Skills and tourism facilities in a poverty context: the role of voluntary organisations in the Peruvian Andes

For some decades tourism has also been considered as a tool for poverty reduction. At first as an opportunity for regional development; later (90s) as a direct interven-tion in high-poverty areas to improve people‟s living conditions. The forms of the intervention have been different and the results achieved not completely satisfac-tory. This paper deal with an intervention project in the Andean Peruvian region, Cordilliera Blanca, managed by OMG, a non-governmental organisation with a constant presence in the area, in order to compare its features with the key factors for poverty alleviation proposed in literature. The paper aims to point out the condi-tions which enabled OMG to operate successfully and the benefits brought to the destination by improving tourism services and professional skills.