Social Capital, an “Asset” for Community Tourism in Ecuador

The aim of this paper is to study the role played by social capital as an “asset” for community tourism. This type of tourism, in the growth phase, seeks local development managed from a community base. The methodology used consists of an exploratory analysis. Its purpose is to establish a state of the art that allows understanding the importance of social capital-in its structural (organizational structure) and cognitive (norms, values and trust) dimensions-as a variable that contributes to the startup and operation of community tourism. In this line, we propose a qualitative analysis with in-depth interviews to analyze the state of social capital in the parishes of Mangahurco, Cazaderos and Bolaspamba of Zapotillo Canton - Loja, Ecuador.