Our Non-Profit owns a tour operator that delivers great experiences as it incubates community based tourism projects. We believe regenerative tourism is one of the answers for keeping up the peace efforts after the Peace Accords that ended the 50 year conflict. With your support, we will be able to develop a new product named ROUTE TO HOPE (#rutadelaesperanza), a travel experience 100% led by excombatants, victims of war and vulnerable communities.
Colombia is a country with a conflicted history, but it has great potential. Rural communities most affected by the violence face a unique challenge as the country works to build peace: victims and ex-combatants must learn to live together in areas with few economic opportunities and lasting tensions. Furthermore, negative associations with these areas have limited the potential for economic development, despite the breathtaking natural wealth and incredible cultural diversity.
We want to create a high level peace tourism experience, fully operated by excombatants, victims and vulnerable communities of Bolivar and Guaviare that was harshly struck by the penalties of war. We want to promote the development through reconciliation work and with the money from this crowdfund, we need to enable each location to be able to operate community tourism to its fullest. We want to preserve the authentic local heritages and the small investments are needed at each stop.
Long-term, this project contributes to community healing by providing a source of income to post-conflict actors while also providing a space for ex-combatants, victims, and vulnerable communities to work together. Additionally, this project contributes to national healing by involving people from outside of these communities, using tourism to show the peace-building efforts of formerly stigmatized populations. This exposure can give the larger Colombian population a vehicle for reconciliation.
