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Chiapas Ecotourism

May 1st, 2007 by Barbara Soldi

The main reason of my trip to Chiapas was meeting the local guides I work with and finding new contacts. I was walking around San Cristobal with one of our tour providers, when I found an ecotourism centre called Sendasur. I thought it was another local operator, but he explained to me Sendasur is actually an association created by the private initiative of 16 community centres and 4 ecotourism operators (including his own company) to promote the development of eco and sustainable tourism in Chiapas.

I think this reality is just brilliant, and it is the perfect example of how private businesses can cooperate towards a common goal, generating profits with some ethics without the need of any support by the government or NGOs.

What I also like about Sendasur is that it managed to put together various ethnic communities, who now work together for the conservation of their environment.

Their mission states: “we are committed to preserve and revitalize our natural and cultural environment, and to help the development of alternative and sustainable tourism in Chiapas. We work together for equality and tolerance, as we are convinced that our strength comes from our differences.”

I am really happy gloCaltravel is now working with Sendasur, and I wish there were more associations like this in other Mexican states. They would help outbound eco-operators like us a lot, offering updated information about different community and ecotourism projects.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 10:14 pm and is filed under ecotourism, sustainable development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Chiapas Ecotourism”

  1. Tim Day Says:
    October 23rd, 2007 at 11:06 pm

    I like the sounds of Sendasur. Do they have a website I can have a look at? If so please post a link to them. I want to take a trip to Chiapas next year with the family and would like to find good local reliable information. I guess come to think of it, you probably have some info on your main site.
    Is there any similar organization that anyone knows of in Quintana Roo and particularly the Tulum area?

  2. Barbara Soldi Says:
    October 24th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    Hello again Tim,
    This is the link to the Sendasur website
    Unfortunately it is not updated regularly in terms of tour calendar and options.
    Sendasur works mainly as a walk-in agency for travellers passing through San Cristobal who want to join a tour last-minute.
    But this is where gloCaltravel play its role: we work directly with the operators associated with Sendasur and help them to form small groups and set departure dates for their tours AT THE SAME PRICE, as we do not mark up rates.
    You can check our Chiapas tour page .
    While travelling through Mexico I have missed opportunities to join fantastic tours only because I could not reserve a place last-minute and I did not know about it before arriving to destination.
    That is why I have started this business, to inform people about interesting alternative options they can book in advance, helping these eco-tour operators in filling their tours.
    I do not think there is a similar association in Quintana Roo (not that I am aware of), but if I find one I will let you know

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