Lake Cuicocha is one of the finest lakes of Ecuador © Runa Tupari
As elsewhere in South America, the first European tourists arrived in Ecuador during the 1970s and 80s. The
sector has mainly developed through foreign capital. The
best an Ecuadorian could hope to get was a poorly paid
job. At the same time, foreign oil and timber companies
expanded their shameless and destructive exploitation of
the Amazon region.
In 1992, America celebrated the 500th anniversary of
Colombus’ discovery of the continent. The indigenous
communities turned this into the commemoration of ‘500
years of indigenous and popular resistance’. At the event
of a major march in Quito Ecuador's indigenous population as well claimed for more rights.
But there are other ways of dealing with la Pachamama
(Mother Earth). From this vision, the first ecotourism projects emerged during the early 1990s, often with the support of European NGOs. The idea became a success and
ecolodges and ecotours boomed throughout Ecuador,
even to the extent that the 'eco' prefix primarily became a
marketing gimmick for many travel organisations within
and without Ecuador in attracting tourists. For many
years, the Asociación Ecuatoriana de Ecoturismo (ASEC)
fought the mismanagement of the term and over the past
few years it received increasing support from Ecuador's
authorities.
Ecuador has witnessed considerable economic growth
over the past few years and it is now no longer on the list
of poorest countries. Instead, it has joined the so-called
middle-income countries. Per capita gross domestic
product has indeed increased but the advantages of
development are still unequally distributed. 46% of national revenue is held by 10% of the population. Poverty is
found mainly among the indigenous population of the
countryside.
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In response to this increasing political awareness of the
indigenas, the government of Ecuador started to
increasingly finance projects set out to free rural communities from poverty. Tourism soon after emerged as an
economic activity with development potential. In 2009,
president Rafael Correa called tourism “the country’s future, an industry without chimneys”.
The organisation's baseline is ‘para defender la vida de
los pueblos’ (in defence of the villages' life). To them community-based tourism is a fully-fledged economic activity
that combines eco and fair tourism in order to contribute
to:
• The organisational strengthening of the communities. It
is a social and supportive economic activity that requires
much consultation and cooperation. Infrastructure must
be provided (rooms with families or housing in villages);
consultation is required to decide on how to distribute
revenue.
Some indigenous communities did not hesitate in taking
the lead. As a reaction to the arrogant and obstinate approach of large travel organisations, they had started managing tourist projects of their own with the financial support of NGOs. A well-known example is RICANCIE (Red
Indígena de Comunidades del Alto Napo para la Convivencia Intercultural y Ecoturismo). Since 1993, this
quechua community has gradually built an infrastructure
to host tourists and to allow them to sample both the richness of the tropical forest and local culture. In 2005, they
welcomed their 10,000th visitor. In this way, two hundred
families gained an extra income to complement their farming income. The organisation generated sufficient resources to build a school and protect large stretches of
forest land.
• The protection of natural resources. Respect for Mother
Earth (la pachamama) is deeply-rooted in native communities. With a tourist project, rather than exploiting nature,
protecting nature becomes even more important. Consequently, FEPTCE members are often at the forefront of
the battle against mining and oil companies.
• Strengthening cultural identity. Music, dance, gastronomy, spirituality and cultural traditions come to life and
are being shared with tourists. FEPTCE considers tourism
as a means to 'decolonise' the tourist’s way of thinking,
living and being.
In 2002, several groups united in the Federación Plurinacional de Turismo Comunitario del Ecuador (FEPTCE)
with as goal to defend and strengthen community-based
tourism. In 2004, this led to the legal recognition of this
type of tourism by both Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism and
the World Tourism Organisation, both praising Ecuador's
pioneering role in the area. Following consultation
between FEPTCE and Ecuadorian authorities, official
criteria were put down. Ever since, projects have to submit a formal request before they can start hosting guests.
There is a regular control on hygiene and other aspects of
the hostels’ infrastructure.
Galapagos sharks © Niall Kennedy
Enthusiasm aside, FEPTCE recognises that tourist projects can go wrong, usually because communities enter
into business head over heals. They invest heavily in hosting capacity but have little understanding of other aspects
such as promotion.
For this reason, the federation started an escuela de interaprendizaje, a school wherein members from various
projects can learn from each other. They subsequently
graduate as promotores de turismo comunitario.
Welcoming infrastructure in Junin, Intag Valley © Runa Tupari
What exactly makes community-based tourism – also
known as community or indigenous tourism – that different? According to France's “Ecotourisme Magazine”, it is
first and foremost a form of tourism wherein local communities themselves host tourists. Consequently, they have
control over tourist activities on their territory and they can
themselves generate revenue.
Javier Contreras is an Ecuadorian working in sustainable
tourism in France. He estimates some 115 Ecuadorian
communities are involved in community-based tourism.
“But the levels differ significantly. Some projects have
only just started, others are struggling to take off or are
operating at a low level, often because they are not located near classical tourist itineraries or because they are
lacking in able leadership. These are precisely the two
key points for successful initiatives.”
FEPTCE calls community-based tourism “a sustainable
development strategy that maintains the own identity”.
