Productive Elements and their Relation to Sustainable Tourism

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The Monkey's Hand

On August 25, the second meeting of the Local Hands Network was held. A significant space that deepened on the Productive Elements and their Relation to Sustainable Tourism, understanding that any activity that is developed on this productive segment, seeks to generate the minimum impact on the environment.

The main focus of the discussion was to promote tourism that respects the ecosystem with minimal impact on nature and local culture. The economic aspects that this generates in terms of employment and income for the local population were also discussed.

The event was attended by Karla Alejandra Rivera Del Aguila y Analí Jiménez OrtizAlejo Heymo, who is also part of the organization's Operations and Innovation Coordination team, moderated the event. The Monkey's Hand. His role was to raise awareness of local livelihoods and physical livelihoods, which contribute to the quality of life of communities only if they take advantage of their relationship with the environment.

It should be noted that The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), an international organization linked to the United Nations since 1976, considers that one of the fundamental elements in developing tourism is to "make optimal use of environmental resources. This requires maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve biodiversity and natural resources.

Understanding this, it was necessary to highlight several important experiences of the work that communities have carried out in their territories. On the one hand, there was the Team for Communication in Guatemala: David Abimael Salguero Berganza, in charge of tourism of the Association of Forest Communities of the Petén (ACOFOP), Azucena Del Carmen Luna Ordoñez, Tourism Consultant of GIZ Guatemala and the community of Mazunte with the company of Mireya Viadiu Ilarraza, who is Coordinator of Dissemination and Environmental Education of the Mexican Turtle Center. Several of these processes, have been working in alliance with the organization La Mano del Mono and have been strengthened thanks to the strategic methodology Market Readyimplementing actions to balance livelihoods and local economies through tourism.

In the discussion, we understood three keys to making tourism sustainable:

  1. Optimize environmental resources: Without an ecosystem there is no tourism, so it is important to take care of the natural environment. Only by conserving natural resources and taking care of biological diversity can there be tourism.
  2. The authenticity of the local culture: A fundamental factor in understanding a place is its people, the traditional values of the host community, its culture, architecture... Without respect for culture, tourism cannot be sustainable.
  3. Wealth distribution: The economy is another fundamental factor in tourism. Ensuring that economic activities last over time and that there is a balance in the distribution of socioeconomic benefits. One of its objectives is to generate stable employment opportunities, obtain income and social services, and reduce poverty in local communities.

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