Ecuador, known to travelers mostly for the natural wonders of the Galapagos Islands, is making a bid to expand its tourism base to more North Americans, using travel agents as its primary vehicle.
As part of its “I Discovered” campaign to show the country’s diversity beyond the Galapagos, Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism recently debuted an Ecuador Specialist program for agents. Opportunities for fam trips, incentives and giveaways are among the features for agents who complete the program.
The new training follows the Discover Ecuador road show that reached 450 travel agents in nine major North American cities this year. The show spotlighted points of interest and attractions such as the recently launched Tren Crucero, luxury rail tours using restored steam locomotives and other trains.
Arrivals from the U.S. to Ecuador were up by 2.7% in 2012, with 248,000 Americans entering the country.
The reason for the specialist program is to offer more resources to agents who may lack the destination knowledge to sell the country, Maria Alexandra Ordonez, the ministry's markets coordinator for the U.S. and Canada, said in an email interview.
“We are constantly looking to increase the resources available to agents selling Ecuador,” she said. “With strong interest in Ecuador’s strategic offering, we understood the importance of educating agents, offering them training and providing a central database of information.”
The ministry also issued an agent resource guide with contact information for tour operators that offer Ecuador and a list of available tour and excursion offerings by region. For a copy, click here.
The ministry official said Ecuador is hoping to build on recent positive publicity.
“Ecuador has been recognized as a leading destination for 2013 by such influential groups as Lonely Planet, National Geographic Traveler and the Virtuoso luxury travel network,” Ordonez said. “With this increasing demand from their clients, tools such as the Ecuador Specialist program are critical for providing the latest updates and information to agents.”