Strengthening of Community Tourism Enterprises as a Means of Sustainable Development in Rural Areas: A Case Study of Community Tourism Development in Chimborazo

Abstract

Community tourism (CT) constitutes a management model for tourism practice within communities, which was consolidated within Ecuador through the Plurinational Federation of Community Tourism of Ecuador (FEPTCE), with the Corporation for the Development of Community Tourism of Chimborazo (CORDTUCH) as the central network in the province of Chimborazo. This network, with 14 years of experience, has been committed to tourism as a mechanism for the diversification of the productive matrix of the peasant and indigenous communities that comprise it, integrating 1772 direct beneficiaries articulated in 10 CT organizations. Thus, they have managed to support actions related to land management, the equitable distribution of benefits, the valuation of natural and cultural heritage, and the organizational strengthening of communities. This support has contributed to the consolidation of “Alli Kawsay,” that is, working to achieve a full life for these human groups, generating an integral sustainability of their spaces, and contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from this other Andean perspective. The methodology employed focused on participatory action research (PAR), which allows for listening and obtaining information directly from key actors, recognizing the existence of knowledge that has not been published that corresponds to peoples’ ancestral knowledge. The aim of this research is to provide an overview of the current reality of CT within CORDTUCH, as well as the strengthening achieved in the community enterprises that comprise it. Among the main results achieved, it is highlighted that CT has become, for these communities, a tool of insurgency against extractive activities and the advance of the agricultural frontier that threatens these spaces, showing that the territories can be exploited under other approaches and through innovative proposals.

1. Introduction

The UNWTO claims that 2020 was the worst in tourism history. The strong decline in this sector was a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a 74% fall in international arrivals and generating economic impacts never seen before [1,2]. The 2020 decline represented a loss 10 times greater than the 4% reduction in 2009 and 1.2% decrease in 2003 [1,3].

Since the gradual opening of borders and the lifting of restrictions in each country, the UNWTO [1] has identified an increase in tourism activities linked to nature, the outdoors, and rurality. For this reason, the development of rural tourism as an alternative to the overcrowded spaces of urban tourism is taking center stage and is established as a lever for the recovery of the economies of small areas, which is a condition that was reaffirmed within the 24th meeting of the UNWTO General Assembly, held during the last month of 2021 [4]. This meeting raised the need for an articulated work that seeks to build the future through the integration of innovative processes that promote the inclusion of vulnerable groups, an increase in the competitiveness of destinations, and the strengthening of entrepreneurship in rural communities to establish tourism as a tool for local development [4,5].

In this context, at the international level, Ecuador reinforces the commitment that began in 2002 when the Tourism Law (Chapter III, Art. 14, item 8) recognized community participation. Subsequently, in mid-2020, through the highest authority of the Ministry of Tourism, the strengthening of rural destinations that were closer to the main urban centers of the country was established as one of the mechanisms for the reactivation of internal tourism [6]. Unlike other countries, Ecuador not only considered rural tourism, but also incorporated community tourism (CT) as a complementary element in the reactivation process.

This type of tourism is based on taking advantage of the numerous natural and cultural resources of the ancestral spaces of the indigenous communities located in the rural areas of the territories. Thus, Ecuador is positioned as a leader in CT [7,8], focused on the generation of tourism enterprises that contribute to improving the quality of life, based on four pillars of work: (a) the management and defense of the ancestral territories inhabited by the country’s peoples and nationalities, (b) the generation of benefits from the protection and preservation of the cultural and natural heritage of the inherited territories, (c) the valuation of culture as a mechanism for the strengthening of identities based on synchronous and asynchronous dimensions, and (d) organizational strengthening for the vindication of collective rights [9,10]. This form of community-based tourism development planning has been considered by the local administration of many countries since the mid-1980s and especially in the 1990s [11,12,13,14,15].

In short, rural tourism and, specifically, community tourism, allows the varied national cultural landscapes to be valued, as they are seen as areas for escaping and disconnecting from the discomforts caused by modernity [16] in a pandemic stage that provides an opportunity for sustainable development of territories. In this context, the aim of this research is to obtain and provide an overview of the current reality of community tourism linked to the Corporation for the Development of Community Tourism of Chimborazo (CORDTUCH), Ecuador. In addition, it will allow us to know to what extent community enterprises that are set up are strengthened over time, highlighting how the practice of CT has evolved from a rudimentary/empirical activity within the Chimborazo area to being currently legally recognized and considered a sector of the local economy. Likewise, the consolidation of the undertakings is detailed, and it reinforces the actions that can be implemented in other territories through the application of participatory action research (PAR), in which it is committed to the reflective and inclusive participation of the local participants and a collective feedback in open plenary.

This article is divided into five sections. The section presented after the introduction defines community tourism and presents the organizations responsible for promoting and strengthening this type of tourism. The third section describes in detail the methodological framework used in the study. The fourth section presents an overview of community tourism linked to CORDTUCH. Finally, the fifth section contains the conclusions.

2. Contextualization of Community Tourism in Chimborazo (Ecuador)

2.1. Community Tourism

It is unquestionable that today tourism enables communities with very limited options to develop economically [17]. This is how community tourism or community-based tourism (CBT) arises, which Maldonado-Erazo et al. [10], Cabanilla [18], Cabanilla and Garrido [19], and Rodas et al. [20] referred to as a management model differentiated from rural tourism (RT), although in its beginnings they emerged as two linked concepts [18,19]. This difference is mainly based on three elements, which are detailed in

Table 1. Conceptual differences between RT and CT.

