O TURISMO EN ECUADOR. NOVAS TENDENCIAS NO TURISMO SOSTIBLE E CONTRIBUCIÓN AO CRECEMENTO ECONÓMICO

Abstract

In recent decades tourism has shown as an activity with the potential to diversify the economic structure of countries compared traditional economic activities. Ecuador, a country with a productive structure very dependent on the primary sector, with the need to diversify its productive matrix and generate new revenues that will improve its economy, have spurred a series of initiatives in the tourism sector. Mass tourism, evidence of major problems such as overcrowding, coastal degradation or loss of quality in tourism experience. Ecuador, it can take advantage of the experiences of other countries, betting on a more sustainable tourism model. Within this line, in recent years, the Ecuadorian Government launched the Tourism Strategic Plan 2020 (PLANDETUR 2020) and the proposal of the "conscientious tourism", initiatives aimed at the promotion of sustainable tourism. This work attempts to shed light on the conscious tourism, a recent term and under construction, to refer to a type of tourism that is based on the principles of sustainability and ethics. Discusses the contribution of tourism to the economy of the country through an econometric model for the period 1995-2013, whose results show a balance in the short and long term.