Resumo: The aim of this essay is to try to give a reading from the perspective of defining tourism as a model within capitalism has been born, grown and adapted to the changes in it, from the periphery to the center to be confused with the great spectrum of opportunities presented by today's consumer society.It offers a reading from the origin, its development and the role it plays in the process of territorial occupation of the planet over the last settlement, the late nineteenth century and the process of decolonization in the second half of the twentieth century, when the so-called emerging mass tourism. Priority will be given to the periphery of the developed countries and the role of this activity in the area is different but complementary to that shown in the central countries.