Rural Tourism (RT)	Community Tourism (CT) or Community-Based Tourism (CBT)
It takes place in locations of tourist interest that are a counterpoint to urban centers. As the definition is complex, it is necessary to establish what “rural” is. This will largely depend on the realities established by each territory.	It takes place within peoples or nationalities, as well as in spaces legally recognized as local communities, with strong ties of cultural identity between the members of the human group and the surrounding heritage.
Reduced number of service providers for tourists, but with a variety of products, in addition to being in harmony with the infrastructures of the area.	Limited tourism offer that depends on the organizational capacity of the community and that is restricted to the resources of the area, where the infrastructures are committed to the integration of designs with permaculture.
Optimum use of the natural and cultural resources of the area by integrating the precepts of sustainability through the local population´s knowledge.	Use of the cultural and natural heritage based on heritage processes led by the community members that consolidate a comprehensive sustainability process.
Vertical management model linked to a market economy that takes care of the individual interests of the participants in the tourism modality. It is focused on achieving maximum profitability.	Horizontal management model that takes into consideration the social vindication processes of historically neglected groups, putting community interests before individual ones. It focuses on obtaining profitability that will be redistributed equitably within the group.

Source: elaborated from Maldonado-Erazo et al. [10] and Valdez and Ochoa [21].

.

Community tourism or community-based tourism, according to its acronym in English, does not have a unanimous definition. There are many definitions in the literature. Hausler and Strasdas [22] define it as a form of tourism in which a significant number of local people have substantial control over and participation in its development and management. On the other hand, most of the benefits remain within the local economy. The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) [23] (p. 10) defines it as “a type of sustainable tourism that promotes strategies in favour of the poor in a community setting,” and to Lopez-Gúzman and Sánchez Cañizares [24], it is “an activity that is based on the creation of tourism products under the basic principle of the necessary participation of the local community” (p. 89). Asker et al. [25] understand it as a form of local tourism that favors local service providers and focuses on interpreting and communicating the local culture and environment.

The specific characteristics of this type of tourism can be observed through the different definitions.

• It is a type of tourism managed by and for the local community [26,27] as a way of reducing the negative consequences of tourism. Cañada [28] corroborates this statement, since he understands that this type of tourism is based on a tourism management model in which the local population of a given territory, generally a disadvantaged one, plays a leading role in the control of its design, execution, management, and distribution of benefits derived from the tourism activity [29,30,31]. Several studies address the issue of community participation and control [32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39].
• The participation of the local population (local stakeholders and tourism providers) is one of the pillars on which it is based [40], enabling the empowerment of local communities [38]. Many researchers agree on the need for community involvement in tourism [41,42]. This empowerment is achieved according, to Shafieisabet and Haratifard [43] (p. 76), “through training [44], informing them [45] about available environmental resources [46] and promoting their personal and social characteristics and flexibility in spatial area [47] in order to create a clean and attractive environment for tourists [48] and improve their quality of life by increasing tourism income, which can ensure sustainable rural development in rural settlements along the tourism route and destination [45]”.
• It is generally a small-scale type of tourism (Asker et al., 2010) that improves indicators related to the quality of life of the local population involved in tourism [49].
• It stimulates the local economy by increasing income opportunities [50] through the use of local culture and nature. It also favors the equitable redistribution of benefits in the community [22].
• The benefits derived from its development are manifold:

(1) They favor economic and ecological sustainability [40,51,52] through sustainable tourism, which values and manages cultural and natural heritage properly, allowing for its conservation.

(2) It also provides numerous economic and social benefits [53]. In this regard, the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) [23] (p. 10) argues that “CBT initiatives aim to involve local residents in the operation and management of small tourism projects as a means of alleviating poverty and providing an alternative source of tourism income for community members.” This is also corroborated by the study conducted by Manu and Kuuder [54], who consider that tourism provides an opportunity to increase income and reduce poverty. Dodds and Garci [38] (p. 65) stated that the specific benefits are “preservation of natural and cultural heritage, increased education, training and skills in business and tourism development, increased employment, economic diversification, improved infrastructure, greater environmental integrity, sharing of culture, reduction of current social problems and allocation of traditional ways of living off the land sustainably.”

2.2. Plurinational Federation of Community Tourism in Ecuador

Ecuador stands out regionally as an icon of community tourism [8,19] thanks to the national consolidation of the Plurinational Federation of Community Tourism of Ecuador (FEPTCE). This federation was created in the late 1980s and during the 1990s through the support and management of indigenous and Afro movements through the Council for the Development of Nationalities and Peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE), the Development Project of Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Ecuadorians (PRODEPINE), and the International Labour Organization (ILO). In 2002, it obtained its official recognition [55] from the Ministry of Tourism (Agreement No. 20020059, dated 11 September 2002, and through the Official Registry No. 43, dated 23 June 2005 of the current statute approved by Agreement No. 20050005) [56].

