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How can we create tourism experiences that respect Indigenous Peoples' cultural traditions and foster a closer connection with Nature?
In our journey to protect the culture of the indigenous Pemon communities in the Venezuelan Gran Sabana, we embarked on a mission to elevate their ancestral values while preserving the pristine nature of one of the most remote and beautiful regions on the planet. Our goal was to promote sustainable and responsible community tourism that respects the traditions of the Indigenous Peoples and Nature.
Our strategy began by exploring deeply into the hidden reality of life in the community, sharing together through sensible gatherings to understand their main challenges and aspirations. Through inner individual and collective journeys, we facilitated a process where the community could recognize its values, strengthen its cultural identity, and envision a possible future together.
We co-created a vision that would genuinely showcase their culture and ancestral values while preserving the natural beauty of their land. This involved co-designing tourism propositions that authentically represented their heritage and promoted responsible engagement with nature while carefully understanding and addressing potential challenges and promoting collaboration and common care.
Through this approach, we aimed to safeguard the culture and ancestral values of the Pemon indigenous communities while simultaneously preserving regional biodiversity.
Our journey also sought to foster a sustainable and responsible community economy, guided by ethical tourism practices that respect both the land and its people. Later on, many local entrepreneurs received individual and collective skills-building workshops in an incubation phase and access to credit through microcredit mechanisms in the acceleration phase, promoted by visitors (individuals and families) and other corporate sponsors like the Young Presidents Organizations, Polar Co. among others.