Perspective from Galapagos on Managing Tourism

The Galapagos postings start at the bottom and run upward. After the daily logs are photos. You should read those items before this one. Here I want to share a perspective from the visit.

There are 14 separate islands in Galapagos. The one we were on for day 1 had 18,000 people, day 2’s had 2,000 people, and the day 3’s had only 125 people. The islands are far apart: about 40 to 50 miles of sea. That made it painful and time consuming to get to other islands.

One friend (Claudia Hale) said she heard that they want to limit or stop tourism in Galapagos. Our tour guide said that was partly true. They want to stop tourism to some of the less-populated islands, but keep it on the developed islands.

This opens the question of who “they” are. About half of all jobs are related to tourism, so tourism is important to the economy, and local governments want it to continue. However, 97% of the land belongs to the National Park Service. This ruling body would be happy with zero tourism. So they place lots of permitting constraints and fees on tourism.

There are about 600 to 1000 tourists on the islands at any one time. The truth is, I don’t think the systems could support tourism at a level of 5,000 per day. Sewage is a problem. Too many people would also overwhelm the animals. The sea lions would probably no long swim with guests. The tortoises would probably catch illnesses from that many humans.

So what happens longer term? Do you have to apply for a visit permit and get assigned a slot? Picture being told that you were approved for a visit, but it was for July, 2017. I can see this happening in future decades. This makes us feel lucky that we are seeing all that we plan on this cruise.