FEPTCE is committed to disengaging the concept of CT from rural tourism and ecotourism by initiating a crusade to modify the understanding of tourism linked to communities. They leave aside the overcrowding of spaces to reach an articulation of peoples as “subjects” that manage tourism and not “objects” that attract tourism [57]. Thus, FEPTCE becomes a strategic actor, fighting for and consolidating the integration of CT within the Tourism Law of Ecuador [58]. It also works for the integration of tourism, and in particular of CT, within the criteria and working pillars of the national development plans generated by the National Secretariat for Planning and Development [59,60]. Community tourism was established as the fourth axis of the national strategy to achieve a change in the productive matrix and the development of the nation through new products that include added value such as tourism [10,61,62]. It is essential to highlight that tourism, not specifically CT, is still considered within the five program areas of the current plan called Creation Opportunities 2021–2025 [63].

Loor et al. [61] also highlighted that CT, in addition to being one of the lines of the national strategy, achieves recognition as a product line in the country’s Ministry of Tourism plan firstly, within the Strategic Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development for Ecuador 2020 as a strategic actor of the process and specific product, and secondly, in the 2015 Project of Ecuador as tourist power as an element of the cultural heritage value chain, as well as a beneficiary of the strengthening process in the transfer of technical knowledge and the development of skills and abilities of human talent linked to the activity. It also participates in the incentive program, a condition that is detailed in the Institutional Strategic Plan 2009–2021 and is ratified in PLANDETUR 2030 [64,65,66,67].

Within the national territory, the FEPTCE is articulated through nine provincial/cantonal networks, which by 2020 held 121 enterprises, of which 83 are established as active due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2022, there was an increase in the number of enterprises that had achieved community tourism recognition within the National Tourist Cadaster of Establishments of the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador [68], although 39 registrations remain within this category. It can be seen that 18 FEPTCE enterprises have been categorized as consolidated initiatives by Maldonado-Erazo et al. [10] through the criteria indicated by Ochoa [69]. These enterprises are registered within the consolidated cadaster of the year 2021, representing 46% of the total number of enterprises in the country.

The families articulated to approximately 125 communities [10] are established as the beneficiaries of CT in Ecuador, which in projected data would represent more than 34,000 direct beneficiaries. CT has represented for the communities a way to achieve a better quality of life, because in many cases the unsatisfied basic needs (basic services, housing, health, access to food and information) have presented improvements, decreasing with this internal migration and the feminization of rural areas.

2.3. Corporation for the Development of Community Tourism (CORDTUCH)

The Corporation for the Development of Community Tourism (CORDTUCH) emerged without it being known what tourism was [70]. In the initial stages, the organization of the communities near the access to the snow-capped Chimborazo mountain corresponded to a process of struggle against the expropriation of land belonging to the communities settled in the Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve (RPFCH). This reserve is a state natural area created in 1987, which was governed by Art. 75 of the Forestry and Conservation of Natural Areas and Wildlife Law of Ecuador [71].

The Chimborazo Community Tourism Organization (ORTUCH) was initiated in 1998 with the participation of 11 communities [70,72]. In the same year, the 20th Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador was proclaimed. This constitution recognizes the multiculturalism of the territory and of the indigenous territorial districts. This as a positive action in favor of Ecuadorian peoples and nationalities. Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian movements, together with the Council for the Development of Nationalities and Peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), initiated the process of recognition and legalization of tourism activity in the community context [19].

The FEPTCE, after several processes of insurgency and struggle, succeeded in integrating CT in the Tourism Law [58]. Four years later, the Regulation for the Registration of Community Tourist Centers was issued [73]. This regulation requires proof of the legal existence of the community, a condition that corresponds to the approval of its legal status and statute in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Organization and Regime of Communes [74].

Barthol et al. [75] considers all these processes new barriers for the exercise of CT activity, due to the fact that acquiring the recognition of these groups as communities represents a highly bureaucratic process, thus limiting the development of more initiatives.

In 2002, the CORTUCH acquired legal status under the collective rights, with an unlimited number of partners and an indefinite duration, becoming the Corporation for the Development of Community Tourism (CORDTUCH), operating in Chimborazo province. The legal status of corporation was, at that time, better adjusted to the numerous processes that the communities wanted to generate. Although the Provincial Directorate of Social Welfare of Chimborazo recognized CORDTUCH through Ministerial Agreement No-019, 18 January 2005, the FEPTCE recognized CORDTUCH as a member on 2 August 2006. Lastly, the official registration of collective rights and the statute in CODENPE was recognized on 21 August 2006, justifying the community quality of the initiative [76,77,78].

CORDTUCH is a community organization (peasant and indigenous communities) in the province of Chimborazo (Figure 1). It was created with the purpose of analyzing the reality of these communities and their problems and proposing solutions. In this process, tourism was identified as a strategy to diversify their productive activities. At present, CORDTUCH is established as a subsidiary organization that provides technical support to the 11 ventures or community tourism organizations (CTOs) distributed according to the detail in

Table 2. Community ventures recognized by the FEPTCE in the year 2022.

