Why we need to travel to Ecuador — Listen to the Standard podcast

Listen here on your chosen podcast platform.

The fourth instalment in the new series of our Sustainable Travel podcast series  takes listeners on an exciting trip to a geographically small country in South America with a big personality.

We’re talking, of course, about Ecuador – and in this episode, hosts Juliet Kinsman and Jon Weeks will not only be revealing why this nation ticks so many boxes for eco- tourism , but also why visitors are so important to Ecuador’s conservation efforts.

“The flow of tourism is vital for many people and many regions of Ecuador,” says Roque Sevilla. The former mayor of Quito and founder of travel company Metropolitan Touring is this week’s special guest, and he joins Juliet and Jon to explain how travel experiences are supporting efforts to protect natural habitats there.

Biodiversity is very much in the spotlight as its protection is one of the most powerful climate solutions — and very few places on the planet can rival the variety of flora and fauna found in Ecuador.

Ecuador has been in the spotlight this year for less positive reasons too, as civil disturbances caused by drug cartels rocked the nation. The unrest took place in isolated areas on the coastline — far away from capital, Quito, the Galápagos Islands, and the popular travel circuits inland to the cloud forest — yet the reported chaos devastated the travel industry.  As Juliet and Jon discover, however, Ecuador is safe and open for business as usual.

This 20-minute episode brings to life how our tourism spend can support communities everywhere — especially in times of economic crisis

And with hotels such as Mashpi Lodge , it remains one of most amazing places to visit on the planet, especially for nature-loving visitors. Located in Ecuador’s cloud forest, this luxury eco-retreat is responsible for funding some incredible reforestation initiatives. The boutique hotel in the Andean Chocó Biosphere Reserve was made famous in the first series of BBC’s Amazing Hotels — and it’s a strong example of how the right hospitality choices can pay it forward.

With only 5 per cent of the precious surrounding cloud forest remaining, it’s especially motivating to discover how this remote 24-room design-led hotel is not only bringing in revenue from room nights to safeguard swathes of wilderness, but also preserving land that might otherwise be lost to logging and mining. And we defy you not to want to try out the lodge’s ‘sky biking’ experience, which involves pedaling through the air on a zip wire, once you’ve heard Juliet’s account.

This 20-minute episode brings to life how our tourism spend can support communities everywhere — especially in times of economic crisis. And it’s also, we hope, a firm reminder of a key theme of this series: that travel is a lifeline for many, all over the world.

This series is brought to you by Intrepid Travel. In next week’s episode, we take you to Morocco, where you’ll learn how small-group adventures are supporting incredible impact. Our travel-along podcast of impact-led holiday inspiration can be found on Apple, Spotify or wherever you usually stream your podcasts

New species of Galapagos finch ‘can arise after just six consecutive droughts’

The walking tours giving a new perspective on London

Ringleader of £76m cocaine smuggling plot to appeal against prison sentence