Developing Chinese Tourism In The Galapagos?
The Galapagos Islands were placed on The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed the Galápagos on its list of endangered World Heritage Sites for unchecked development of tourism. This was primarily the result of the work of unscrupulous international travel agencies and corrupt Ecuadorian governments. Now the country of Ecuador has a more stable political situation and is working towards solutions to the various challenges the Galapagos Islands face. The Islands have been removed from the World Heritage Site endangered list and are moving forward toward improved stewardship.
Come To Galapagos will be exhibiting at the China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market (Cottm09) in Beijing, China, April 22 through 24. The goal of their attendance is to meet with Chinese outbound travel agencies to develop contacts that will lead to an increase in the number of Chinese tourists traveling to the Galapagos in a manner that will continue the development of local sustainable economies there. These eco-friendly economies were in their fledgling stages just as the world financial crisis occurred.
Local Sustainable Eco-friendly Economies Versus Large International Travel Agencies
Tourists visiting the Galapagos make choices about how they travel to the Galapagos. The vast majority of these choose to book their travel through international travel agencies which make money marketing the Galapagos, but do not pay taxes on that money to the country of Ecuador nor are they responsible for the impacts that the source of their profits have on the Galapagos. Less than five percent of the revenue generated by tourism in the Galapagos ever touches the hands of the inhabitants, the true guardians of these islands. Bringing tourist revenue directly to these sustainable eco-friendly economies accelerates the transition from non sustainable economies such as commercial fishing and backpack tourism to a more balanced approach that has less environmental impact and more monetary impact for the inhabitants. For more information go to www.cometogalapagos.com
Very few Chinese tourists currently visit the Galapagos. This is due to three main factors: Lack of knowledge, distance and traveling experience.
A survey of fifty affluent educated Chinese in Beijing found that half of them had no idea where or what the Galapagos are. All fifty though were familiar with Charles Darwin and his theory if evolution. Of the twenty-five who knew of the Galapagos, three stated they plan on visiting there sometime in the future and sixteen stated they would like to visit there. Twenty one stated they did not know there were people living on the islands and twenty-four stated they did not know there were land based tour options. All twenty-five stated that their primary source of information about the Galapagos had come from Discovery Channel types of programming.
The Galapagos Islands are nearly ten thousand miles away from the coast of China. To arrive here the Chinese must cross the entire Pacific Ocean and the International Date Line in route. There are very few flights directly from China to South America and the ones that exist are expensive. More economical routes fly first to the US or Europe and then connecting flights to Quito. This makes for an arduous trip arriving and departing.
The Chinese have only been allowed to travel freely about the world for several years. It is a new experience for the upper middle classes to have this freedom. Their first trips tended to be to other parts of Asia, some Europe and the US. As they gain experience traveling and knowledge of possible destinations the Chinese tourist’s horizons will expand.
Come To Galapagos hopes to develop direct ties with Chinese outbound travel agencies at a time when their clients will begin seeking travel options to the Galapagos. Currently more than ninety percent of visitors to the Galapagos arrive indirectly or rather through third party international travel agencies based all over the world, Australia, Canada, and the USA. These companies make approximately forty million dollars annually from the marketing of trips to the Galapagos. Come To Galapagos hopes that the Chinese tourists will travel to the Galapagos with a company that is developing sustainable, eco-friendly economies rather than with a company exploiting a natural wonder for profit.
Tags: Country Of Ecuador, Outbound Travel, Political Situation, World Heritage Site