Disabled Tourists Access Sustainable Tourism in Ecuador

Alfonso Eliécer Morales has spent his life turning adversity into opportunity. Despite an accident that left him unable to walk, he has excelled as an athlete: playing on Ecuador’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team in the 1989 Special Pan American Games; participating in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta; and creating and riding in the first wheelchair tour of Ecuador. Morales has also become a disability advocate, lecturing at nearly a dozen national and international events, and serving from 2005 to 2009 as a councilman for his community. Today, Morales owns and operates Hostal Familiar Las Grandillas, a Rainforest Alliance Verified lodge in Baños, Ecuador that caters to disabled tourists. 

Alfonso Morales at his hotel, Hostal Familiar Las Granadillas.

Ventilación natural

La ventilación natural, una medida denominada pasiva, permite refrigerar y renovar el aire interior de los edificios, sin realizar ningún consumo energético. Gracias a este tipo de soluciones se pueden conseguir ahorros energéticos de entre el 10 y el 30% en concepto de refrigeración.

Como sabemos por elPrincipio de Arquímedes, las masas de aire caliente se desplazan hacia las partes altas de las estancias. La ventilación natural consiste en favorecer las condiciones para que se produzcan corrientes de aire, de manera que el ambiente interior sea renovado por el aire del exterior. Así se consigue un doble objetivo: por un lado renovar el aire viciado y, por otro, reducir la sensación de calor en un ambiente sobrecalentado.

UNWTO to work with Arab countries on promotion of sustainable tourism

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai and Casa Arabe Director General Eduardo Lopez Busquets have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote sustainable tourism development and strengthen institutional capacity in Arab countries.

Signed at UNWTO headquarters in Madrid, the Memorandum furthers cooperation between UNWTO and Casa Arabe in common interest areas, including sustainable tourism and institutional capacity building aimed towards socioeconomic growth and poverty alleviation.