Tropic is proud to announce the first community-based tourism initiative in the Galapagos. This island’s 100 residents have never enjoyed tourism’s benefits. The goal is to protect the island’s resources and life style by guiding tourism as a tool while not letting tourism change the island’s character. Using the Huaorani Ecolodge experience we hope to build program, operational and organizational capacities with the local community to position Floreana Island as the ecotourism destination in the Galapagos. This would be a new sustainable tourism model to the world.
Jasci signs a memorandum of understanding with Floreana Community President Max Freire and Maria de Lourdes Soria president of the tourism committe
Max Freire, Maria de Lourdes Soria and Jascivan Carvalho in Floreana
Floreana Island is famous for Post Office Bay and beautiful beaches with cavorting sea lions. Its residents, most of whom live near Floreana Lava Lodge, don’t interact with or benefit from tourism to Post Office Bay (on the far side of the island).
Galapagos National Park Representatives, Waponi and Community participate at Trail Development
The Galapagos National Park is permitting Floreana Island residents to offer a two to three-hour organized hike to Post Office Bay and to offer rentals of kayaking and snorkeling equipment at the Bay.
For this important community tourism start-up, Tropic and Waponi will provide technical and financial support for volunteers supplied from a partner, the University of Exeter (UK) Business School and the One Planet MBA. Two volunteer MBA students from Exeter will spend three months on Floreana Island establishing parameters for the operation, developing product, training and defining a proposed commercial strategy. They arrive July 4.
