Measured by square mile, Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on the planet. Few other countries can pack its ecological punch, which results from the huge range of habitats created by its mountainous Andean geography and its location on the Equatorial Line.

Nature-based activities and lodging have been Ecuador’s most successful tourism product.  They have experienced extraordinary growth over the last decade. As a consequence, the country has been at the forefront of ecotourism and community-tourism development in Latin America. The Ministry of Tourism’s new masterplan, dubbed Plandetur 2020, is set to build on this experience and know-how, with a firm emphasis on sustainable tourism in all its multifarious forms.

Ecuador’s Amazon lodges are among the most famous in the Basin, garnering various awards over the last decade, including British Airways’ Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, while operators in the famed Galápagos Islands six hundred miles offshore in the Pacific – regarded as the archetypal ‘nature tourism’ destination – have won plaudits for their eco-conscious operations.

“Ecuador has taken the initiative in sustainable tourism in Latin America. There are dozens of interesting examples of model private and community projects across the country’s four regions,” says Patricio Gaybor of the Ecuadorian Ecotourism Association (ASEC). “Business and communities are every day more aware that an inclusively- and responsibly-managed tourism industry will bring benefits, whether economic, social or in conservation, in the long term.”