Regional Network	Canton	Name of the Enterprise	Year of Creation	Number of Communities	Condition	Registration–CT
Community Tourism Network Sierra Centro “Kawsaymanta”	Alausí	Nizag Agro-Craft Center	2001	1	Active	No
	Colta	Center for Indigenous Development (CEDEIN)	1995	14 of Colta and Guamote	Active	No
	Colta	Balda Lupaxi Integral Development Center (CEDIBAL)	2004	1	Partially active	No
	Guamote	Guarguallá Craft and Community Tourism Center	2008	2	Active	No
	Guano	Calshi	2004	1	Active	No
	Guano	Chuquipogio	2005	1	Inactive	No
	Guano	Razu Ñan	2003	1	Active	No
	Riobamba	Casa Cóndor	1997	1	Active	Yes
	Riobamba	Union of Indigenous Peasants San Juan (UCASAJ)	2002	11	Partially active	No
	Riobamba	Sumak Kawsay—Royal Palace	2006	1	Active	Yes
	Riobamba	Quilla Pacari	1998	1	Active	Yes

Sources: Araque [80], Maldonado-Erazo et al. [10], Secretary of Human Rights [81].

, of which only eight CTOs are operating in in their entirety [79].

3. Methodology

The methodological process was articulated in three stages: diagnosis, strengthening, and monitoring of the social, environmental, organizational, cultural, and economic dimensions of the CTOs linked to CORDTUCH. At the beginning of the study, participatory action research (PAR) was used; an induction on the subject to be dealt with was carried out, with the aim of achieving a reflexive and inclusive participation of the general assemblies, the directors of the CORDTUCH CTOs, and community leaders thus achieving collective feedback in an open plenary session. Eleven general assemblies, one per each organization, were carried out.

The PAR was established as a process of social struggle for Latin America [83]. It generates spaces of trust in which direct information is obtained from the actors involved at different scales of interference, giving value to other forms of knowledge, thereby avoiding a partial vision frequently generated by the colonial vision of the academic [84], because the open plenary process allows everyone to debate the contributions made so that the information reflects the reality of the territories without bias on the part of the observer.

Additionally, research techniques such as documentary review at an exploratory, analytical, and descriptive level were integrated. For the field data collection, which was carried out in 35 communities, surveys and personal interviews were employed. It is important to mention that during the National Health Emergency due to COVID-19, many of the activities in the territory, such as some surveys, interviews, and meetings, were carried out through digital platforms. These research activities were performed in groups of five people on average, who commonly gathered at the community leaders’ houses, because most people in the communities do not have internet access.

The rationale to perform virtual data collection activities responds to the global reality. Research activities during the pandemic have been transformed into much more resilient, supportive, and humane processes that focus on the increase in “cross-border data flows, information and knowledge” [85]. The application processes of the various instruments were carried out by work groups led by the authors, who in turn trained a group of students in which a Kichwa-speaking student was inserted to facilitate dialogue processes in cases. If a translation was required, once the groups were consolidated, the application proceeded. After that, the information was refined and systematized to be analyzed and validated by the groups within the plenaries, from which each work dimension was consolidated.

The basic documentation used to work on the cultural dimension was the Ethnographic Guide of Guerrero [86]; for the social dimension, the Community Cultural Revitalization Manual of Torres [87]; and for the organizational, environmental, and economic dimension, the Guide of Good Practices in Sustainable Tourism for Latin American Communities [88]. It is necessary to specify that the use of this documentation derives from the relevance that the first two sources represent for Ecuador and Latin America as precursors of the decolonial research process.

4. Overview of Community Tourism linked to CORDTUCH

4.1. Social Dimension

The organizational structure maintains community assemblies as the highest decision-making authority, thus consolidating a horizontal relationship that is participatory and consensual and non-hierarchical in nature, in which consensus is essential for making decisions that generate the greatest common benefit [78,89]. Figure 2 shows the representation of time (spiral) and the elements that make up community life, as well as the relationship between them. This vision and graphic was built based on the contributions of community leaders.

It is necessary to specify that the community leaders state that time within the Andean cosmovision is not something linear; it corresponds to a spiral in which elements accumulate (memory and root), which are the dynamics of community. From this logic of movement, the communities organize the work within the territories. In this way, everything in the social dimension revolves around the decisions of the general assembly (integrating all the members of the community), who is the highest authority, and the decisions made by this body are executed by the board of each CTO, expressing a collective participation. The environmental aspect is taken as the maximum expression of the man–nature relationship of mutual respect. In the organizational dimension, the form of collective work in each CTO is respected. In the cultural field, the collective memory is transversely reflected from the conservation of the material cultural heritage and the safeguarding of the intangible heritage to finally articulate the three previous dimensions in the economic use that the spaces can achieve through the product CT marketed by CTOs.

It should be noted that within the organization, women’s and young people’s participation is encouraged, with the purpose of consolidating a gender and generational relationship [78] that has been consolidated over the course of the organization’s 15 years of existence. Women have taken on a more prominent role, managing to integrate important spaces of the organization´s various boards of directors, thereby encouraging the integration of these groups, which have been neglected in the production processes of tourism activity. Currently, the destinations show processes of social equity with a clear participation of women, where at least 25% of the services are executed by women, in addition to having at least one woman within the community directives. There is also evidence of a 10% increase in academic training processes for higher studies and 50% in certification processes for local guides, to the extent of the accessibility of new technologies they have provided.

4.2. Environmental Dimension

The CORDTUCH, as mentioned above, was created with the aim of protecting the natural spaces of the Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve (RPFCH), after several insurgency processes for the vindication of collective rights over their ancestral spaces. This organization was incorporated as an active agent within the RPFCH management programs linked to wildlife management, protection of natural resources, and tourism [79].

