In a world where travelers increasingly demand more than “do no harm,” Metropolitan Touring presents its second Sustainability Report. This document captures how regenerative tourism leaves positive, measurable, and lasting impacts on Ecuador’s destinations, communities, and ecosystems. From the Galápagos Islands to the cloud forests of the Andean Chocó, this report demonstrates that traveling well is not just possible: it is our business model.
What Is Regenerative Travel — And Why It Matters More Than “Sustainable”
Regenerative travel is a form of tourism that goes beyond reducing harm. Where sustainable travel aims to leave a place unchanged, regenerative travel actively restores it — strengthening ecosystems, improving community livelihoods, and creating measurable positive impact with every visit.
For most of its history, expedition travel was defined by access. Getting to Antarctica, the Galápagos, or the Andean cloud forest was the challenge. The assumption was that reaching the destination was the point.
That is no longer enough — and at Metropolitan Touring, it never really was. Since 1953, we have operated under a single conviction: travel should leave the world better than it found it. Our three expedition vessels and three boutique lodges don’t just work to minimize their footprint. They actively fund scientific research, support ecosystem conservation, and strengthen the communities that make every destination worth visiting.
This is the difference between sustainability and regeneration. Sustainability asks: Are we doing less damage? Regeneration asks: Are we leaving this place stronger than we found it?
This report — our second, aligned with the GRI Standards and guided by our RAÍCES values — documents what that looks like in practice throughout 2025.
Our Four Pillars of Regeneration
Our sustainability framework is built around four pillars: Education, Entrepreneurship, Ecosystem, and Equity. Travel sits within that framework, not above it. The voyage is the mechanism through which wider outcomes are funded and delivered.
Education: Knowledge as a Regenerative Force
Our On-board Education Program has brought 1,785 Galápagos students aboard to experience their islands up close — many for the first time. These aren’t field trips. They are structured encounters designed to build a generation of local conservation leaders who understand, on a visceral level, what they stand to protect.
Chicas con Agallas goes further still by introducing young Galápagos women to marine ecosystems, the scientific method, and leadership through practical field experiences. More than 1,700 students, suppliers, and community members participated in educational initiatives across 2025.
Entrepreneurship: Keeping Tourism Spending Local
Local economies are the backbone of regenerative travel. When tourism revenue leaves a destination, it extracts value from the very communities that give that place its character. We work deliberately to reverse that flow.
In 2025, 40% of food and provisioning purchases for our Galápagos operations were made locally — strengthening island supply chains and keeping spending within the archipelago’s economy. We also actively mentor local businesses, turning supplier relationships into genuine development partnerships.
Ecosystem: Conservation as a Core Business Function
In 2025, we measured and verified 15,287 tCO₂e across all our operations — certified by SGS under the INTE/ISO 14064-1:2019 standard. Every offset is transparent, measurable, and real.
Beyond carbon: we contributed US$85,000 to conservation projects across 2024 and 2025, participated in initiatives that removed thousands of discarded tires from the archipelago, achieved a 62% recycling rate across our vessel fleet, saw Finch Bay Hotel reach 39% solar energy, and reduced overall hotel emissions by more than 15%. More than 700,000 single-use plastic bottles have been avoided through refill stations across our operations.
Equity: The People Who Bring Destinations to Life Should Benefit Most From Them
Equity is structural, not aspirational. 89% of Finch Bay Hotel’s team are local Galápagos residents. 48% of Mashpi Lodge’s staff come from the surrounding communities of the Andean Chocó. Women represent 50% of our Executive Committee — because equitable leadership drives more equitable destinations.
These aren’t quotas. They are the natural result of building hiring, training, and promotion structures that actively remove barriers rather than just avoiding active discrimination.
Carbon Neutral Since 2017 — How our Regenerative Fee Works
Since 2017, Metropolitan Touring has applied a Carbon Neutral and Regenerative Fee to every journey. This fee does two things: it offsets the emissions generated by your trip, and it channels funds directly into the regeneration of the destinations where we operate.
In 2025, we measured and verified 15,287 tCO₂e across all operations — certified by SGS under the INTE/ISO 14064-1:2019 standard. This ensures every offset is traceable, auditable, and real — not a credit purchased on a distant ledger.
Our commitment goes beyond reducing impacts. We strive to ensure that every trip actively contributes to restoring nature and improving the wellbeing of local communities. The fee is not a surcharge. It is the mechanism that makes regenerative travel financially viable at scale.
Our Commitment to Property
Each of our properties operates within a specific social and ecological context. Their sustainability commitments reflect that specificity — not a single corporate policy applied uniformly, but four distinct expressions of the same regenerative conviction.
Metropolitan Touring — Agent of Change
We transform tourism into a force for good — creating shared value for travelers, communities, and the natural world with every journey. Our three expedition vessels and three boutique lodges are the platform through which every pillar of our regenerative strategy operates.
Casa Gangotena — A Good Neighbor of Quito’s Historic Center
We actively contribute to the social fabric of one of Latin America’s most significant urban heritage sites — supporting local businesses, cultural institutions, and community life in Quito’s Historic Center. Being a good neighbor means our presence makes the barrio stronger, not more expensive.
Mashpi Lodge — Promoter of Wellbeing in the Andean Chocó
We preserve the cloud forest while advancing the development of surrounding communities — proving that conservation and human prosperity are not in tension. 48% of Mashpi’s team comes from nearby communities. The lodge exists to serve the forest and the people who have always called it home.
Finch Bay Hotel & Expedition Fleet — Guardian of the Galápagos
We support the archipelago’s regeneration and share its grandeur with the world — ensuring that every expedition actively helps protect this irreplaceable ecosystem. 89% of Finch Bay’s team are residents. Every departure is also a conservation act.
What the Industry is Saying
Metropolitan Touring’s 2025 Sustainability Report was reviewed and featured by ExplorEarth, a leading independent platform covering the global expedition travel sector. Their analysis — published in June 2026 — identified Metropolitan Touring as a case study in a broader shift taking place across the expedition industry.
The sector is moving away from competing on where operators can take people, toward demonstrating what happens when the ship leaves. Are local communities benefiting? Are ecosystems healthier? Is scientific knowledge being advanced? These are the questions defining the next chapter of expedition travel — and Metropolitan Touring’s report offers one of the most detailed answers currently available in the industry.
The Galápagos has always been ahead of this curve. Long before sustainability became a talking point, the archipelago was already operating under strict visitor controls, carefully managed landing sites, and conservation-led tourism policies. What Metropolitan Touring’s 2025 report captures is what that model looks like when it matures — when conservation, community development, and scientific partnership become integrated into the business model, not appended to it.
The islands helped reshape scientific thinking in the nineteenth century. They became a model for conservation-led tourism in the twentieth century. They may now be helping to define what responsible expedition travel looks like in the twenty-first century.
