How to Take a More Sustainable Tour of the Galapagos Islands
An interview with Jim Lutz, founder of Vaya Adventures and member of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association (IGTOA)
The 20 Passenger Eric in Tagus Cove, Isabela Island, Galapagos (Photo by Vaya Adventures)
What should environmentally-conscious travelers look for when choosing a Galapagos tour operator?
I think the right way to travel in the Galapagos is to think more broadly about the overall type of tourism you are supporting, rather than focusing exclusively on the self-described “green” or “sustainable” practices of any individual tour operator or hotel.
The main consideration, in my mind, is keeping tourism small scale, non-intrusive, and nature-oriented.
In practice, this means the best type of tour is with the smaller vessels that are licensed to operate live-aboard tours. The live-aboard vessels all have their itineraries managed by the Park Service and they are for the most part responsible companies that take their environmental commitment seriously. The vessels do have an impact in the islands, but the number of “berths”, or beds available on boats, has remained the same for several years and hopefully that will remain the case. If operated responsibly, which they largely are, I think a limited number of live-aboard cruise ships are consistent with a long-term sustainable tourism policy in the Galapagos.
Also, the longer the tour the better. Fewer people taking longer tours is better than more people taking shorter tours, because the coming and going of more people increases the chance of introduced species, requires more flights, fuel usage and other resources.
Is there anything in particular that visitors should avoid?
The thing I would avoid is a land-based tour, staying in any of the newer hotels. Patronizing hotels only gives incentive to those who want to build more hotels, and the last thing the Galapagos needs is more hotels. Land based tourism needs to be more controlled and regulated in order to reduce the pressure for continued immigration from the mainland and the resulting population growth in the islands.
Development in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands (Photo by Vaya Adventures)
There are some responsible hotels, such as the Finch Bay, that have been operating for several years. There is some place for a very limited number of hotels in the Galapagos, but the reality is that pressure exists for hotel development in the Galapagos and in my opinion it is not something that should be supported or encouraged. This is controversial to some people. I understand that the local population wants to have economic opportunities, but it can’t be the case that a pro-growth economic agenda takes precedence over a conservation agenda in the Galapagos, and long term those agendas are mutually exclusive.
If the government wants locals to benefit more from tourism in the Galapagos, it should consider raising the Park Fees on all visitors to generate more revenue for Ecuador. It shouldn’t do it by allowing endless expansion of tourism growth in the Galapagos, and particularly not land-based tourism growth, which involves more infrastructure development and promotes immigration. There are upwards of 30,000 people living in the Galapagos. The number of people living there has nearly doubled in the last 10 years.
Millions of people in Ecuador and around the world don’t want to see the Galapagos and its wildlife put at risk for the sake of making it a larger and larger tourist destination. At some point the growth has to be stopped. New hotels mean new stores, new restaurants, new infrastructure and building projects, and an increase in introduced species and demands on local resources, all of which threaten the uniquely fragile environment of the islands.
What are the main things travelers should look for in a tour agency for their commitment to conservation?
Talk to the people at the tour agency. What can they tell you about conservation issues in the Galapagos? Are they informed? Are they members/supporters of conservation organizations? Travelers can also look for certification programs such as Smart Voyager, which show that a company is taking its environmental commitment seriously, and trying to minimize its impact on the natural environment.
What do you think the biggest challenges are to sustainable tourism in the Galapagos?
I think the biggest issue of conservation and sustainability in the Galapagos is less about certifications and marginal improvements in environmental practices than it is about the larger trends and forces at work. Admirable efforts such as recycling policies, waste water treatment, solar panels, and other practices shouldn’t become a substitute for a comprehensive policy and approach to the real problem, which is excessive population growth and over-development.
When the new LEED certified expansion of the airport in Baltra is completed and increases capacity to over 300,000 tourists a year, it will be one of the great ironies in the history of sustainable tourism. The certification of “green” hotel practices and expansions of airports don’t do anything about the problem of too many people living in and moving to the Galapagos. This “LEED certified” airport will only contribute to the environmental problems in the Galapagos by making it possible for more people to go there.
Something that should be seriously considered is a cap on tourist arrivals to the Galapagos, which may be the only way to put a cap on the pressure for increased population growth and infrastructure and accommodation development in the Galapagos. Other destinations, such as Machu Picchu, have caps on the number of tourists who can visit at any one time, but the Galapagos has no limits in effect.
