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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 nation-

al revenue is held by 10% of the population. Poverty is

found mainly among the indigenous population of the

countryside.

As elsewhere in South America, the first European tou-

rists 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.

But there are other ways of dealing with la Pachamama

(Mother Earth). From this vision, the first ecotourism pro-

jects emerged during the early 1990s, often with the sup-

port 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.

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 popula-

tion as well claimed for more rights.

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Welcoming infrastructure in Junin, Intag Valley © Runa Tupari

Galapagos sharks © Niall Kennedy

In response to this increasing political awareness of the

indigenas, the government of Ecuador started to

increasingly finance projects set out to free rural commu-

nities from poverty. Tourism soon after emerged as an

economic activity with development potential. In 2009,

president Rafael Correa called tourism “the country’s futu-

re, an industry without chimneys”.

Some indigenous communities did not hesitate in taking

the lead. As a reaction to the arrogant and obstinate ap-

proach of large travel organisations, they had started ma-

naging tourist projects of their own with the financial sup-

port of NGOs. A well-known example is RICANCIE (Red

Indígena de Comunidades del Alto Napo para la Convi-

vencia Intercultural y Ecoturismo). Since 1993, this

quechua community has gradually built an infrastructure

to host tourists and to allow them to sample both the rich-

ness 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 far-

ming income. The organisation generated sufficient re-

sources to build a school and protect large stretches of

forest land.

In 2002, several groups united in the Federación Pluri-

nacional 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 sub-

mit a formal request before they can start hosting guests.

There is a regular control on hygiene and other aspects of

the hostels’ infrastructure.

What exactly makes community-based tourism – also

known as community or indigenous tourism – that diffe-

rent? According to France's “Ecotourisme Magazine”, it is

first and foremost a form of tourism wherein local commu-

nities themselves host tourists. Consequently, they have

control over tourist activities on their territory and they can

themselves generate revenue.

FEPTCE calls community-based tourism “a sustainable

development strategy that maintains the own identity”.

The organisation's baseline is ‘para defender la vida de

los pueblos’ (in defence of the villages' life). To them com-

munity-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.

• The protection of natural resources. Respect for Mother

Earth (la pachamama) is deeply-rooted in native commu-

nities. With a tourist project, rather than exploiting nature,

protecting nature becomes even more important. Conse-

quently, FEPTCE members are often at the forefront of

the battle against mining and oil companies.

• Strengthening cultural identity. Music, dance, gastro-

nomy, 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.

Enthusiasm aside, FEPTCE recognises that tourist pro-

jects can go wrong, usually because communities enter

into business head over heals. They invest heavily in hos-

ting capacity but have little understanding of other aspects

such as promotion.

For this reason, the federation started an escuela de in-

teraprendizaje, a school wherein members from various

projects can learn from each other. They subsequently

graduate as promotores de turismo comunitario.

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 loca-

ted near classical tourist itineraries or because they are

lacking in able leadership. These are precisely the two

key points for successful initiatives.”

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Besides a stay with an indigenous host family, the or-

ganisation 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 celebra-

tions.

Bartholomew Island Galapagos @ Derek Keats

Sports are also on the programme @ Runa Tupari

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 contribu-

ted to reviving the indigenous culture.

Julie Carpentier, a French PhD student who has studied

tourist projects in the Amazon region, found that the pro-

jects' 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.”

Contreras also sees many obstacles in the process.

“Tourists are expected to open up to the indígenas cultu-

re. But to what degree are the indígenas expected to

adapt to the tourist, specifically to the image that the tou-

rist 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. Commu-

nity-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, re-

sources 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.

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 develop-

ment: PdRN or Programa de Desarrollo Rural del Norte

(Programme of Rural Development of the North).

In close cooperation with national and provincial authori-

ties, BTC, the Belgian development agency, is supporting

projects in the northern regions of the country, among

them some ten community-based tourist projects. In con-

crete terms, they concern the financing of hosting infra-

structure upon start-up, quality improvement of services

and activities and strengthening local organisations in

order to meet all legal requirements.

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

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providing extra revenue for the indigenous families, it

creates added value for the natural and cultural rich-

ness of the region. In 2012, 1740 tourists have stayed

for one or more days with indigenous families.

Besides tours and activities, Runa Tupari also organi-

ses programmes through which foreign tourists can

‘help out’ for a short or longer while in a school, a natu-

re 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.

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

Tourist and host working together © Runa Tupari

For instance, Mouvement d’Actions à Travers-Monde

(MATM), in close cooperation with its partner UPOCAM,

organises travels or long-term stays in Ecuador. UPO-

CAM is a cooperative of farmers’ organisations in the

coastal province of Manabi. Member organisations incre-

asingly consider which tourist assets they have and how

they may create added value through them.

Many Ecuadorian families hope community-based

tourism will provide a future for them on the country-

side. Hopefully, many tourists will find their way over

there in the years to come.

The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of BTC or of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

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