Enabling sustainable tourism in remote communities of Colombia.

Case

Providing access & knowledge to sustainable tourism to remote communities in Colombia.

Industry

Tourism. Traveltech.

Capabilities

Social Innovation

Brand Design

Design Research

Problem

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world. Tourism in Colombia is growing by 30% per year (pre-COVID). Eighty per cent of this tourism is centred in and around the big cities.

The incessant armed conflict, the lack of infrastructure and the difficulty of access have kept hidden treasures from mass tourism. Indigenous, Afro-descendant or mestizo communities that maintain their traditional ways of life and live in close symbiosis with nature. Impoverished areas, invisible to the government, that keep the government in balance.

The influx of travellers is growing steadily despite the lack of physical infrastructure, thanks to internet access and digitalisation. This represents an unprecedented economic opportunity for the regions, but a socio-cultural risk to preserve their intangible heritage, their culture and their relationship with the environment.

Challenge

Empower and make visible remote communities by providing access to travellers, to increase their standard of living while perpetuating their traditional ways of life, cultural heritage and natural environment.

Solution

Meridiano 75 is a marketplace that serves to publish, advertise and book social experiences and accommodations in family homes.

Concept

Our main goal when designing the experience was to enhance coexistence and empathy, by sharing their daily life activities, such as fishing, cooking, cultivating or elaborating local products. Becoming in a few days an active member of the community while discovering awesome landscapes, enjoying nature attractions and being exposed to new cultural and social realities.

Accomodations in Family Houses. Experiencing native routines.

Social Experiences. Based on lifestyle and culture.

Etnography through sports.

Etnography through music.

Etnography through gastronomy.

Research

In the more than 32 communities visited in Latin America in 2 years, especially in Colombia, with 4 different teams of volunteers, we developed different ethnographies under the pretext of doing workshops on Music, Sports, or Gastronomy in which we were able to get intimate with them and obtain more honest data about their ways of life, beliefs, behaviours, and their motivations.

Travel Native.

Results

On January 2019 we launched a 10-day trip to validate the product for 10 travellers.
Despite the low standards of comfort, travellers returned grateful for the authenticity of the experience, the familiarity with which they were received, and the naturalness of the people in the villages.

peregrinrua@gmail.com +34 644412104