Due to its location, accessibility, biological and cultural diversity, the Madre de Dios region has the potential to develop sustainable tourism that can contribute to the preservation of its natural resources and improve the quality of life of its population. However, the region faces challenges such as sustained deforestation over the past 20 years, and new trends in the post-pandemic tourism market have highlighted the need to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the region's tourism destinations.
Furthermore, the analysis process identified low levels of business competitiveness of the actors involved in the Tourism Value Chain (TVC) and limited public-private coordination, generating inefficient management and little diversity of tourism services. This creates greater pressure and overexploitation of the destination's natural resources, which impacts negatively on the ecosystems located in the Tambopata destination.
The Tambopata National Reserve, under the responsibility of the National Protected Areas Service (SERNAP), covers 274,690 hectares and has scenic resources, native communities, and flora and fauna species. Thus, the area has the potential for nature, adventure, and scientific tourism, among others.
The touristic development zones of the Tambopata Destination must apply market-based approaches and strategies that will contribute to the sustainability of the destinations and, with the participation of public and private actors of this sector, will stimulate the competitiveness of the tourism value chain.
Through the coordinated participation of private and public actors in the prioritised tourist areas, the Collaboration Programme for the Competitiveness of the Tambopata Tourism Destination under the Sustainable Management of Tourism Destinations Approach (Tambopata Destination) seeks to improve the sustainability of the Tambopata destination, the competitiveness of the entire tourism value chain, the conservation of forests, and improve the quality of life of local populations.
The programme aims to improve the coordination of public and private actors so that they can manage their tourist destinations in a sustainable manner with participatory management plans. These plans are oriented to targeted market segments, which will strengthen the tourism value chain and contribute to the sustainable growth of tourism in the region, protecting the integrity of the ecosystem, and generating economic benefits for the local population.
The project duration is 30 months (August 2023-January 2026) and the area of intervention is the province of Tambopata in the Madre de Dios region, in the southeast of the Peruvian Amazon. At first, the programme will operate in 3 zones of tourism development: Bajo Madre de Dios, Tourism corridor of Bajo Tambopata, and Alto Tambopata.
The programme framework carefully considers the regional territorial development plans, sectoral plans, and strategic plans for buffer zones of protected areas that define tourism as one of the value chains with great potential in Madre de Dios area; it also takes into account regional initiatives that support the innovation ecosystem and low-emission development plans. To this end, a strategy will be implemented that integrates the destination management approach and the value chain approach in tourism development zones by implementing actions aimed at identifying market segments, capacity building, innovation promotion, product development, destination promotion, and performance monitoring.
In this sense, the programme concept is based on the "Sustainable Management of Tourism Destinations" methodology, which Swisscontact developed and implemented in several countries. The application in the Madre de Dios region involves the categorisation of the territory, a destination analysis, planning, and the implementation of destination management plans. In this case, work is being done with the actors of the tourism value chain in three tourism zones (Bajo Madre de Dios, Bajo Tambopata Tourism Corridor, and Alto Tambopata). The intent is to spearhead tourism planning and management in their territories and improving governance in the value chain. To this end, the following components, or lines of action, will be implemented:
To improve the sustainability of the destination and the competitiveness of the tourism value chain and thus contribute to the conservation of forests and the improvement of the local community’s quality of life.
It is expected that the optimal management of the destination and the strengthening of the sustainable competitiveness of the tourism value chain in Tambopata will contribute to: