Vulnerable careers in Cusco

1 October 2008

Each day in the centre of the Peruvian town Cusco, hundreds of street vendors try to sell their souvenirs to tourists. Griet Steel investigated these street vendors and how the growth in tourism is affecting their existence.

'Vulnerable careers' is the title of Steel's study. Because despite the opportunities tourism provides to the street vendors in Cusco, their existence remains uncertain and subject to risks. For example, their income is variable: one day they earn more than the average weekly Peruvian salary and on another day nothing. Their political status is also uncertain. The local government tries to drive them out of the centre of Cusco and if the vendors are caught trading, the authorities seize their goods as well.

From employee to entrepreneur
Most street vendors live in the impoverished suburbs of Cusco. They are women, young people and children. In her analysis of this group, Steel negated a number of stereotypical images. For example, she demonstrated that not all street vendors are poor and that not all children who work on the street are 'street children'. Her analysis also reveals that street vending is a process from which it is possible to make a career. Street vendors can, for example, work their way up from employee to entrepreneur or from a postcard vendor to a vendor of paintings.

The most successful street vendors sell valuable products, manage their incomes efficiently and have extensive social networks. Vendors who fair less well, live from day to day. They are mostly single mothers who do not have the resources and social networks needed to work their way up the ladder. Vendors who fail to make it, have often ended up in criminal circles, have gone bankrupt or cannot cope with the measures imposed by the local government.

Creative solutions
Tourism is at the top of Cusco's political agenda. Hotels, restaurants and Internet cafes are emerging everywhere. Street vendors do not fit in the image that Cusco’s local government wants to portray to tourists. Yet the policy towards vendors is not consistent. Whereas one mayor might opt for extreme repression, another is more tolerant. However, the street vendors are coming up with increasingly creative solutions to maintain their presence on the streets of Cusco. For example, they seek new vending locations, make their products easier to hide, seek protection among tourists and participate in informal saving and credit systems.

Steel's study is part of the CEDLA project 'Inca tourism in the Andes', which is funded by NWO-WOTRO. This project focuses on the sociological debates about sustainability, from which it is clear that tourism has not only positive but also negative effects. 

For further information please contact:
Griet Steel (CEDLA) t.: +32 49 946 1267, grietsteel@hotmail.com
The doctoral thesis will be defended on 13 October 2008 at Utrecht University.
Supervisors: Prof. E.A. Zoomers and Prof. J.M. Baud
Title of thesis: Vulnerable careers, tourism and livelihood dynamics among street vendors in Cusco, Peru.