Posada Amazonas Ecotourism with Inclusion

The Ese´eja Ecotourism Project that led to Posada Amazonas, is an initiative to demonstrate that a tourism joint venture between business and a local community can not only be successful in empowering that local community and conserving natural resources but is also sound business practice.
The heart of this project is a 20 year contract signed in 1996. The lodge is owned by the community and co-managed with Rainforest Expeditions. For its ownership, the community receives 60 per cent of the profit. Decision making is by consensus. Other fundamental concepts include the training of community members to occupy all lodge positions. Finally, the full management of the lodge itself will pass to the local Community in 2016.
Community members can de directly involved in the project as staff members or guides, or indirectly as suppliers. They can also be involved as decision makers in the Control Committee. At any given moment, more than fifty families are involved in any of the three possibilities.