If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to present an institutional model of decentralized administration as a response to the challenge of the management of the development of sustainable tourism in the Amazon region of Peru. Design/methodology/approach -The paper provides an overview of the geography of Peru delineating the Amazon region and highlighting its importance as the most bio-diverse region in the world. The paper then outlines the protected area approach to the matter of bio-diversity protection, as employed by the government of Peru and then discusses the centrality of sustainable tourism to this effort. Finally, the paper offers a unique institutional model of the management entities as the administrative innovation of Peru for the management of sustainable tourism in the Amazon region. Findings -The management entity model is presented as an administrative experiment in response to the particular political management structures obtaining in Peru. The management entity seeks to harmonize efforts and inputs of actors from a plurality of sectors across the spectrum of political administration. Practical implications -Although focusing particularly on a made-for-Peru institutional model, this research has relevance to all tourism administrators in the Amazon region, as it stresses the principle of inclusivity in the management and direction of regional tourism programmes. Originality/value -Both from the standpoint of tourism scholarship and from the perspective of tourism administration and management this paper is of immense value and interest across the entire tourism management spectrum in the Amazon.