Based on this connection, work has been done to reduce and prevent the problems identified in

Table 3. Initial analysis of the environmental problems of community tourism organizations (CTO) in the year 2010.

Component	Problem	Nizag Agro-Craft Center	CEDEIN	CEDIBAL	Guarguallá Craft and Community Tourism Center	Calshi	Chuquipogio	Razu Ñan	Casa Cóndor	UCASAJ	Sumak Kawsay—Royal Palace	Quilla Pacari
Ground	Ground erosion			x		x	x	x	x
	Erosion from overgrazing	x
	Advance of the agricultural frontier	x					x	x	x
	Garbage contamination of soils		x							x
	Loss of vegetation cover in the páramos		x
	Pollution of the wastelands					x	x	x	x
	Family land contamination					x	x	x	x	x	x
	Mining exploitation									x
	Degradation of cultivated land											x
Water	River pollution	x
	Unprotected waterholes				x
	Unprotected micro-basins				x	x		x
Air	Pollution generated by the decomposition of garbage	x									x	x
	Pollution due to the emission of gases due to the transit of land and heavy transport			x						x
Flora	Loss of native vegetation	x		x
	Eucalyptus monoculture	x				x		x		x
	Pine monoculture		x		x	x		x		x
	Loss of native vegetation
	Native forest felling					x					x	x
	Straw burning						x
	Loss of grasslands								x
	Reforestation with pines and eucalyptus										x	x
Fauna	Displacement of wildlife to surrounding areas	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x
	Proliferation of domestic and sick animals									x
	Decrease in the avifauna									x

Sources: Calderón [90], Equator Initiative [79].

, which was built from the general explanation of the main problems of the territory identified by the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition. After that, these were prioritized by the groups based on the expertise and knowledge of the areas.

Following the process of identifying the environmental problems in CTOs, work has been done to implement mitigation and prevention measures, among which the following stand out:

• Forestation and reforestation: action implemented in the 11 CTOs. It corresponds to the implementation of small forest nurseries of native species, transplanted to eroded and deforested areas and even to family plots to be used as live fences for the protection of crops. This activity has also generated extra income from the commercialization of species.
• Management of páramo, natural areas, and micro-watersheds: implementation of strategies for the management of páramo as a source of water and reduction of the livestock load corresponding to cattle and sheep, which was replaced by camelids (llama and alpaca). It is also responsible for formulating regulations to control the burning of grasslands and the fencing off of water sources. These actions were implemented in Guarguallá, UCASAJ, Casa Cóndor, CEDEIN, and Chuquipogio, which are all areas of influence of Sangay National Park and RPFCH.
• Recovery of water sources: This is linked to the recovery of hectares of cushion and grassy páramo ecosystems, which are established as sources of water reserves, for which work has been done with the insertion of camelids and the declaration of communal conservation areas.
• Organic production: incorporation of ancestral practices to strengthen agriculture, allowing the generation of agroecological gardens, mainly in UCASAJ, CEDEIN, Balda Lupaxi, Casa Cóndor, and Razu Ñan, an activity that is currently linked to the tourist offer of the communities.
• Waste management: implementation of recycling processes and composting processes to obtain organic fertilizer, in which the local population has been involved, especially children in Razu Ñan and Balda Lupaxi. This action has made it possible to improve the condition of the cultural landscape.

The processes of identification of environmental impacts have allowed the articulation of environmental education processes, but in the future, they awaken the need to study the relationship between climate change and CT, mainly in the communities that appear as protectors of ancestral zones.

4.3. Organizational Dimension

In relation to the administrative system, CORDTUCH establishes a board of directors composed of five members, which are president and vice president, together with the marketing, finance, and communications secretaries [91] (Figure 3).

The largest area is the marketing secretariat, made up of:

• Operadora de Turismo Puruhá Razurku: Created in 2006, this company’s purpose is the commercialization of tourism products generated by the 11 OTCs [91]. The first package that was sold had a cost of USD 70 and left a net profit of USD 15; the rest was given to the community that hosted the tourist [72]. Within the work structure, it is made up of four employees [92].
• Caja de Ahorros Tayta Chimborazo: It started its activities in 2018, being established as a non-profit community entity [91] that is in charge of contributing to the financial management of the organization’s funds, subsidiaries, and future ventures. It is composed of two employees [92].
• Bioproducts shop: Created in 2010, its purpose is to contribute to the marketing chain of organic and artisanal products generated by the communities linked to the organization [82,91]. It is attached to the tour operator, although commercial activity is at a standstill, as it is not in operation.

The identification of its organizational structure is strengthened by inter-institutional connections. In this aspect, it was possible to identify the reactivation of the Tourism Management Committee of the Province of Chimborazo in 2019. At this stage, only representatives of the public and private tourism sector participated in its recent activation, the same that was created in 2015 by Ordinance No. 13-2015-GADPCH, creating the right conditions to integrate the community tourism sector in the province in the organizational figure of CORDTUCH.

Within this dimension, we also contributed to strengthening the capabilities of human talent linked to the organization, which was developed during the year 2020. This process began with an evaluation of the job performance of all staff, reaching 119/215 points. This rating shows a level of performance that is not very efficient, due to the fact that there are positions that assume many functions, or on the contrary, positions with a single function because they voluntarily contribute to the management of the organization [91].