Are there any local conservation and sustainable tourism efforts that travelers can support during their trip?
Conservation organizations have been working tirelessly in the Galapagos for decades and have been instrumental in protecting the islands from over-fishing, pollution, over-development, and have had many important successes in elimination of invasive species, expansion of the protected areas, and improved regulation of the National Park.
The International Galapagos Tour Operators Association (IGTOA) is a good organization to support, which many responsible U.S. based tour operators are members of, and these tour operators can channel donations from travelers to IGTOA that will be used for specific conservation efforts in the islands. Also, the Galapagos Conservancy, WildAid, and SeaShepherd are very good organizations to support.
The opinions expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of IGTOA or any of its members.
More About Jim Lutz
Jim Lutz is the founder and President of Vaya Adventures. Jim developed a passion for Latin America while living and working in Ecuador after graduating from Harvard University. He has lived, worked, and traveled extensively in South and Central America. A native of New Jersey, Jim now lives in Berkeley, California with his wife and 3 young children. He serves on the Board of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, an organization dedicated to sustainable tourism practices in the Galapagos Islands.
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Great interview and having been to Galapagos, I appreciate your position. However, not sure it’s as simple as you suggest (of course, answers to hard questions never are, but the questions do need to be “answered”!).
I really wrestle with the Galapagos dilemma. My trip to Galapagos was land-based (Come to Galapagos) and it really gave me a very good taste of the local culture and the problems they face, current and long term. Obviously, infrastructure is a huge huge problem. On San Cristobol you have a situation where some “entrepreneur” convinced the locals to implement wind energy. So they built three giant wind turbines, which do present a visual impact for sure. Situation is the wind blows most often at night when demand is lowest! Wind energy cannont be stored so it has to go out to the grid in real time! Consequetly, the wind turbines only provide something like 5% of the demand! Somebody got taken on that deal. Wonder how well solar will work, perhaps on individual homes/businesses. Would not want to see a solar farm built. Limited freshwater availability and possible desalinization in the future simply add to current and future impacts.
We met several local young adults (mid to late 20′s) who served as our guides. Incredibly well educated at a university on the mainland that has a program geared to being a park guide on the Galapagos. One of our guides, young woman on Isabella, when asked what the young people do at night, as there really isn’t much to do, commented that they spend alot of time on the beaches studying the stars! She also pointed out there is alot of teen pregnancies as well. Obviously, not a good situation on many levels.
Raising the park fees to provide more money to the locals seems logical, but not sure it is practical. When we arrived at the airport on San Cristobol, the first thing we did before even showing passports was to hand a “park ranger” $100 cash as our entry fee. I uderstand that has gone to $200. One has to ask, what is the likelihood that that $100 cash actually gets to the people in the community! I do agree with raising the fees to limit the number of tourists, as many folks seem to go there to simply “check the box” under “sites to see” and do not truly appreciate the Galapagos for what they represent and what the history has been. I spoke to one guy back here who had visited the Galapagos via a large tour boat company, and his comment was, “I can see bigger turtles at the zoo”! That guy had no business adding his “footprint” to the ecology of the islands, but I feel he does represent many of the folks who go there these days.
An analogy of the Galapagos situation can maybe be drawn from life on our Native American reservations. Many of the reservations in the midwest (of which I’m most familiar), have casinos. Ethics of gambling aside, the impact of Indian casinos is interesting. Casinos near the bigger Anglo communities, tend to do much better than those in more remote areas. There is one particular reservation, whose former tribal chairman started with a small “smoke shop” that sold cigarettes, to a huge very successful casino. His idea was there would be no unemployment on his reservation. If you could not find a job elsewhere, you were expected to work at the casino. In addition, every tribal member (based on blood quantum)was entitled to a check every month based on casino profits. In an effort to get the young people to go to college, a college fund was established – $1 dollar match for every $1 of tuition. In additon, casino profits went to support Head Start and Elderly Housing programs. All very noble ideas. The “problem” (if in fact it is a problem), is that the casino is so successful, the young people are getting such huge monthly checks that they have no reason to go to college. They’ll never earn as much money as they get in their monthly checks! Who’d have thought!!! My point here, is if Park Fees are increased to provide more benefits to the native Galapogians, how will, or will that limit their population? It may or may not improve their quality of life. Improved infrastructure for sure will bring more residents to what may become “the good life”, ie. “easy money” and no “need” to work or go to school!!!
