A ski lodge building on Chacaltaya (election about 5,000 meters) near La Paz
Courtesy Harvey W. Reed

Tourism was a small but growing activity in Bolivia with potential for greater foreign exchange earnings. The entry of tourists jumped from 22,250 in 1970 to 155,400 in 1980 but had fallen to 127,000 by 1985, or about 1 percent of all tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Tourism was estimated to provide as much as US$50 million in foreign exchange. Over 300 hotels and scores of motels and tourist residences--with about 9,000 rooms and 16,000 beds--provided accommodations for travelers. Latin Americans represented nearly half of all visitors, followed by Europeans and North Americans. A small domestic tourist industry also existed. Major tourist attractions were the country's snowcovered mountains, Lake Titicaca, pre-Inca ruins at Tiahuanaco, the vast tropical areas, remote national parks, sightseeing on the national railroad, and the Indian cultures. The government's Bolivian Institute of Tourism (Instituto Boliviano de Turismo) promoted Bolivian tourism by emphasizing the nation's history and culture, as well as its beauty and varied terrain.

Data as of December 1989