Based on this ex ante evaluation, a training program was consolidated for the 11 CTOs, made up of 7 academic programs organized into 28 modules. They cover issues of tourism and biosafety, tourism legislation, accounting, auditing, taxation, design, administration, operation, and marketing of tourism products. The program could not yet be implemented due to the National Health Emergency, an element that prevents agglomeration processes, as well as the fact that it cannot be developed virtually due to the limited digital coverage of the territories. However, the entire execution planning was defined, in addition to establishing an ex post evaluation system focused on qualitative and quantitative indicators for each academic program, which will provide feedback for the corporation once it is implemented [92], because the main limitation for the current implementation of this training process has been the lack of digital coverage in all the communities, a condition that would handicap certain organizations.

4.4. Cultural Dimension

Within the cultural component, the organization established a strong process of conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage based on revitalization processes, in which the recreation of ancestral knowledge and know-how linked to language, clothing, craft techniques, and oral tradition was achieved [78], allowing this heritage to be kept alive.

Another action was the training of 39 local guides during 2019 through the Local Guide course, supported by the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador and taught by 12 professors from the Faculty of Natural Resources and one professor from the Faculty of Business Administration linked to the Higher Polytechnic School of Chimborazo (ESPOCH). They received training linked to components of culture, environment, and management. As part of the cultural training, they received elements to strengthen their identity based on anthropological work processes, in addition to building knowledge based on the history and cultural heritage of the area.

Subsequently, a process for the registration of tangible assets, both movable and immovable, of five of the organization’s CTOs was articulated. This process was only consolidated with this small group, as it was carried out during the National Health Emergency process due to COVID-19, preventing a total displacement to the territory and limiting it to the digital connection processes available. During this activity, the bonds of belonging to the material cultural heritage (MCH) of the territories were strengthened through both face-to-face and virtual work. Participatory workshops were held involving community leaders, who provided their homes as a meeting point for Zoom connections. The movable and immovable assets were identified, and later, through fieldwork, physical or ethnographic data were collected to fill out the registration forms. A year later, the process was complemented with audiovisual documentation of heritage elements. This whole process was based on prior, free, and informed consent, which complies with the provisions of the ILO Convention No. 169 [93], the Nagoya Protocol [94], and Código Ingenios of Ecuador [95], thereby establishing a whole system for the protection of collective rights (

Table 4. Community enterprises linked to the process of registering the material cultural heritage (MCH).

Canton	Name of the Enterprise	Registration
		Movable Property	Immovables
Alausí	Nizag Agro-Craft Center	8	2
Guano	Calshi	11	3
Guano	Razu Ñan	11	1
Riobamba	Casa Cóndor	10	1
Riobamba	UCASAJ	13	2

).

Furthermore, within the intangible cultural heritage (ICH), the following CTOs have a safeguarding plan: Razu Ñan, UCASAJ, Chuquipogio, Nizag, Calshi, Quilla Pacari, and Sumak kawsay. As mentioned by Piray et al. [78], the safeguard processes allowed the revitalization of several manifestations within the six areas of the ICH as a result of the tourist practice (

Table 5. Community undertakings linked to the revitalization process of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

ICH Areas	Revitalized Cultural Manifestations	Nizag Agro-Craft Center	CEDEIN	CEDIBAL	Guarguallá Craft and Community Tourism Center	Calshi	Chuqui-Pogio	Razu Ñan	Casa Cóndor	UCASAJ	Sumak Kawsay—Royal Palace	Quilla Pacari
Traditions and oral expressions	Tales and legends associated with natural elements such as mountains, where the loves of these mythical beings are shared	X	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X
	Tales associated with the local fauna in connection with the territories (owl, wolf, Andean condor, lama)	X			X				X		X
	Stories associated with cultural practices such as marriage, weaving, the way of tilling the land, the creation of natural sites, the presence of Chimborazo, characters from popular festivals, sacred rituals		X	X		X	X	X		X		X
Ritual social uses and festive acts	Community practices such as minka, makita mañachi, and randi randi” (forms of reciprocity*)	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
	Rites of passage (marriages and funerals, among others)	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
	Apotropaic rites of energy renewal for the body and soul		X
	Propitiatory rites of gratitude to the Pachamama		X						X	X
Knowledge and uses related to nature	Symbolic spaces related to rituals, legends, or myths, among which are Chiripunga; Cerro Sagrado Puruwa considered a guardian apu; and Qhapac Ñan	X
	Symbolic space related to rituals, legends, or myths such as Machay Temple								X
	Symbolic space related to rituals, legends, or myths such as the Sacred Stone Yana Rumi		X							X
Creative manifestations	Music and songs that narrate daily life or special events in the community	X	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X
	Traditional games	X	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Traditional craft techniques	Traditional craft techniques linked to textiles and natural fiber fabrics, among others	X	X	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X
	Traditional house construction techniques		X							X
Food and gastronomic heritage	Ritual and daily gastronomy	X	X	X	X	X				X
	Knowledge linked to the symbolic value of the agricultural products of the area	X	X	X	X	X				X

* minka = collective reciprocity, makita mañachi = individual reciprocity, and randi randi = giving and receiving.

).

