US embassy cable - 05QUITO2729

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 002729 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, EFIS, ECON, PGOV, EC 
SUBJECT:  GALAPAGOS TOURISM GROWTH A DELICATE BALANCE 
 
1. Summary: Plans to expand tourism opportunities on the 
Galapagos island of Isabella are creating new economic 
alternatives for local fishing communities but raising the 
worst fears of conservationists.  On November 10-12, a well- 
received USAID-led ecotourism project on Isabella brought 
together multiple actors to explore local-based tourism 
opportunities.  The workshop coincided with the announcement 
of local infrastructure projects geared toward facilitating 
tourism.  Meanwhile, environmentalists and NGOs who decry 
the disorder of the tourism sector claim that tourism growth 
on Isabella cannot be contained and that the goal of 
sustainable development that the workshop seeks is 
unattainable.  Weak government institutions and historically 
poor relationships among involved parties will make 
establishing and maintaining a balance between conservation 
efforts and the economic needs of the local population 
difficult.  End Summary. 
 
ECOTOURISM PLANS UNDERWAY FOR ISABELLA 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2.  Held on November 10-12 in the Isabella town of Puerto 
Villamil, a USAID-sponsored workshop identified technical 
assistance and training needs to allow the Isabella 
community to develop local tourist services.  The goal is to 
strike a balance between the economic necessities of the 
local population and conservation.  In developing 
sustainable economic alternatives for the islanders, 
workshop participants hope to help the island tap into the 
lucrative tourism market while holding large-scale 
development at bay.  Actors from all sectors, including GOE 
officials, members of the local business community, 
international donors, a TAME airline representative, and 
representatives from the tourism and conservation sectors, 
attended the event. 
 
3.  The workshop resulted in a number of commitments from 
USAID.  USAID's SALTO program that implements economic 
opportunity projects will provide technical assistance to 
help create a chamber of tourism for Isabella, develop a 
local tourist agency, and improve the quality of local 
tourism services.  USAID, in conjunction with the Quito 
Chamber of Commerce Cooperative (CCQ), also will work to 
expand micro-financing on the island by providing training 
to small businesses and establishing a branch office of CCQ 
in Puerto Villamil.  Meanwhile, INGALA, the GOE entity 
responsible for controlling immigration and the introduction 
of invasive species to the islands, pledged to support these 
efforts by further developing a tourism strategy and an 
investment policy for the island. 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FACILITATES GROWTH 
----------------------------------- 
 
4.  During the workshop, Pablo Gordillo, the Mayor of 
Isabella, presented four infrastructure activities to 
support the tourism effort on Isabella.  The largest of 
these projects is the construction of an airport terminal. 
Financing for the terminal, estimated at $443 million, is 
nearly complete.  A second construction project includes the 
building of a small pier to facilitate water-based tourism 
activities.  USAID is supporting this project.  Two other 
projects -- a $1.2 million sewage system and a municipal 
school -- have yet to receive financing. 
 
MANY TO BENEFIT FROM TOURISM EXPANSION 
-------------------------------------- 
 
5.  The Puerto Villamil population, many of whom are 
fishermen whose traditional catches are nearly commercially 
extinct, considered the workshop an historic event.  The 
community on Isabella has been seeking to benefit from the 
Galapagos tourism market that thus far has favored large 
mainland tour agencies and the other two main inhabited 
islands in the Galapagos, Santa Cruz and San Cristobal.  The 
workshop, along with the accompanying infrastructure 
projects, was an important first step in this direction. 
Mainland investors who have purchased land in Isabella with 
the hope that tourism will take off there also are poised to 
benefit from the plans. 
 
6.  For a number of those present at the workshop, TAME, the 
national airline who has been granted permission to fly 
directly from the mainland to Isabella, was one of the big 
winners.  Although quiet during the workshop, the TAME 
representative met actively on the side with local hotel 
owners.  TAME reportedly made agreements with local hotels 
to reserve blocks of seats on flights and discussed joint 
internet advertising opportunities.  Infrastructure 
development in Puerto Villamil also will expand 
opportunities in the Galapagos for big tourist boats, both 
as a point of departure for tourists arriving from the 
mainland and as a stop on the ships' itineraries. 
 
ENVIRONMENTALIST FEARS REALIZED 
------------------------------- 
 
7.  On the other side of the coin, environmentalists and 
NGOs fear that the tourism sector will undermine the balance 
between conservation and economic development on Isabella. 
CEDENMA, which represents over 60 Ecuadorian environmental 
NGOs, responded to the workshop with a press release that 
decried the current development plan for Isabella, claiming 
that any economic benefits will be captured by tourism 
interests from the mainland and never reach its intended 
target, the local population.  Past history -- from 1999 
until 2003, three out of every four tourism dollars went to 
mainland tour agencies and not Galapagos-based businesses -- 
suggests they might be correct. 
 
8.  Like many environmentalists, CEDENMA also believes that 
the development of tourism on Isabella runs the risk of 
introducing non-native species, destroying the delicate 
ecological balance of the island, and increasing the 
incentives for mainland Ecuadorians to immigrate to the 
islands.  They are concerned that GOE institutions in charge 
of immigration and invasive species control are too weak to 
manage the process effectively. 
 
9.  In addition, environmentalists point out that many of 
the mainland investors who have purchased land on Isabella 
with expectations that tourism services will be expanded are 
politically well-connected and can influence the policy- 
making process to undermine effective control of the local, 
small-scale tourism projects that the workshop is promoting. 
This is consistent with ongoing conservationists' fears that 
once again, plans to develop local economic alternatives not 
only will damage the delicate environmental balance on the 
islands, they also will end up benefiting large, mainland- 
based interests and bypass entirely the population that the 
plans were intended to help. 
 
10.  Participants at the November 10-12 workshop sought to 
address some of these concerns.  For example, they discussed 
oversight plans to limit big boat access to Puerto Villamil, 
noting that the Galapagos National Park (GNP)has the final 
say on itinerary changes for boats.  With respect to the 
airport, they point out that the infrastructure project only 
focuses on the terminal building, not runway expansion. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
11.  The goal of sustainable economic development through 
tourism on Isabella will be difficult to attain.  The 
mainland tourism sector will use its political and economic 
power to take full advantage of the situation.  In addition, 
the conservationist sector historically has had little 
engagement with the local municipalities, the fishermen or 
the mainland tourism sector, making productive dialogue 
difficult.  Moreover, weak institutions undermine the GOE's 
ability to take the lead on development in the Galapagos, 
allowing for unilateral decisions by those with economic and 
political clout.  Finally, there is an inherent 
contradiction in all development plans for Galapagos.  While 
improving the lives of residents of the islands must be at 
the core of any such plans, doing so will create even 
greater incentives for immigration, the most serious threat 
to the fragile ecosystems. 
 
BROWN