Fostering ecotourism brands through local engagement in Peru and the Maldives

As a subset of sustainable tourism, ecotourism has increased in protected tourism sites and biodiversity hotspots as increasingly more tourists look for meaningful natural experiences. This necessitates understanding how to leverage tourist-local community engagement in ecotourism branding. The chapter focuses on two case studies from two contexts, which harness tourist-local community engagement in their ecotourism branding. While the first case study relates to the conservation of nature and cultural heritage within an Amazonian rainforest in Peru, the latter refers to preserving the ecosystems of the ocean in the Maldives. Although both cases leverage tourist-local community engagement to a certain extent, they heavily focus on uplifting local communities, guest education and scientific research in their ecotourism branding. The study lacks empirical evidence, yet it has managerial and policy implications. It advises managers and policymakers to foster a sustainable ecotourism brand with the tourist-local community interaction in mind.