Giovana Carolina Cárdenas Mora
Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia
Abstract:
This article is an outcome of a historiographic research on tourism in Colombia. Here, we take the tourism setup around thermal baths and their healing properties in the municipality of Paipa (department of Boyacá) between 1938 and 1969. A global approach of tourism as a driver of economic progress led government agencies to consider the emergence and setting up of this industry in their territories. Additionally, tourism was considered a social phenomenon that promoted rest, leisure, culture, and health, which gave room to manifold interrelationships socially and culturally significant. This view may explain the joint effort of the national government and municipal authorities in this effort, as well as the legislative movement to formulate policies that encouraged infrastructure development and private investment.
Keywords: Historiography of tourism, governmental policies, tourism and modernity.
