure of the economy, putting tourism as one of the main sectors to be fostered.

The second point is that Ministry of Tourism, as the main actor performing the normative acts, confirms the classical stream on geopolitics studies in which State actors are determinant in order to push forward geopolitical issues. Moreover, when we analyze the contend of the documents - for example, federal constitution, tourism national plan, Buen Vivir national master plan, among others - we confirm that tourism is pursued as a strategy to generate income and jobs. Thus, "selling the country" in the international tourism market is a strategy to increase the national GDP in the economy and occupy a large number of people. Even when one considers the agreements made by the legislative, one still can see that different actions are performed in order to engage with nations (externally) and sectors (internally) aiming to create easy conditions to run tourism business.

However, if the number of acts and their legislation (ordering issues) about tourism has increased. On the other hand, we cannot affirm that there are feasibly. It is because the resources related to the implementation of that policies are not specified or even are not existing themselves, which makes that the proper condition of its execution will be unassured.

At this point, we came up with a paradox situation - typical in developing countries -where is expected that the tourism flow - special international one - increases, but the necessary operational actions (more than legislation, programs and plans) to perform the activity are not taken by the State. Thus, this strategy of national development can be seriously threatened in in a double sense: on one side, tourisms is a lees profitable activity than other industries and betting excessively on it -for example, forgetting other strategic sectors or in a monopolistic sense - can represent a kind of plantation economy and a return to the colonial era (Hall, 1994). On the other side, it is very necessary that the National State be capable to ensure the resources -economic and material ones - needed to perform the activity, inside the tourism sector itself. Otherwise, it can become just one more

unaccomplished task and loose one more passport to development (De Kadt, 1984).

7 Conclusion This work aimed to map the institutional trajectory of tourism public policies in Ecuador in the last 30 years (1990-2020), seeking to highlight how this "issue" acquires a status of public interest.

From the analysis of the normative acts over time we have identified that the normative acts on tourism have had a greater growth in the last two decades, just when tourism is incorporated as a strategic axis for national economic development. Most of the ANT are generic, are agreements, and do not provide resources for their implementation, which suggests that there is no direct implementation of the issue.

Regarding the actors, most of those involved are from the executive power (Presidency, MINTUR, and other ministries). The Ministry of Tourism, is the main actor

responsible for approximately 47% of the actions. On the other hand, it is worth noting the participation of the National Assembly (even if in a generic way) in the incorporation of the tourism theme in their speeches.

In this way, the study indicates that the ANTs seek to achieve better business performance, foreign exchange generation, and employment. In addition, the data confirm the idea that the PPTUR in Ecuador have become a theme of relevance and priority for public authorities in what is relative to the amount of ANT that has been published over time, however what is verified is that they are superficial in terms of a real application of initiatives and actions, in this way the theme of development, despite appearing in some ANT, is isolated and not applied.

It is hoped that this work can contribute to future research that aims to study tourism public policy planning and its potential economic and social implications.

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