The Impact of Ecuador's Political Framework on the Progress of its Eco Tourism Industry

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Tourism, Aalborg University, course: Development and International Relations, language: English, abstract: Tourism provides a powerful development vehicle to many of thepoorest countries. With the new discussion about the need forsustainable industries eco tourism became more and more popular inthose countries who are fortunate enough to have a high biodiversityand beautiful nature in general.This paper examines which framework conditions influence thedevelopment process of the eco tourism industry. The destination ofEcuador has been selected as case study. Costa Rica served as abenchmark country as it is the current market leader in the global ecotourism industry.The paper came to the conclusion that Ecuador is lacking behindCosta Rica even though it has better preconditions. The reason for theminor performance was found in the lacking support of the politicalforces in Ecuador. This hints for the importance of effectivegovernance in developing national industries.