A new award has just honored Peru: The Colca Canyon one of the best sustainable destination. This is the famous title of The 100 Best Sustainable Destinations of 2020, awarded on October 6 to the wonderful Colca Canyon, located in Arequipa, by the prestigious Green Destinations organization.
“The Colca Valley is a territory focused on the valorization of cultural identity and natural diversity. Since 1995, thanks to its beautiful landscape, the deep canyon and at the same time the habitat of the condor, tourism has been promoted in the valley”, mentions the travel guide of the aforementioned entity.
Arequipa shares a place on this list along with other exemplary destinations such as the Galapagos Islands (in Ecuador), the city of Kyoto (in Japan), the town of Vail (in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, in the United States) and the island of Saba , in the Caribbean (Netherlands).
The Autonomous Authority of Colca and Annexes (AUTOCOLCA) communicated its satisfaction with this international title achieved by this sensational tourist destination.
He also expressed his congratulations to the Collagua and Cabana populations for preserving the cultural manifestations of the area over the years.
Green Destinations is a non-profit foundation focused on the preservation of ecosystems in order to promote sustainable tourism throughout the world.
The Colca Canyon: A Dream Destination
If you are a lover of adventure and landscape, the Colca Canyon is the right place for your next vacation. An overflowing Andean vegetation surrounds one of the deepest canyons in the world: 4,160 m deep.
The selfies are accompanied by a beautiful mountainous landscape tinged with alpacas, vicuñas and Andean condors flying under a pure blue sky. The horizon seen from the vantage points is amazing: the planet breaks up into an underground channel below the fluffy clouds.
There are also hot springs; rivers and snow-capped mountains for the practice of canoeing, mountain climbing or trekking; and sighting areas of the condor and other animals such as the vizcacha or the puma.
As you can see, the Colca Canyon offers everything: peace and rest for inspired minds, as well as extreme activities for the most adventurous spirits.
Committed to the Planet
The objective of this certification is to highlight success stories and exchange good practices to make destinations sustainable and better, as well as to develop participatory tourism for local communities and travellers.
The Global Destination Leaders initiative invites regions and destinations that want to fully commit to sustainable tourism, as an opportunity to contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals of the United Nations Organization.
In that sense, there are plenty of reasons for the Colca Canyon to be distinguished by Global Green Destinations. However, there are high standards to access this award.
Among them, there are green values of sustainability such as being true and authentic (celebrating local traditions); be economically and biologically sustainable (generate business opportunities by protecting the tourist destination); be responsibly sociable (businessly involve the local community) and have a welcoming environment (ensuring public health, safety and environmental management).
How to Get?
From Lima, you can take a flight to Arequipa with an estimated travel time of 1 hour and a cost of 80 dollars. The other option is to go by bus, whose journey takes 14 hours for a ticket of approximately 100 soles. From the White City, you must take a transport to the town of Chivay. The trip takes about 3 and a half hours.