The process of recreating the memory allowed for coordinated work, with an emphasis on the orality of the community imagination, as an inheritance for the younger generations, allowing in 2016 the participatory, documented, and illustrated creation of the book Cuentos Andinos. This book collects 11 stories from the affiliated organizations of CORDTUCH. This activity generated a profound process of assessing the stories of older adults, as well as a process of creative return to organizations through the staging of 11 plays in the community territories, which has allowed for the generation of several initiatives such as sales and the creation of audiobooks and content for distribution on social networks, generating occasional economic income for the organization and recreating moments or talks of reflection in different visits to the territories.

The CTOs still continue to observe a process of cultural erosion linked to migratory processes, for higher education or for work, the latter largely exacerbated by the National Health Emergency, a condition that leads to the future generation of research that allows generational transmission processes to be strengthened through other mechanisms, including digital ones.

4.5. Economic Dimension

During the process of strengthening CORDTUCH, a direct benefit of 1772 members of the 11 CTOs and the Association of Tourist Guides of Chimborazo (AGUITUCH) was achieved, as well as around 5700 indirect beneficiaries, including inhabitants of the communities where community tourism organizations and tourists specializing in this type of sustainable tourism are located.

To establish the tourist offer of the CTOs, an analysis of the tourism system was carried out, initially identifying a total of 78 tourist attractions, as well as the presence of a tourist plant linked to food, accommodation, and guidance (

Table 6. Community undertakings analysis of the tourist offer.

Canton	Name of the Enterprise	Touristic Offer *	Attractions			Complementary Activities
			Natural	Cultural	Total
Alausí	Nizag Agro-Craft Center	FG	7	4	11	Hike to Chiripungo, viewpoint of the condor, and Qhapac Ñan horseback riding Demonstration of cultural activities Dance and museum at Sibambe station
Colta	CEDEIN	FG	3	1	4	Community coexistence Walks Demonstration of craft activities Visit to Yana Rumy in the canton of Riobamba, a community-owned space
Colta	CEDIBAL	FG	9	3	12	Walks Visits to fairs Visit to the quinoa and family farms
Guamote	Guarguallá Craft and Community Tourism Center	FAG	21		21	Purchase of handicrafts Walks Horseback riding Visit to the waterfall Excursion to the Sangay volcano
Guano	Calshi	FAG	6	4	10	Cultural practices of skiing and weaving Participation in traditional festivals Ascent to Chimborazo Visit to the Bolívar stone Sale of handicrafts Walks High mountain climbing Preparation for mountaineering Elaboration of crafts Landscape photography Excursion to the ice mines Walks to the Cóndor Samana waterfall
	Chuquipogio
	Razu Ñan
Riobamba	Casa Cóndor	FAG	9	2	11	Walks Bike ride Bird watching Cultural activities High mountain climbing Shearing activities and treatment of alpaca fiber Community coexistence Organic garden tour Hike to Mount Shobol Urku Visit to the pogyo Tayta Andrés
	UCASAJ
	Sumak Kawsay—Royal Palace	FAG	1	8	9	Walks Visit to the llama museum Crafts in sheep wool, alpaca, and llama fiber Llama meat-based diet Way of Simon Bolivar Visit to spinning mill Cultural coexistence
	Quilla Pacari

* FAG = food, accommodation, and guidance; FG = food and guidance. Source: own elaboration based on Araque [80], Castillo-Vizuete et al. [96], CORDTUCH [77], and Llanga [97].

), which have been integrated into five products marketed through Puruhá Razurku Tourism Operator (

Table 7. CTO tourism products.

Product Name	Duration	Points of Interest	Contents	CTO
Trekking llama	Full day	Museum of the Llama Craft center Gastronomy Ascent to Chimborazo Interpretive trails	Guidance Accommodation Feeding High mountain climbing Preparation for mountaineering Walks	Sumak Kawsay—Royal Palace
Sharing life in community in the foothills of Chimborazo	2 days and one night	Visit to agricultural and livestock activities Artisanal process for obtaining sheep’s wool Ice mines Snowy Chimborazo Cultural coexistence activities	Transport Guidance Accommodation Feeding Culture night Hike Ice mines Ascent to Chimborazo Viewpoints	Razu Ñan
Surrounding the Tayta Chimborazo	4 days and 3 nights	Museum of the Llama Craft process of sheep wool Snowy Chimborazo Polylepis Forest Agroecological activities Visit to organic gardens Agro-ancestral practices	Transport Guidance Accommodation Feeding Culture night Walks	Sumak Kawsay Razu Ñan Casa Cóndor UCASAJ Quilla Pacari Balda Lupaxi (CEDIBAL)
Nizag: “Culture and Ancestral Knowledge”	2 days and 1 night	Chiripungo Mountain Cóndor Viewpoint Qhapaq Ñan Seville Sibambe Visit to organic gardens Craft workshop Nizag Community	Transport Guidance Accommodation Feeding Culture night Walks	Nizag
Chimborazo’s last snowfield	Full day	Ice mines Snowy Chimborazo	Guidance Accommodation Feeding Walks	Razu Ñan

Source: elaborated from Travel Agencies Finder [98] and Community tourism operator “Puruhá Razurku” [99].

), according to information provided by CORDTUCH in the interviews carried out through digital platforms, through which a total income was obtained for a value of USD 37,459.26 for the year 2019 as the latest consolidated data, of which 80% have been delivered in the form of direct payments to the communities.

