Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
but very serious, indirect impacts: increased contact with the mainland, and within
and between islands, provides improved vectors for species introduction and a
greater risk of pollution.
The rapid growth has also brought, at times, social discontent. In 1974, the first
Galápagos National Park Management Plan distributed tourism concessions
between one big mainland Ecuadorian company and several Galápagos residents.
As tourism increased, these tourism concessions became very attractive to
Ecuadorian and foreign tourism companies, who bought them from local residents
who were unable to compete in the race for bigger and more comfortable boats.
Since the 1980s local people have complained that they were robbed of their
concessions by outside business people. The situation became explosive in the mid
1990s when an important fishery (sea cucumbers) was prohibited by the National
Park; it had previously been an important source of income for local residents.
Many locals felt then that their islands were reserved for foreign interests and
turned somewhat violently against conservation institutions. The Special Law of
1998 restricted the movement of mainland Ecuadoreans to the islands, softened the
social tensions while according many privileges to local politicians and institutions,
generously distributing fisheries permits and proclaiming that the new tourism
investments should be kept for the locals (e.g. UNEP/WCMC
2006
). But the 1998
law has never really been applied in the field of tourism, and the domination of the
Galápagos market by continental and foreign investors has continued, so the
present situation is again quite delicate (Epler
2007
; Grenier
2007
).
We propose an enlightened public intervention in the economic field of island
development. Outdated and insufficient policies should be reformed, and new
regulations should be centralized, clear and consistent. In the past, administration
and development policy were complicated by government intervention in the
economy. For strategic reasons, the national government sought to populate the
islands in the course of their development. The local economy has been supported
with huge subsidies on energy and very low taxes for tourism enterprises.
Development has been wasteful as a result: Santa Cruz Island, for example, has
about 100 km of roads but more than 260 taxis. Motocross is now practiced as a
sport there (El Colono no. 179, February 2009). Such developments can be
controlled through the political process. Obvious externalities such as fuel, transport
and energy should be included in the cost of doing business in Galápagos and
subsidies on these should be removed. Furthermore, enterprises selling “the pristine
nature of the National Park” should drastically increase financial contributions to
the conservation of the protected areas.
At the same time, government should consider adopting a new model for
tourism, one that would help local businesspersons to access green credits, support
the training of local professionals, and promote a better distribution of tourism
benefits between foreign and local companies. From a business perspective, this
last point could be reached by looking at specific and appropriate models of tourism
proposed in various developed countries, such as “true” ecotourism and “slow tourism”
(e.g. Cater
1993
; Matos
2004
; Wallace and Pierce
1996
). These models privilege
'quality' of tourism - its contribution to the features of a place that make it attractive
Search WWH ::
Custom Search