Heritage Consumption in the Neo-Liberal Agenda: El Abasto, Almagro, Buenos Aires, a Study-Case

Introduction

Without any doubt, the tourism industry has considerable growth over recent years. This untrammeled growth was accompanied by a strong ideological culture that punctuates tourism is vital for in the revitalization of under-developed economies. In part it was true but the fact was that some nations failed in their efforts to reach a sanitized economy. The theory of development showed some limitations to explain why some nations are rich while others remain poor. What seems to be clear is that under some conditions the tourism industry generates positive changes which are conducive to an economic recovery (De Kadt 1979; Richards & Hall 2003; Pigram & Wahab, 2005). The stimulation of consumption associated to foreign investment has durable positive consequences for the local economies. Having said this, some experts agree that the economic resources of a society and tourism consumption seem to be inextricably intertwined (Korstanje & Seraphin 2017). Based on this perspective, the current chapter studies the role of culture in post-convertibility Argentina just after 2001. In so doing, this research focuses strictly on the theory of urban planning and international tourism trends within the constellations of cultural studies. As George Yudice (2002) puts it, there exists a valorization of cultural consumption as the best (developing) factor that leads societies towards growth and development. Per his viewpoint: “culture can generate income through tourism, crafts and other cultural activities.” Such urban transformations in Buenos Aires city have increased since the end of convertibility and become the essential resource for development. We have worked on secondary statistical sources administered by some local administration institutions such as the Ministry of Culture (Buenos Aires City Government) and CEDEM (Studies Center for Metropolitan Economic Development, Secretary of Economic Development, Buenos Aires City Government). The selected methodology helps us analyzing the evolution and maturation of artistic activities as well as the cultural consumption associated to the tourism industry. In the global market, cities are commoditized, embellished and exchanged as cultural products while natives are considered cultural commodities to be unilaterally gazed by foreign tourists (Korstanje 2012). In their seminal book, Economies of Signs and spaces,Urry & Lash (1994) call the attention to the rise of new global economies where cultures are packaged and sold under the auspices of the sign. Cities are nowadays offered as cultural products which are consumed in the regional and international markets. Recently, managerial disciplines such as Management and Marketing have devoted considerable attention in the production of destination image (Beerti & Martin, 2004; Echtner & Ritchie 1991). Paradoxically, after the turn of the century, political riots, economic crises and violence flourished affecting not only the international destination but also placing the industry in jeopardy (Avraham 2015). The post conflict destination theory emphasizes on the potential of tourism to revitalize and recycles to areas whipped or destroyed by disasters, a state of durable conflict or war (Vitic & Ringer 2008; Morgan & Pritchard 2011). Sites of the caliber of Belfast, New Orleans, Sri Lanka, Bali and even New York (after 9/11) have been fully recovered from their days of violence and darkness (Winter 2007). This means that tourism situates as something more complex than a resilient industry but as an instrument that helps societies to recover from the adversity. Above all tourism seems to be a mechanism of resiliency inherently ingrained in the societal order (Korstanje & Ivanov, 2012).