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EXPLORING TOURISTS AS AN INVASIVE SPECIES AND THE EFFECTS OF
ECOTOURISM IN PERU

ABSTRACT

This paper acts as an argumentative essay that compares the presence of indigenous people in Peru’s

biologically diverse hotspots and how it’s been affected with the relatively recent presence of tourists.

Although tourists, as humans, are not a new or introduced species, their growing and overwhelming presence

in the country has created massive amounts of change in relation to biodiversity, as well as socioeconomic and

political policy. It is our objective to explore the abstract possibility of tourists as an unintentional invasive

species. We aim to determine the defining characteristics of an invasive species and correlate them with the

effects of ecotourism and the overall impact to Peru’s wildlife conservation. This paper analyzes the positive

and negative effects of tourists, as well as compares their influence on Peru’s biodiversity to that of an

invasive species.

KEYWORDS: Invasive species, ecotourism, conservation, biodiversity

Peru is home to many different types of biomes and biodiversity hotspots. As one of the top 20 largest

countries in the world, Peru’s variety of ecosystems and wildlife range from the coast, the highlands, and the

jungle. As a result, Peru receives most of its national income through culturally historic tourism and

ecotourism, with access to one of the greatest ecotourism destinations on the planet, the Amazon rainforest.

Peru has developed industrially to accommodate incoming tourists with hotels, restaurants, and highly

maintained areas of interest. Natural reserves, jungle territory, mountains and lakes are all open to public

exploration for a price, and kept in pristine conditions to allow modern comfort for tourists. However, while

there is mostly no intention of harming Peru’s endemic species and biodiversity, with the exception of

poachers, the increasing presence of tourists has proven to show drastic results. Lodging and overpopulation

of tourists have affected the wildlife in their most natural habitat, and have affected the ecosystem in a way

that similarly acts like the effects of an invasive species. As this paper progresses, ecotourism in Peru’s jungle,

the greatest source in biodiversity in the country, will be analyzed and categorized in both its positive and

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