La paradoja del turismo de naturaleza en la Amazonia: entre la creación de valor empresarial y la erosión del capital natural

Parcival Peña Torres; Claritza Marlés Betancourt; Enriqueta Villanueva Montero

doi:10.58763/rc2026631

Authors

Parcival Peña Torres Universidad de la Amazonia. Florencia, Colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1656-7111
Claritza Marlés Betancourt Universidad de la Amazonia. Florencia, Colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1314-7517
Enriqueta Villanueva Montero Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Madrid, España https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2990-0883

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58763/rc2026631

Keywords:

biodiversity, ecotourism, environmental conservation, natural resources, sustainable development

Abstract

Introduction: Nature-based tourism has gained relevance in the Amazon as an alternative for diversifying local economies and promoting conservation; however, its expansion may generate pressures on the ecosystems that sustain the activity. This study analyzed this paradox through the relationship between value creation and natural capital. This framing addresses the coexistence of economic opportunities, community well-being, and ecological vulnerability across diverse Amazonian tourism contexts and territories. Methodology: A systematic integrative review was conducted using a mixed-methods sequential QUAN→QUAL design. The Scopus search covered the 2021–2025 period and produced a corpus of 59 documents. VOSviewer was used to examine scientific performance, collaboration among countries and organizations, conceptual structure, and thematic evolution. Subsequently, 18 articles were purposively selected for full-text qualitative analysis. Results: Scientific production showed growth, editorial dispersion, and more visible international collaboration than institutional articulation. The conceptual structure was organized around tourism, ecotourism, conservation, sustainability, geotourism, and environmental impacts. Qualitative analysis showed that natural capital supports multiple forms of economic, social, and cultural value, although its effects depend on governance mechanisms, benefit distribution, regulation, and reinvestment in conservation. Trajectories of synergy, compensation, tension, externalization, and erosion were identified. Overall, these patterns positioned socioecological governance as the mediating mechanism between tourism valorization and the persistence of natural systems. Conclusions: In conclusion, the paradox does not lie in nature-based tourism being intrinsically conservation-oriented or degrading, but in the conditions governing the transformation of ecological attributes into value. Sustainability requires ecological limits, effective participation, and mechanisms that link generated benefits to the conservation of the natural base.

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