A body of knowledge representation model of ecotourism products in southeastern Ecuador

Abstract

The corpus of knowledge or Bodies of Knowledge (BOK) term it used to describe a set of structures than codify all concept, terms, techniques, and sustainable activities that constitute the domain of the exercise of a profession or specific area of knowledge in our case in Ecotourism context. Ecotourism combines passion for travel with the interest in the preservation of nature and it is related to concepts of sustainability, conservation and participation of the local community, this term has been used to promote tourism activities in the natural environment and attract tourists interested in nature and culture of places to visit. In the Amazon rainforest ecotourism is an activity that contributes both to the awareness of travelers and the communities, in addition to income generated by this activity helps to preserve this heritage. The aim of this article is to contribute to the estimation of discrete choice models in order to analyze individual preferences, by analyzing the demand for ecotourism products in Ecuador's southeastern region, province of Zamora Chinchipe, using data obtained from surveys conducted during 2018, which provide information about the preferences of visitors to the area, through discrete choice experiments, and supported on BOK model. This experiment consisted in the creation of twelve choice scenarios defined by two hypothetical ecotourism products each. Thus, the alternatives were defined in terms of the following attributes: price, hiking, participation in rituals, tasting local cuisine, visit to crafts center and experience of community life (codes of BOK).