Primary motivations of tourists visiting Galápagos: do tourists visit the archipelago to learn about evolution?

Multiple anthropogenic stressors in the Galápagos Islands' complex social–ecological system: Interactions of marine pollution, fishing pressure, and climate change with management recommendations

“…Within the recent occupation by humans of Galápagos in the past 190 years (Andrade et al, 2010;Grenier, 2007;Hennessy & McCleary, 2011;Quiroga, 2009), the archipelago has been transformed, and the human population has proliferated as a direct consequence of tourism and migration (Celata & Sanna, 2012;Grenier, 2007;Hennessy & McCleary, 2011;Ospina, 2001;Walsh et al, 2010;Watkins, 2008). Tourism has increased by 37% from 2009 (163 000 tourists) to 2018 (276 000 tourists) with 180 000 to more than 200 000 tourists annually visiting the islands in the past decade (Galapagos Government Council, 2021; Mazur et al, 2018; UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2019).…”

“…Within the recent occupation by humans of Galápagos in the past 190 years (Andrade et al, 2010; Grenier, 2007; Hennessy & McCleary, 2011; Quiroga, 2009), the archipelago has been transformed, and the human population has proliferated as a direct consequence of tourism and migration (Celata & Sanna, 2012; Grenier, 2007; Hennessy & McCleary, 2011; Ospina, 2001; Walsh et al, 2010; Watkins, 2008). Tourism has increased by 37% from 2009 (163 000 tourists) to 2018 (276 000 tourists) with 180 000 to more than 200 000 tourists annually visiting the islands in the past decade (Galapagos Government Council, 2021; Mazur et al, 2018; UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2019). Partly to help serve that growing tourism industry, the total human population is increasing in the Galápagos' main populated islands (including Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, and Isabela; Figure 1), from 25 884 in 2010 to approximately ~33 000 inhabitants in 2020 (i.e., 21.7% increase), with a positive population growth rate averaging 5% per year since the early 1970s (Alava et al, 2014; Galapagos Government Council, 2021; Instituto Nacional de Censos y Estadísticas [INEC], 2022).…”

“…Direct consequences of this anthropogenic footprint are habitat alteration and destruction in a complex scenario of increased maritime traffic, unsustainable tourism, increasing energy demand and consumption, and growing amounts of imported food and goods with the risk of introducing invasive species (Galapagos Government Council, 2021; Grenier, 2007; Mazur et al, 2018; Ospina, 2001; UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2019). These human drivers and the constant impact of the continentalization of Galápagos (i.e., geographical openness and reduction in the degree of geographic isolation due to the continuous dependence on the flow of energy and fossil fuel, commodities, consumption patterns, internal mobilization, and population and tourism dynamics; see Alava et al, 2014; Galapagos Government Council, 2021) during the past decades have posed several anthropogenic stressors over the natural systems that have increased and reshaped the environmental conditions on the islands in a measurable way and have compromised the ability of the ecosystems to continue providing services where livelihoods depend on them.…”