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A travel writer for the Los Angeles Times, Dan Neil, was interviewed yesterday, June 10, on National Public Radio about his recent article on travel to “endangered places.”

Both his article, entitled “Please Don’t Go,” and interview say that tourism is killing off fragile areas, and that “ecotourism is a contradiction in terms.”

He writes,

“The truth is, growing numbers of travelers venturing to remote and fragile places–Palawan in the Philippines, the Silver Bank in the Caribbean, Machu Picchu, the Galapagos–go with the certain knowledge that their presence makes matters worse. And they go anyway.

As a diver, I have longed to go to the Galapagos, but I know that the dive boats–albeit strictly regulated by the Ecuadorian government–are wrecking the place.

Travel conscientiously wherever–Paris, Bangkok, Banff–but when it comes to the most delicate and imperiled places, resist the urge to see them before they, or you, are gone. The fact is, most places in the world cannot withstand retail tourism. So just don’t.”

You can hear the NPR interview at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91320337

The article itself is online at:
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-tm-800words06-2008jun01,0,2803087.story

On Thursday, May 29th, around 10 P.M. park rangers reported signs of a new eruptive process at Cerro Azul volcano, in Isabela Island. 

This is a natural event mostly seen in volcanic islands like the Galapagos. 

The Galapagos National Park Service is at the moment monitoring the process of the eruption and they will provide a more detailed report later today.

Tourism activities have not been affected by this natural process.

The travel section of the January 5th Wall Street Journal ran a well-researched and balanced article on challenges facing the Galapagos Islands.

GALAPAGOS UNDER SIEGE

“The remote islands are known for a prehistoric landscape. Why a growing flock of well-meaning ecotourists is posing a new threat.

By Stan Sesser

Most of the wild goats that ravaged this famous archipelago, denuding some islands of their vegetation, have been hunted down. The same goes for the wild pigs that ate turtle eggs and killed small animals. Now comes the biggest problem of all — people like me.

Click on the image above to see an interactive version of this map.

I’ve just spent two days here in Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galapagos, where new cinderblock buildings are radiating in every direction. This was followed by a five-day cruise to see the remarkable wildlife that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The new hotels in Puerto Ayora and the large cruise ships — eight of them now carry as many visitors as the 72 smaller vessels that used to represent local tourism — are signs of the times. They’re part of the spiraling growth that has tripled the number of annual visitors to 120,000 in 15 years.”

Read the full article

Thanks to a public outcry, a plan to seed the ocean with iron dust near the Galapagos Islands has been thwarted. As IGTOA reported last year, Planktos, a California-based private company, planned to dump tons of iron dust into the ocean in hopes of encouraging plankton blooms, which according to the company would then absorb carbon dioxide. Planktos would make money from the carbon offsets supposedly produced. But scientists and conservation organizations (including IGTOA) widely denounced the plan.

The Planktos’ ship, Weatherbird II, was headed for waters near Galapagos when the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society threatened to intercept and stop it. It went to Bermuda, where it also found a Sea Shepherd ship. It has since sailed on, looking for another location. The last word was that it was near the Canary Islands, but was being thwarted from entering port there.

The November 2007 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine released results of an extensive survey of hundreds of travel companies worldwide and Wildland Adventures scored 94.3% putting us 4th overall among the “Best Outfitters On Earth!”

Kurt Kutay, Wildland Adventures’ founder, has been a steadfast supporter of IGTOA. Wildland is participating in IGTOA’s new Traveler Funding Program.

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