G1 – CONSERVATION

CONTENTS

1. GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK RULES
2. GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR VISITORS
3. ENTRY TAX TO PROTECTED AREAS

1. GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK RULES

[from The Galapagos National Park.]

The Galapagos Islands are one of the few places in the world that remain relatively untouched by human exploitation. The preservation of the environment is everybody’s responsibility. You can help, by following some simple rules which will help to maintain the archipelago’s fragile ecosystem intact. The future depends on everyone. Rules are only as effective as to the level they are respected.

• Because of its unique nature, the plants, animals and rocks should stay on site so that there is no change. Nothing must be taken away from the Islands, except photos.
• Please avoid the introduction of foreign organisms such as animals, seeds, plants and insects as they cause serious problems.
• Galapagos animals should not be touched or petted for your safety because they can quickly loose their timidnness and change their behaviour.
• The endemic and native fauna of Galapagos has its natural form for feeding. Therefore, do not give them any type of food because it could harm them.
• The Galapagos marine birds leave their nests if you disturb or follow them. They will leave their eggs or chicks alone on the ground or leave them exposed to the sun. Therefore you may watch the birds at a distance of no less then two meters.
• Visitors sites at the Galapagos National Park are marked to guarantee your safety. You cannot leave the paths.
• Garbage of any type interferes with natural processes and takes away the enchantment of the unique Islands scenery. Do not dispose garbage at visitors sites, in the ocean or near the Islands.
• Please avoid purchasing souvenirs made of flora and fauna of the Islands, like black coral, marine tortoise shells, sea lion teeth or shells. This goes against the principles of conservation.
• Writing names and phrases of any type on rocks, walls etc is a sign of bad manners and rudeness and damages the scenery.
• Fire or smoking within Park areas is not allowed as a fire could start with a match or a cigarette that is not put out completely and can cause uncontrollable bush fires, death and destruction.
• Fishing on board of tourist ships is not permitted. Please collaborate with the National Park Service by reporting any transgression to the management of the Galapagos National Park.
• If you want to camp in the authorized sites or do commercial fishing you have to request a permit from the Galapagos National Park Director. Please contact us at any of out technical offices located in the inhabited Islands (San Cristobel, Santa Cruz, Isabela or Floreana).

The Galapagos National Park & Sangay Touring thanks you for respecting these rules.

2. GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR VISITORS

[from The Galapagos National Park]

Itineraries

(Looking for the change of tourist itinerary service?)

The last of the key elements of the Visitor Management System for the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park is the organization of itineraries for visits to places of public use in the protected area from authorized tourist boats.

The organization of itineraries in the Galapagos was initiated in 1978 and consists of the organized distribution of tourist boats currently operating in the archipelago from 70 terrestrial visitor sites and 79 marine visitor sites.

At the time of this writing there are a total of 83 vessels with tourist operation patents, of which 79 operate under navigable tour mode and 4 in the form of daily tour.

Navigable tour

As established in the Special Regulation for Tourism in Protected Natural Areas (RETANP), the navigable tour mode operates under a fixed itinerary, which means that the DGNP annually authorizes each vessel a particular fixed route between the sites for public use in the protected areas.

There are two types of Navigable Tour itineraries:

One week itinerary (7 days)

76 boats are assigned this route, usually performed in 2 different routes of 3 to 4 days.

This lower frequency of passenger rotation favors the increase of tourists who annually come to the archipelago.

The DPNG authorizes a maximum of 28 visitor sites and a maximum of 2 sites per turn (morning and afternoon):

* a terrestrial site for hikes

* and a marine site where other activities are performed (snorkel, kayak and panga rides).

However, the most common is that each site has an associated marine area for other activities, when this is not possible, a marine site is found to associate with the terrestrial site, to make available associated activities.

14-day itinerary

3 boats are assigned to this itinerary. The effective run of this type of itinerary is usually a minimum of 7 days, but is also made in 11 and 15 days.

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park assigns a tour with a maximum of 60 visitor sites.

The aim and requirement of this type of tour is to decrease the frequency of use for certain sites that present problems of overcrowding and deterioration of the tour’s social and perceptual quality.

Each boat is allowed to visit the sites allocated in the patent of operation, once every two weeks.

This measure in turn, allows a rotation of passengers of less than 7 days, decreasing the opportunities for growth in the number of tourists every year.

Daily Tour

Article 44 of the Special Regulation for Tourism in Protected Natural Areas (RETANP) establishes that the daily tour mode, starting from Puerto Ayora, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Puerto Villamiil or Puerto Velasco Ibarra, may operate with a flexible itinerary according to the Acceptable Load of Visitors (CAV) of visitor sites.

The daily tour operation is assigned an itinerary with up to 14 visitor sites per week, with two sites per day and one visit per turn.

In the case of less accessible sites, far from the port of departure (such as Bartholomew and Santa Fe), the operation corresponds to a single site throughout the day.

The flexibility of these operations favor locally based tourism operations, making it competitive with the navigable tour mode whose minor impact on the population leads to conflicts in the local distribution of the benefits of the main economic activity in the archipelago.

Change of itinerary

Occasionally, the navigable tour mode has needed to make temporary changes to its fixed itinerary.

Following a request by the operators, currently the authorization for a change of itinerary depends on the use of the visitor site on the day or time requested, representing this by the number of groups of visitors in relation to allowable load numbers.

Indications for change of itinerary service are accessible here.

3. GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK ENTRY FEE

[from The Galapagos National Park]

Each visitor pays an entry tax to the protected natural areas, which is divided among several local and national institutions for allocation to sustainable human development.

In general, revenues generated by recreational and tourism activities that take place in protected areas, are derived from three avenues: (a) payment of an admission or entry fee, (b) payment of permits, licenses or rights of tourism operations, and (c) resources produced by service concessions or permits for certain activities.

Distribution of tax

The admission or entry fees are established with the objective of recovering the investment costs required to carry out conservation and management activities in protected areas, or to generate additional income for human development activities in the surrounding areas.

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park is the institution responsible for administering the process of tax collection for entry of tourists into Galapagos, control of daily deposits, daily settlements, management of species data banks valued by each species, make monthly payments and delivery of the tax to each of the beneficiaries in Compliance with the Organic Law for Sustainable Development of the Province of Galapagos and its implementing regulation.

The price of the tax depends on the nationality, residence and age of the visitor.

Funds from the entry tax for tourists are used to finance the conservation of biodiversity of flora and fauna, terrestrial and marine, and benefits the local community by improving basic services, education projects, sports, health, environmental sanitation, environmental services and services directly related to tourists.

Prices for entry tax to protected areas

NOTE: Domestic and foreign tourists under 2 years of age are exempt from this tax.

• Foreign tourists, non-residents of Ecuador over 12 years US $100
• Foreign tourists, non-residents of Ecuador under 12 years US $50
• Foreign tourists non-residents of Ecuador over 12 years, nationals of one of the countries belonging to the Andean Community of Nations or Mercosur US $50
• Foreign tourists non-residents of Ecuador under 12 years, nationals of one of the countries belonging to the Andean Community of Nations or Mercosur US $25
• Tourists and foreign nationals residing in Ecuador, over 12 years US $6
• Tourists and foreign nationals residing in Ecuador, under 12 years US $3
• Tourists, students not living in Ecuador who are enrolled in national educational institutions US $25

Financial Management of tax

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park collects the funds directly and makes them available to the State for distribution to the various beneficiaries.

In 2008, a total of U.S. $ 12,028,838.00 was collected.