FEATURE PERU & ECUADOR
site twice, with the exception of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. It is expected that operators will divide their 14-night itineraries into three or four segments from which visitors can pick their preferred section. Operators must now also include the airport on San Cristobal as part of the 14-night cruise, with the aim of taking pressure of the airport on Baltra Island and some of the most visited sites, and to distribute visitors more evenly throughout the archipelago. Bus services will replace trains
between Cusco and Ollantaytambo until April 15 – with rail services continuing on to Machu Picchu – as a precaution during the rainy season. A 153-room JW Marriott (July) and
the 55-suite Palacio Nazarenas (early summer) open for business in Cusco, Peru, this year, both set in historic buildings. The latter is an Orient Express hotel and will have the city’s first outdoor heated infinity pool. In the Amazon, Aqua Expeditions
added a second boat to its fleet last year. The luxury M/V Ariahas operates three-, four- and seven-day itineraries in the remote Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Metropolitan Touring opened two
hotels in Ecuador last autumn. The 31-room boutique hotel Caso Gangotena is located in the heart of Quito’s old town, while the 21-room Mashpi Lodge is set amid rainforest on the slopes of the Andes. Another recent opening is the
Hacienda Concepcion, the second property to launch under the new ByInkaterra brand which offers a more casual and informal alternative to regular Inkaterra hotels. The lodge is located in the Peruvian Amazon, 20 minutes
down river from Puerto Maldonado. The Westin Lima Hotel has added
the ‘Heavenly Spa’ which it claims is the largest spa centre in the country. The hotel is part of the Starwood group which also operates the Paracas and Tambo del Inka Luxury Collection Hotels in Peru and Sheraton hotels in Quito and Guayaquil.
Tourism Talk CLAUDIA CORNEJO MOHME, Vice Minister of Tourism, Peru “Tourism is the third
biggest sector of our economy – it is a real priority for the government. “Traditionally the south has been the
main region for tourism, but now the north is growing fast and the Amazon has been named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world. “Remember that the Amazon covers
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60 per cent of Peru so this will be a good opportunity to raise awareness of tourism in the rainforest, though we’ve already been pushing it for four or five years. Our strategy is to attract the bigger spenders – not necessarily just more visitors – and the UK market is a good fit for this.”
CARLOS GUZMÁN, Sub-Secretary for Promotion and Marketing at the Ecuador Ministry of Tourism “Travel and tourism is an important component of Ecuador’s economy and the UK remains one of the country’s priority markets. The UK is already Ecuador’s second biggest market in Europe and we are looking for further growth in the number of British visitors in the coming years. “We already have a marketing and PR
presence in the UK, and are planning to expand our relationships with the trade
and tour operators, as well as organi- sations such as LATA. “We will also be encouraging the press
to come and visit Ecuador, and are delighted with the news that Sir David Attenborough is going to be shooting a new TV series this year that is based in the Galapagos.”
From The Frontline LOUISE MUMFORD
Americas Product Manager, Abercrombie & Kent
“Iconic Machu Picchu is Peru’s best- known ‘must see’ attraction, but there are still plenty of less visited sites to discover, especially in the north of the country, from coastal towns to adobe and stone cities and remains of ancient civilisations older than the Incas. “You can also discover the Amazon basin on one of the continent’s most
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