Tourism Impacts on Indigenous Communities within Ecuador : A Critical Analysis

Abstract

During Winterim of 2017 a group of 16 students and 2 faculty embarked on an immersion experience to Ecuador to learn about the culture and geography of the Andes and Amazon River Basin. During this 3-week immersion experience multiple indigenous tribes were visited. Connections between globalization, tourism and indigenous tribes in Ecuador were drawn; causing us to understand the impact our actions in the U.S. have on others such as the indigenous people in the Amazon and others in Latin America. The indigenous tribes visited were the Huaorani and Lowland Kichwa in the Amazon Basin and the Upland Kichwa in the Highlands of Ecuador. All of these tribes showed different examples of being affected by globalization and tourism.