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June 2007
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Good Practices in Tourism A UNEP/GEF project is reaching out to the tourism sectors in Belize and Ecuador. In partnership with the Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International, and local nongovernmental organizations, the project is creating a supply of sustainable tourism services in these countries. At the heart of the project is training a critical mass of tour operators and accommodations owners in the adoption of good practices—such as conserving globally important biodiversity.
To accomplish this, the project has tailored internationally sustainable tourism best practices, consistent with guidelines from the Convention on Biological Diversity, to tropical forest and coastal and marine ecosystems. In just the first year alone, over 300 tourism stakeholders have been trained in Belize and Ecuador. In Ecuador, more than 20 major wholesaler tourism purchasers have signed agreements to provide incentives to their suppliers to adopt best practices. Agreements are in place with the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, which is responsible for sending 15,000–20,000 tourists annually to the Galapagos (one of the project’s pilot sites) and with the Galapagos Chamber of Tourism, which has over 150 members. Rainforest Alliance and Conservation International have committed to expanding the use of the tools produced through this GEF-financed project and scaling up sustainable tourism throughout their broader global portfolios and through their partners. Photo credit: Stuart Westmorland /CORBIS
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