THE INDUSTRY OF CULTURE: AN ALTERNATIVE FOR DIVERSIFICATION OF THE TOURIST ACTIVITY IN LATIN AMERICA

This paper aims to foster elements to analyze the importance of Culture Industry, having as a goal the research of Cultural Heritage with a touristic view according with the economic, social and cultural development in Latin America. The data was processed in compared matrices with cultural indicators proposed in the Methodological Manual for implementation of the Satellite Accounts of Culture (SAC) and its application in the eleven countries that are members on Andres Bello Agreement (ABA). The tourism data references were taken from the Tourism Yearbook with the information that the eleven Ministries of Tourism have, with the economic data that are located in the SAC and the Satellite Tourism Accounts (STA) in these eleven countries. The results found in this research were that countries members of ABA do not have the same indicators for culture and patrimony, that is why is very difficult to measure the input that culture has in tourism activities. So, these countries must agree to use only one Methodology and the same tools to apply them in the culture and tourism sectors in each country.