Amazon Interactive
The Ecotourism Game
Accept the compromise
Tourists continue to visit Pangayacu at a slow but steadyrate. The Quichua spend most of their time in agriculture, but they lookforward to tourist visits as a pleasant break from the daily routine. Thecultural program remains somewhat crude, but tourists appreciate its simplicity.
Because tourism is limited to one group per month, so tourismearnings are limited to a few hundred dollars per household annually. TheQuichua continue to clear forest and plant new crops, but there remainsseveral large tracts for tourist walks. For the moment, at least, your communityhas found a sustainable balance between ecotourism and daily Quicua life.
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| Most Quichua have cleared another hectare of primary forest to plant coffeeand rice for the market. Each family has only a few hectares of forest left. | Income from tourism accounts for one-fourth of a family's annual income.The rest comes from agriculture, which means planting new crops every yearor two. |
Congratulations
You may not feel like your project is a complete success,but this result is similar to the situation at Río Blanco, a Quichuacommunity in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Río Blanco accepts several touristgroups a month (though visitation is concentrated in the summer). Comparedto the fate of many similar indigenous ecotourism projects in the Amazon,Río Blanco's can be considered a great success. However, if deforestationcontinues at current rates, little of the community's primary forest willbe left in fifteen years.
This game is based on research into a Quichua ecotourism project in Río Blanco, Ecuador. Learn more about it in at Ecotourism Research and Other Adventures
