Sustainable Tourism should have a minimal impact on the environment with building the cultural and environmental awareness, providing positive experiences, and giving both financial benefits for the local people and for conservation in that area.
In South-east Peru located in the Amazon Rainforest is The Posada Amazonas eco-lodge. It’s situated in a national reserve called Tambopata that conserves 275,000 hectares of land. It’s a sustainable eco-lodge in that only small-scale development is allowed here, so all activities helping development for tourism is not going to exploit the natural resources.
The land and the lodge are owned by the local indigenous community of Infierno, who are in partnership with Rainforest Expeditions who are a Peruvian company. The 30-roomed lodge allows tourists to view the nature around them, and with doing so this boosts the local economy, yet still protecting the environment as there are only 40-50 visitors arriving by small boats at a time. The construction of the lodge allowed people to have jobs in building and designing the area, furthermore, the lodge was constructed with local natural materials, avoiding the use of non-renewable material and instead using recyclable material where possible. This has created new forms of income to the surrounding communities, but also takes care of the environment. Education is an aspect of sustainable tourism, The Posada Amazonas offers education, conservation and research faculties, and the forest, instead of being cut down for timber, is used for adventure and educational purposes benefitting the protection of the Amazon. Although this project is a good example of eco-tourism and sustainability, the local people are sharing their culture, traditions and nature and therefore will have to alter their values to develop further. There is a sharing agreement that the Infierno tribal