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The Belgian Development Cooperation has been active in
Ecuador since 1977. In 2006 a long-term cooperation
programme was signed, its focus resting on rural development: PdRN or Programa de Desarrollo Rural del Norte
(Programme of Rural Development of the North).
In close cooperation with national and provincial authorities, BTC, the Belgian development agency, is supporting
projects in the northern regions of the country, among
them some ten community-based tourist projects. In concrete terms, they concern the financing of hosting infrastructure upon start-up, quality improvement of services
and activities and strengthening local organisations in
order to meet all legal requirements.
It is worth noting that Contreras also estimates the cultural
impact to exceed the economic impact in these successful
initiatives. Community-based tourism is part of the revival
of the indigenous movement and has obviously contributed to reviving the indigenous culture.
Julie Carpentier, a French PhD student who has studied
tourist projects in the Amazon region, found that the projects' leadership often consists of people in their thirties or
forties who have studied or travelled. “To be able to show
the culture of a village or community to tourists, the young
generation has to ‘be taught’ by the older generation. That
way, tourist projects provide disintegrating communities
(as a result of the rural exodus or of youths who only
speak Spanish) with a rallying project.”
One of the organisations supported through the PdRN is
Runa Tupari, a pioneer in community-based tourism in the
province of Imbabura. Since 2001, the organisation from
the tourist region of Otavalo-Cotacachi has offered visitors
the opportunity to stay with local families. In addition to
Besides a stay with an indigenous host family, the organisation offers a broad range of activities: walking or
biking in the mountains, multi-day trekking with a tent,
climbing volcanoes, visiting Otavalo's famous crafts
market, watching condors and other birds, horse-riding,
helping out the host family with daily chores, workshops
and initiations in artisanal crafts, visiting fair trade and
organic farm projects, exploring indígenas spirituality
and cosmology, discovering medicinal plants and the
work of shamans, and participating in rites and celebrations.
Bartholomew Island Galapagos @ Derek Keats
Contreras also sees many obstacles in the process.
“Tourists are expected to open up to the indígenas culture. But to what degree are the indígenas expected to
adapt to the tourist, specifically to the image that the tourist holds of them? Some communities go as far as to
trade their plastic plates for crockery, and to show mainly
folklore. But culture is not a static thing, culture evolves.
They have to strike a balance between conservation and
progress, between folklore and respect.”
Julie Carpentier raises another significant issue. Community-based tourism is often represented as a development
model that communities have a hand in, but in practice
that notion of independence is doubtful. In the end, resources have to be found for investment. In the past these
have often been provided for by NGOs; these days it’s
usually the government that does.
Furthermore, a project’s success depends on the actual
inflow of tourists, which in turn often depends on travel
organisations and tour operators. So, since the economic
basis is that uncertain in the Amazon region, tourist
projects often get sponsored by oil companies, that see it
as an easy way of creating goodwill for their presence in
the region. But there are examples to the contrary too.
For instance, the community of Sarayaku presents its
tourist projects completely in light of its fierce battle
against the forest's pollution by France's Agip and other
oil companies.
Sports are also on the programme @ Runa Tupari
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providing extra revenue for the indigenous families, it
creates added value for the natural and cultural richness of the region. In 2012, 1740 tourists have stayed
for one or more days with indigenous families.
For instance, Mouvement d’Actions à Travers-Monde
(MATM), in close cooperation with its partner UPOCAM,
organises travels or long-term stays in Ecuador. UPOCAM is a cooperative of farmers’ organisations in the
coastal province of Manabi. Member organisations increasingly consider which tourist assets they have and how
they may create added value through them.
Besides tours and activities, Runa Tupari also organises programmes through which foreign tourists can
‘help out’ for a short or longer while in a school, a nature preservation project or a fair trade farm. Also, groups
can participate in a traditional minga. These are days of
collective employment in which the entire community is
involved. Some NGOs also regard community-based
tourism as leverage for rural development.
R.E.: Carl Michiels, BTC Hoogstraat 147 1000 Brussels
Many Ecuadorian families hope community-based
tourism will provide a future for them on the countryside. Hopefully, many tourists will find their way over
there in the years to come.
Tourist and host working together © Runa Tupari
Sources
ASEC: www.ecoturismo.org.ec, www.amigosdelasaps.org
RICANCIE: ricancie.nativeweb.org
FEPTCE: www.feptce.org, www.facebook.com/feptce
Ecotourisme Magazine: www.ecotourisme-magazine.com
Interview with Javier Contreras: blog.via-sapiens.com/une-experience-de-tourisme-communautaire
Julie Carpentier, Tourisme communautaire, conflits internes et développement local, in Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines / 2011, 40
(2): 349-373 > Download: http://www.ifeanet.org/publicaciones/boletines/40(2)/349.pdf
BTC-projects: www.btcctb.org/nl/news/turismo-comunitario-para-mejor-vivir
Runa Tupari: www.runatupari.com
MATM: www.matm-belgique.org
UPOCAM: www.upocam.org/index.php/turismo-mainmenu-26
The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of BTC or of the Belgian Development Cooperation.
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