TOURISM RUN AMOK
Ellner, Steve
The completion in 1990 of an asphalt highway connecting Ciudad Guayana in the northeast to Santa Elena de UairCn on the Brazilian border has encouraged more tourists tu travel to Venezuela's...
...The chal-ofamusement for the children of these families...
...Dozens of :epuis-flat-topped...
...Elino says...
...president of the Environmental Corn-mission of the Chamber of Deputies...
...Members of the economic elite organize parties in the tepuis just to have the satisfaction of boasting of their stay at such an exotic place," conservationist Alexander Luzardo says...
...free-standing land masses rmging up to 9tXX3 feet in height-are endangered...
...People participaling in scientific missions also smuggle valuable tropical species out of the country, tie said...
...UnlikeEuropeans, we Venezuelans take for granted the forests which occupy a large pt of our national landscape...
...Foreigners are flown in without any government control...
...The governmentrecognizesthetepuis-one of which contains Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall-as national monuments...
...is also contributing to the ecological destruction...
...Adventure tourism, in which tour-isIs are led off the beaten track...
...As such, most are off urn-its to the general public, though enforcement of this restriction has been notoriously poor...
...while a welcome source of income, has had serious ecological consequences...
...Until attitudes change and an infrastructure is in place to oversee activity, tourism in the region will inevitably result in much destruction...
...The completion in 1990 of an asphalt highway connecting Ciudad Guayana in the northeast to Santa Elena de UairCn on the Brazilian border has encouraged more tourists tu travel to Venezuela's Amazon region...
...The tourism indthstry...
...Adventure tourism trips to protected areas are frequently advertised in the media" says Rafael Elino MartIne...
...The visitors leave garbage and sometimes start forest fires, he added...
Vol. 26 • September 1992 • No. 2
