This past week we visited some communities in Naranjal with two tour operators from the city of Cuenca. In addition, the team continued collecting data in the community of 23 de Noviembre.
Last Wednesday Destinos EC and Altar Turismo toured the cocoa plantations and the Mirador del Tigre. Afterwards, they stayed at the Hostería Kaluz. The following day they toured the 7 waterfalls. The whole tour was done together with members of the community and the PREIT-tour team.
During the day the team conducted interviews in the Shuar Tsuer Entsa Community (Guayas) and Luz y Guía (Azuay). Interviews were also conducted in the community of 23 de Noviembre. Also, last Wednesday night a workshop was held with the tourism association of the 23 de Noviembre community on cocoa and tourism based on sociograms (participatory methodologies).
We hope that tourism operators will consider the communities of Naranjal as strategic allies to promote their development. In addition, after the workshop, the November 23rd Community has decided to hold an expanded workshop with the entire community to plan their activities shortly.
Finally, it is very important that the research teams working in different communities not only collect data but also return the efforts of their members through strategies that are of interest to them.
Photo Credits: PREIT-tour
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