Tourism research network: connections, prospects and challenges for sustainability in the Latin American Integration Route

Abstract

The present work aims to present the connections of the links of the Tourism and Local Development axis, in order to highlight the mesh and the dynamicity of a network that emerges in the field of potential interactions of UniRila (University Network of the Latin American Integration Route ), woven by researchers and partners who work in the investigation of tourism and local development in the region of the Latin American Integration Route, also known as the Bioceanic Route. For the analysis, the links (social actors), institutional partnerships, products and type of activity of the Tourism Research Network on the Latin American Integration Route in the period from 2018 to 2020 were considered. For the graphical representation of the Network, the program NodeXL Basic Framework 3.5 was used. In this network fabric, everything is social and the links are characterized by social actors/people (researchers, academics, local tourism professionals or professionals from the common territory) active in the Latin American Integration Route. In all, 16 social products resulting from cooperative actions among 24 institutions were identified. The connections are the social relationships between these actors and the existing flows are related to the social products resulting from these relationships, such as projects, research, articles and other actions such as lives via computer networks, workshops and seminars related to tourism in the Latin-American Integration Route.

Keywords
network; tourism; Latin America; sustainability; connections