Past and Present Perspectives on Indigenous Tourism in the Pastaza Province of Ecuador: The Case of Kapawi

Abstract

Ecuador has a wide range of ecotourism initiatives throughout the country. Since the 1990s, many Indigenous communities have started to organize themselves in order to run their own ecotourism programs. As a result, scholars have suggested that Indigenous ecotourism in Latin America started in Ecuador with the advent of community-owned projects, particularly in the Amazon. One of the first initiatives was Kapawi, located in the Achuar territory of Pastaza Province. The project was initiated by a private tour operator through a joint venture with the Achuar Indigenous organization. A transfer process started in 2008 and Kapawi is now managed by the Achuar communities, with a new set of opportunities and challenges. This article uses data collected from extensive fieldwork to examine the evolution, lessons learned, dynamics, and perspectives of the Kapawi enterprise.

Turismo Y Pueblos Indígenas: Políticas, Irrupción Y Reivindicación en Chile

“…Este control permite potencialmente generar nuevas dinámicas de gobernanza, empoderamiento local y político, así como desarrollo económico (Coria y Calfucura 2012). Por ejemplo, con el caso Kuna, cuya expresión de turismo indígena apunta a reforzar su autonomía, no solo política sino también económica (De León 2016;Pereiro 2012;Peredo et al 2015), o en México con los pueblos Maya (Kroshus 2003), en Brasil en Pataxó (de Azeredo Grünewald 2002), Alaska y Nueva Zelanda (Bunten 2010) y también algunos ejemplos mapuche (Pilquimán 2017; Rommens 2017).…”