Tourism in Bolivia
Encyclopedia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
has many natural and artificial tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
s, and has experienced growth in the tourism industry since 1990 in spite of deterrents to tourism such as political instability.
Attractions
Bolivia has multiple natural and man-made tourist attractions. The AndesAndes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, which cross Bolivia, are the highest mountain range outside Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and the longest exposed mountain range in the world. Bolivia's seat of government, La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, is the highest seat of government city in the world at 3660 metres (12,007.9 ft). Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world...
is one of the world's highest commercially navigable lakes, and home to the Uros
Uros
The Uros are a pre-Incan people who live on forty-two self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca Puno, Peru and Bolivia. They form three main groups: Uru-Chipayas, Uru-Muratos and the Uru-Iruitos...
, a pre-Incan people who live on artificial floating islands on the lake. The Inca civilization
Inca civilization
The Andean civilizations made up a loose patchwork of different cultures that developed from the highlands of Colombia to the Atacama Desert. The Andean civilizations are mainly based on the cultures of Ancient Peru and some others such as Tiahuanaco. The Inca Empire was the last sovereign...
and other pre-Columnbian civilizations left ruins that still exist into the 21st century, including the Temple of Kalasasaya
Kalasasaya
The Kalasasaya or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku. The Kalasasaya is low platform mound with a large courtyard that is surrounded by high stone walls...
. Yungas Road
Yungas Road
The North Yungas Road is a or road leading from La Paz to Coroico, northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia. It is legendary for its extreme danger and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank christened it as the "world's most dangerous road"...
, one of the most dangerous roads in the world, attracts thousands of cyclists and thrill seekers every year. The city of Potosí
Potosí
Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal . and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint, now the National Mint of Bolivia...
is a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
and is claimed to be the highest city in the world at 4090 metres (13,418.6 ft). The city is also the site of silver mines that produced fabulous wealth for the Spanish Monarchy; 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined from Cerro Rico from 1556 to 1783. The Salar de Uyuni
Salar de Uyuni
Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at . It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated above the mean sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes...
is the world's largest salt flat at 4085 square miles (10,580.1 km²) Madidi National Park contains the upper Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
basin and is one of them most biologically diverse regions in the world. Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos
Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos
The Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos are in the Santa Cruz department of eastern Bolivia. Six of the missions have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The missions are distinguished by the fusion of European and American Indian cultural influences...
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi, a Bolivian NGO that works in defense of animal rights and the environment, maintains three wildlife centers throughout Bolivia where volunteers can work closely with wild animals, such as spider monkey
Spider monkey
Spider monkeys of the genus Ateles are New World monkeys in the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil...
s, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s and exotic birds.
Growth and economic impact
Bolivia's tourist industry has grown gradually since about 1990. In 2000 Bolivia attracted 306,000 tourists, compared with 254,000 in 1990. Tourist revenue peaked at US$179 million in 1999. Tourism in Bolivia declined following the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, as was the case across North and South America.Deterrents to tourism
Political instability and lack of first-class accommodations have held Bolivia back in terms of growth in tourism.See also
- ChacaltayaChacaltayaChacaltaya is a mountain in the Cordillera Real, one of the mountain ranges of the Cordillera Oriental, itself a range of the Bolivian Andes. Its elevation is . Chacaltaya's glacier - which was as old as 18,000 years – had in 1940 an area of , reduced to in 2007 and was completely gone by 2009....
- List of national parks of Bolivia
Visitor attractions in Bolivia (category)
External links
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