Machu Picchu, Galapagos are Models for Responsible, Sustainable Tourism Essential to Preserve Natural, Cultural Treasures

BY KAREN RUBIN TRAVEL FEATURES SYNDICATE GOINGPLACESFARANDNEAR.COM

Travel, tourism, hospitality companies have embraced sustainability and the principles of responsible travel as a mission for their own sustainability. In so doing, they provide models for travelers to take back to their own communities and daily lives.

From menu choices at restaurants, to low flow toilets and LED lighting in hotel rooms, to renewable energy to power new-generation cruise ships, to the way tour companies engage and give back to their local communities with jobs, projects to provide water and schools.

This past summer, we had a chance to visit both Galapagos, aboard the Galapagos Legend (gogalapagos. com), and Machu Picchu, doing the four-day Inca Trail trek with Alpaca Expeditions (alpacaexpeditions. com). Machu Picchu, Peru’s jewel, along with the Galapagos, Ecuador’s treasure, are both national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites. And both are models for the risks of overtourism and the rewards of responsible tourism. And these principles have also been embraced by the governments who resist offers by developers in order to nurture and preserve their natural and cultural treasures.

Without tourism, Ecuador would not have the funds to protect the animals or the habitat of the Galapagos.

Without tourism to Machu Picchu, there would not be a Machu Picchu to visit, nor any of the other Incan sites along the Inca Trail, reclaimed from

400 years of overgrowth. Without tourism, these porters who come from mountain villages would not have the income to supplement subsistence farming to provide a better life for their family.

Both Galapagos and Machu Picchu limit the numbers of visitors, require visitors to visit with a licensed tour company and be guided (otherwise they muck up the place) and, similarly, put constraints on the tour companies, as well as development. In the Galapagos, ships are limited to 100 passengers; in Machu Picchu, trekking companies are limited to groups with a maximum of 16 trekkers, two guides and 22 porters, with each porter carrying a maximum of 25 kilos and only there are only 200 trekking permits allowed per day, while the number of visitors to the archaeological site are limited, currently to 5,000 a day and the time spent is limited to two hours with a guide.

The reality of the benefits of tourism is painfully apparent when it is taken away – as during the COVID pandemic lockdowns, or conflict, or natural disaster - when so many lose their livelihoods, and agencies and organizations lose the capital to maintain and preserve the historic, heritage and natural sites.

Tourism goes even further than that. I believe tourism the greatest force for peace, understanding, cooperation and progress that humanity has ever devised. Tourism has provided the funding – and the demand – to unearth these Incan sites, and in the process, sparked a renewed desire for Peruvians to appreciate their heritage; visits to Galapagos provide lessons in ecological balance.

But yes, tourism has to be kept in balance, to avoid exploitation and the negative impacts over-tourism can have. That is what Sustainable, Responsible Tourism is about.

A great many travelers these days have Responsible Travel in mind when they choose destinations, experiences and travel companies – down to the airlines, cruiselines, hotels and tour operators. Indeed, Alpaca Expeditions highlights its Sustainability bona fides at its website (alpacaexpeditions.com).

And on our four-day, three-day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu in August, I could really assess how well Alpaca Expeditions’ fulfilled its lofty promise of being a “sustainable and responsible” tour company, with a “unique service philosophy dedicated to our porter welfare equally to our client services, fair and kind travel, equal employer with a focus on women’s rights in tourism.”

In fact, all of these promises were confirmed during our visit. Alpaca Expeditions can stand as a model of the importance of responsible, sus-

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