High Cost of Tourism

Katia: Felipe, you have been to the Galapagos?

Felipe: No.

Katia: But you lived in Ecuador right?

Felipe: Yes, well you know the problem is that going on travel into the Galapagos is really expensive for us.

Katia: What do you mean for us? Is it expensive for Ecuadoreans?

Felipe: Yeah, for nationals, for people who live in Ecuador it's quite expensive because you know since the Galapagos attracts so many tourists every day, hotels and food and travel expenses are so expensive, so high so you know we cannot travel there because we cannot afford that but tourists, international tourists, can afford.

Katia: That's weird. But I had the idea that Galapagos it's part of Ecuador so I think a lot of Ecuadoreans would go there. So really who goes to the Galapagos?

Felipe: Well actually there's you know one out of ten Ecuadoreans maybe might have traveled to the Galapagos but it's just such a small amount of people. It's really sad that you know we have these beautiful islands in Ecuador and we can't travel there. So you know there are many, many tourists going there everywhere and they can afford that but we cannot afford and I think, I don't know, maybe the government or the ministry of tourism should I don't know maybe lower the prices so that we can travel there. It's really sad.

Katia: But why do you think it's so expensive to travel there?

Felipe: Well because you know as I just mentioned, thousands of tourists go there everywhere and you know the island cannot afford to hold so many tourists every day so let's suppose that if prices are really low then more and more people will go there and there might be environmental problems or just pollution and you know those kind of problems. So people in the Galapagos and the strategy has been to you know to raise prices so that less people can go there and so that the environment is not jeopardized.

Katia: That is true. I guess that makes sense but being from Ecuador and not being able to see your country, it doesn't make so much sense. I wonder how that can be solved?

Felipe: Well I don't really know but maybe you know we have other options. We can travel to the Amazon region which is maybe the same, as beautiful as Galapagos but you can travel to the highlands. Ecuador is quite a beautiful country. It's not only about the Galapagos. It's also about the different regions, the people, the food, the culture that it has so I don't think that, but maybe I don't know the government should you know do something because you know people in Ecuador they want to travel to the Galapagos but it is really sad that we can't.

Katia: It is quite sad. Actually I believe Ecuadoreans should have more right than the tourists to go to Galapagos.

Felipe: You're right but sadly we don't have so yeah something should be done maybe.

Katia: Hopefully something will change.

Felipe: Yeah, I hope so also.