Mexico City (TAN): A travel company is designing eco-tourism experiences in 12 towns of Mexico.
From learning to make the pre-Hispanic beverage of pulque to eating insects in La Florida, Hidalgo, tourists can experience Mexican indigenous life in ways that are unusual and exciting.
Rutopia is enabling tourists to have unique and authentic experiences in indigenous communities, which in turn benefit financially from sharing their cultural and natural wealth.
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Irene Heras, Emiliano Iturriaga, Sebastián Muñoz and Diego Espinoza, the founders of Rutopia, wanted to show tourists a different Mexico that would be difficult to access on their own.
Their social enterprise, which they call Rutopia, arranges for trips to 12 different communities in six states.
Thus, foreigners and Mexicans can book immersive travel experiences of between one and five days in four different destinations in Hidalgo, four in Chiapas, and one in each of the states of Oaxaca, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Michoacán.
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In the 12 towns, people agreed to “share the incredible cultural and natural wealth of their communities with the world,” Espinoza told Newsweek México.
“We co-designed experiences that highlight local knowledge and cultural heritage,” Espinoza said.
He said 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the price visitors pay for these immersive travel experiences go to the hosts in the community while the rest covers Rutopía’s operational costs.
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