I was really surprised to read in your interview how much the resident population has grown. When I was there, our guide pointed out how difficult it was to own property on the islands. Basically, you have to show blood lines to native Galapogians, similar to blood quantum requirement on our reservations (which by the way, are sometimes being lowered as “mixed” families become more common and the Indian blood is “diluted”). A friend told me they spoke to a native Galapogian guide who told them, in her mind, the best answer is to incentivize locals to move to the mainland!! That, from my perspective, seems worth pursuing, although, I’d have a hard time (I think) giving up my “home” to move to the mainland, but again, how and what is the incentive??
Non-natives should not even be allowed to live on the islands let alone own property.
It really boggles my mind how they can have such a huge influx of residents with such poor infrastructure and how difficult/impractical it is to build on lava. Again, my fear of subsidizing the locals with greater park fees, would seem to add to this problem rather than fixing it.
Flip side is, how well regulated are the small boat tours. If I can get past my guilty conscience of my potential impact, I’d love to go back one more time. And I’d do a small boat tour, eg Beagle. I do find it encouraging that the number of boats is limited, but aren’t the big boat companines (eg Princess) still down there using zodiaks, etc? Maybe they can subcontract with the small boat owners who may or may not be Galapogians and that would perhaps keep more of the money in country (although not that that means it would necessarily get out to the Galapagos!). I still hear stories of the boats, large and small, discharging wastes into the waters. Plus there is always the issue of exhaust issues. Even the sail boats, generally don’t operate under sail, but depend on their deisel engines.
From an economic angle, tourism is definitely a boom to the locals; however, it is a very short term solution to a long term problem. Again, I agree in principal with the idea of limiting tourism to the small boat owners, but there is definitley something to be said for truly experiencing life on the Galapagos by spending time among the people as well as visiting some of the tortoise reserves and getting out into the rural parts.
While there, I read a book “Curse of the Tortoise”. It talks about changes the Galapagos have seen since man started visiting the islands, especially the impact of the pirates (introducing exotics, exploiting tortoises, etc). A big point of the book was the very penetrating and piercing look one gets when one looks into the eye of one of these giant tortoises. Anyone that has the chance to visit a tortoise reserve and sit down and really do that, ie, look into the eye of one of these animals, should do that. It really does impact you. To think, they are now confined to “reserves”, is a very sad commentary on what man’s impact has been on these islands.
Thing is Galapagos are going to be around for a relatively long time, although not in geologic terms, and there is probably always going to be demand (which I understand is increasing at an alarmingly exponential rate). That is good for tour owners, but obviously it is incumbent on the tour industry (as well as policy makers) to make the really tough decisions on how best to protect the islands (which has to include the native humans as well as the rest of the ecology. Somehow the resident population has to be limited perhaps by means of incentivizing relocation to the mainland, limiting land ownership to individuals that can demonstrate blood lines, and prohibiting non-natives from residing on the islands).
I’ve visited several “island nations” and they all seem to be suffering the same problem: they’ve over fished their waters, and have become dependent on tourism to sustain their economies. Couple that with changes in water temps that negatively impact the coral reefs along with rising water levels and it is a very dismal picture. These island nations likely serve as barameters of what the future may hold for the continents!
Wish you the best of luck with your work with IGTOA! Would love to know more about this org. and the work you guys do. Looking forward to our upcoming Vaya adventure trip to Belize! (and perhaps someday back to Galapagos! Maybe folks should only be allowed one visit per lifetime!)
To Whom it may concern,
I kind of agree with Rich Freeman. I don’t have his expertise but after being there 3 weeks ago, I feel the environment in the Galapagos is exremely fragile.
During my cruise on the “Legend” I was fortunate enough to spend time with the contractor from Argentina who is overseeing the airport construction on the island.
He gave me a copy of the study about the impact that the U.S. Air Forces had on the islands when they had bases there during World War 2. It’s a wonder that they survived those developments.
In my opinion (for all it’s worth) keep doing it the way you’re doing it now —limited.
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