Mountain tourism: How to professionalize the new tourist pastime in Chile

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Sun, river, mountain. In the Las Melosas sector of Cajón del Maipo, the fresh air suddenly turns into cold gusts. The voice of guide and teacher José Luis Guzmán can be heard: “Watch out for the wind, don’t let it blow you back and forth,” he says to a student of the Ecotourism Administration course at UNAB, who is practicing the technique of descending a mountain with ropes, known as rappelling.

Catalina Rivera is in her first year at the Viña del Mar campus, so the sea is her thing. “This has made me get out of my comfort zone, the mountain is not my thing. I’m more of a water person,” she says while untying the knots that allowed her to descend a high rock in this, one of the “field trips” included in the curriculum of the career.

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“In the summer I started diving in Valparaíso, in Las Torpederas, and I looked for a way to continue doing it as a profession,” she says about the motivations that led her to study Ecotourism, “which is not the same as adventure tourism,” as the students themselves clarify. At the same time, they prepare their lunches and rest in their tents before going down to the Maipo River to practice rope-crossing.

“In the future, I want to have an enterprise, like a diving school. Here they give me the tools, and I will learn first aid and rescue techniques. You have to be trained because, in Ecotourism, there are also risks,” says Catalina.

A SAFE ESCAPE

According to the National Mountain Diagnosis-Chile, the country’s mountainous territory is 63.8%, with 4000 km of mountains. A vast terrain full of potential that until some time ago seemed to be an activity designed only for extreme sports lovers, but today has become a more sought-after activity to relax on weekends.

After the strict quarantines due to the pandemic, the mountains have filled with people looking for an outdoor activity that is easy to access. While statistics are hard to come by, one way to measure the increase is, unfortunately, the accident rate. According to police information, the Carabineros, the search and rescue section of the GOPE, in 2021 has performed 36% more rescues in low, medium, and high mountains than in 2019.

This figure not only denotes in a certain way the increase in interest in the activity but also reveals another need: the need for specialists to enable the practice of mountain tourism in any of its varieties safely and responsibly. In a way, it is the same as what happens when you go on vacation to a beach: you don’t go swimming without being sure that the sea conditions are safe. With mountaineering, the same is required.

Currently, in Chile, there are some 60 regional and local mountaineering associations. Still, two of them are now seeking to implement international certifications for mountain guides in the country: the Chilean Association and the National Association, with around 1,500 mountain, high mountain, or climbing guides, registered or in the process of writing with the National Tourism Service.

“Our bet for the future is to position Chile as a mountain tourist destination, and for this, it is essential to professionalize the human capital of the sector,” says Sernatur: “That is why we are working on the training route for tourist guides with a view to these actors having international certifications of high standards as tourist guides specialized in mountain and high mountain.”

Another institution concerned with the professionalization of the sector is CORFO. Its executive vice-president, Pablo Terrazas, states: “Today in Chile the adventure sector presents great challenges in terms of human capital, for example, the number of guides with UIMLA (Union of International Mountain Leader Associations) professional certification is deficient compared to our neighboring countries.”

Mountain tourism has four levels: hiking, trekking, mountaineering, and high mountain. The last two should only be practiced by professionals with appropriate certifications, the most recognized being UIMLA and UIAGM (International Union of Mountain Guide Associations). Hiking does not require certification and only registration in SERNATUR. However, to improve the quality of the service, it is necessary to have one of the two certifications mentioned above. This is not only for safety reasons but also because foreign tourists will always prefer certifications they recognize, such as UIMLA and UIAGM, which is already an advantage over being registered by the relevant organization.

“Last year, a working group was set up between the main mountain associations and training entities in Chile to recognize international certifications for mountain guiding in Chile. This work represented a tremendous step forward, because previously, even if someone had a certification, it was not recognized at the national level,” acknowledges José Luis Uriarte, Undersecretary of Tourism.

PROFESSIONALIZING THE LANDSCAPE

A first big step towards achieving this goal is the “Diploma in Tourism Guides Specializing in Mountain Environments for Hiking or Trekking Activities,” which UNAB has been offering since October of this year. The diploma course arises from Sernatur and Corfo with mountain guide associations and is taught by UNAB through the Ecotourism Management career.

“We are proud to be part of this process and to have been entrusted with the responsibility of raising the level of trekking and hiking guides in the country. This project represents a recognition of our 20-year trajectory of training professionals in the world of nature tourism and Ecotourism,” says Pablo Rebolledo, director of the diploma course and of the Ecotourism Administration program at the Viña del Mar campus.

“This diploma course is a first exercise to strengthen the trekking level, complying with Chilean standards, incorporating some contents of international mountain training, adding a first aid course of 80 hours, and not 40, as required in Chile,” explains Rebolledo, who explains that they also worked together with the Chilean Association of Mountain Guides and that 95% of the diploma course is financed by Corfo and Sernatur through scholarships.

“It is the first time that a course like this has been given with support from the State,” he emphasizes and says that this first version had high participation, with 400 applicants and 100 selected from all over Chile. “There are students from Porvenir and Putre, who will have online classes combined with field trips: at least 17 days in Las Trancas, in Ñuble, and the Llaima volcano, in La Araucanía.”

Rebolledo highlights the timing of this diploma course and the efforts to professionalize hiking in Chile: “The number of people accessing natural spaces is increasing, but many do so irresponsibly. No one who doesn’t know how to swim would jump into the sea,” he says. “But many people who don’t know about the mountains jump in to ‘see what happens, and they may be lucky, and nothing happens once or twice.”

“The State should make a greater effort in training than in rescue,” says the teacher, who recommends returning to the “federated mountain clubs” that, before social networks, were the way to coordinate excursions. “Today, a group is put together in a social network, and they launch themselves, without necessarily having an experienced guide.”

If someone still wants to venture, Carabineros summarizes the recommendations: always take into account the level of difficulty of the route, give notice of your entry to the trails to the park rangers, consider the weather forecast (and use ad-hoc clothing), carry a map, GPS or compass and, in case of emergencies, call 133 Carabineros.