Furthermore, it is necessary to add that of the training process for local guides, a total of 22 participants were members of the CTOs, 14 were linked to AGUITUCH, and 3 were associated with community initiatives not linked to CORDTUCH. Twenty-four participants of the total number achieved a local guide license from the National Tourism Authority, with 15 still pending (

Table 8. Trained local guides.

Organizations	No. of Procedure	Organizations	With License
AGUITUCH	6	AGUITUCH	8
UCASAJ	2	UCASAJ	4
Casa Cóndor	2	Casa Cóndor	3
Calshi	2	Calshi	2
CEDIBAL	1	CEDIBAL	1
Shobol pamba	1	Razu Ñan	2
Cacha	1	Nizag	2
		San Rafael de Chuquipogio	1
Overall total	15	Santa Lucía de Chuquipogio	1
		Overall total	24

).

Finally, this process strengthens the insertion of new guides in the organizations, responding to the need for generational change, recognizing that some current leaders of the organizations were trained in 1998 as native guides by the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, and that in 2019, this forged job opportunities in the community territories, which initiated tourism activities in the province.

5. Discussion

Tourism experienced the greatest turning point in its history, which motivated the rethinking of work objectives. That is, the consolidation of sustainable tourism through innovation, the linking of neglected groups, and investment in communities was proposed in order to generate a resilient future. Ecuador as a leading country in community tourism or community-based tourism (CBT) stands out due to the wide variety of tourism enterprises that resulted from the multiple processes of insurgency and vindication for collective rights of local communities and indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and Montubio peoples and nationalities, which have consolidated a solid organizational system based on the FEPTCE. Linked to this process, multiple networks were articulated in the national territory, one of which is CORDTUCH, which brings together several peasant and indigenous communities in the province of Chimborazo.

CORDTUCH has been the main object of study, and after the support process for its strengthening, the following contributions derived from the research process have been consolidated:

At first, poverty is established as a circumstantial concept for the indigenous worldview, which is not understood as something strictly material, but rather as the lack or absence of putting into action all the knowledge they possess for the prevention of bad scenarios [100], which is based on the Alli Kawsay. Alli Kawsay is the basic condition for the management of sustenance and the autonomous resolution of the needs of communities through the adaptation of knowledge to the environmental conditions. In this way, the recognition of the value of their culture and the Pachamama, together with the recognition of the problems that are afflicting them, has motivated the strengthening of social demands to put aside this poverty circumstance.

CT has taught us to work with communities through cultural encounter actions, in which differences are respected and communities begin to be understood as subjects with the capacity to bring change in their territories, and not as numbers or objects. Each subject can contribute the necessary knowledge to overcome this circumstantial poverty, since they have the knowledge and wisdom to organize the spaces, observing that 90% of the research process has been generated by the communities and 10% by the academy.

CT confirms that it is not only the generation of a business, but also the definition of an organizational process, which protects the territories, strengthens the capacities of the communities, and safeguards ancestral knowledge. CT was born without being a business, without a tourism product, and was built collectively with failures and successes, and now it is a management model with a differentiated tourism product and identity. During this construction process, it was observed that the link between tourism and economic activities is not only as a generator of foreign currency, but also as the possibility of living in dignity, through the satisfaction of the basic needs of the spaces, in order to strengthen the achievement of Alli Kawsay.

In addition to this, gender equity and generational participation have made it possible for 55% of the participants in this type of tourism to be women, with at least one leader in decision-making spaces, who have become direct producers, in addition to allowing a reinforcement of the cosmic and ancestral vision of the duality of men and women, demonstrating that they are complementary and indivisible, which is why CT has managed to make progress in the consolidation of rights in the territory.

All of the above is supported by what was mentioned by Graci [101], i.e., that the empowerment of communities for the development of CT allowed the generation of the necessary means to have a sustainable life. That is why from this process, these enterprises produced an important local economic revitalization. It contributed to the generation of jobs and to reducing migration to the city or to other countries, which resulted in 1772 direct beneficiaries among the five cantons of the province of Chimborazo, where the network is based, in addition to approximately 1867 families as indirect beneficiaries through the production of handicrafts and cultivation of medicinal plants, among other activities [79]. From the sale of tourist packages, the communities have received 80% of the income from sales.

Despite the difficulties and legislative updates, this corporation—CORDTUCH—has managed to consolidate and duly legalize its 11 CTO ventures, while the remaining organizations are in the process of consolidation.

Based on this process, it is recommended to continue strengthening alliances between the private, public, and community sectors, with the purpose of reducing dependence on the central government and thereby increasing the self-sufficiency of spaces through active participation in all events planned by the organization or those to which it has been invited, since these are the appropriate scenarios for strengthening their institutional situation.

Moreover, although the CT market is growing, it is necessary to consolidate a marketing process that identifies specific market niches and sound investment strategies in order to capture more demand and increase sales volumes. To this end, it is recommended to continue with the generation and strengthening of local capacities, the improvement of their infrastructure and tourist plants, and the innovation of their products, taking into account the changes in the tastes and preferences of the demand in order to better satisfy the expectations of the visit.

Finally, it is essential to work on the development of new mechanisms and tools for managing information in all areas of work, which would facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of all the activities and projects undertaken by communities. As future lines of research, it would be interesting to delve into volunteer tourism in the context of community tourism for the economic reactivation of communities.