Tourism in Ecuador: Perspectives and Challenges

Abstract

Tourism is one of the new concepts to promote the development of the countries. Tourism sector has the advantage to embrace different resources that the government should manage in the best way. After a period of instability and transition, Ecuador implemented successful public policies that have helped to position the country in tourism issues and to receive every time more foreign tourists. This study aims to link the development of the tourism sector with the new policies applied in Ecuador. It examines the trajectory of the tourism sector and the importance of the evolution in this area. Also, this research ties the investment of the government and the revenue in tourism, as one of the findings in the improvement of the sector. Qualitative method was applied to describe the changes in the political environment. Secondary data was used to show the trend between investment and revenue. Findings demonstrate the improvement of the tourism sector in Ecuador and its connection with the public policies enforced during the last years. Different stages were explained to identify the Ecuadorian reality. Challenges about the new scheme in tourism sector were discussed after showing the analysis, and the theoretical and practical implications of this research.