Che Guevara’s touristic destinations
May 19th, 2006 by 
Jorge
Some months ago, I published one entry (this one) about the touristic exploitation of the Che Guevara figure in Alta Gracia, Cordoba, a city he lived in for a good part of his life. Now, I’ve found out, through Diario de Cuyo, that the Che figure is still motivating new touristic projects.
Citing:
Alta Gracia’s Tourism Office (in Cordoba) has started a project to capture the growing number of visitors that are arriving to our country to visit locations linked to the emblematic figure of the Che, without overlooking the interest of local tourists in knowing his story.
The name of this touristic promotion will be “Che Guevara’s tracks in Argentina”, and the events that will be held by the Nation’s Tourism Office will be complemented in the cordobese city of Alta Gracia with visits to the former house (currently, Museum) of the Che Guevara.
The project establishes the argentinean cities the Che has lived in or has been related to, such as Rosario (place of birth), Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Misiones and Alta Gracia, and the Tourism Office of the Nation has organised meetings in which officers of these institutions will participate.
Facing this, and to get more information, some minutes ago I sent a brief questionnary to Alta Gracia’s Touism Office in Cordoba (turismo@altagracia.gov.ar) with a series of questions in order to obtain more information to share with you. The questions are:
What is the project “Che Guevara’s tracks in Argentina” about? What official organisms and representatives of the private sector are participating?
How did you arrive to the conclusion that tourism linked to Che Guevara was attractive? What kind of demands did you notice among tourists? Can you give an example of such demands?
Which members of Alta Gracia’s community are working in the project? Is there a participation of specialists or the University? I ask this because in one my articles comments there were very harsh concepts from people who live in Alta Gracia towards the museum’s organisation.
The note I read talks about a project in which other cities where Che Guevara lived in are participating. How is this coordination? What kind of joint actions will the cities carry out?
In previous occasions many people from Alta Gracia shared their opinions about the topic (in the spanish version of the original article). If any of you believe there’s something else that should be asked, suggest it in the comments area, and I will send it in a second email to Alta Gracia’s Tourism Office. I find it a very interesting topic since, according to the note I found, this new project linked to Che Guevara is part of a national project that involves Rosario and Buenos Aires, which speaks of a dimension much farther from a local initiative.
As soon as I get more news, I’ll update this note in the blog.
Posted in Argentina, Tourism Business | 