Archaeological Tourism in Pacto-Pichincha Based in a Tourist Educational Proposal

Pichincha province is a source of archaeological wealth. Data from the Metropolitan Institute of Heritage shows that the province has about a thousand sites discovered and to be studied. Several of these sites are located in private properties, which causes difficulties in the research process due to the issue of permits and in some cases due to the theft and destruction of pieces. For this reason, the present work aims to encourage archaeological tourism in this area as well as its sustainability. This research develops the topic: Archaeological Tourism in Pacto-Pichincha province, which is characterized by the study of the archaeological elements of a destination to publicize its history and maintain its sustainable development supported with tourist educational proposals. For this reason, the following tourist route is a way to promote and rescue the different archaeological sites of the province, both public and private. Specifically, we chose the northwestern area of the province because it is an area in which private property and ignorance of the inhabitants have left several vestiges and archaeological sites have disappeared or are about to disappear. Therefore, the main motivation is to make known the history and encourage owners to preserve these vestiges, so that they can develop new sources of income through archaeological tourism in their properties.