Within this framework, tourist routes are strategic tools to organize and showcase rural offerings. A well-conceived route connects productive and cultural landmarks—from nurseries, demonstration plots, and processing facilities to community museums, markets, traditional kitchens, and scenic viewpoints—under a common narrative and shared service standards. Beyond facilitating commercialization and marketing, routes function as laboratories for territorial innovation: they make it possible to measure flows, optimize logistics, introduce reservations and combined tickets, build collective brands, and distribute benefits among multiple stakeholders. TSTT’s new lead will promote methodologies for participatory diagnostics, experience design, training in hospitality and safety, and governance support to ensure routes are sustainable and competitive over time.
In Latin America, cacao and coffee—agricultural emblems with deep roots in the region and beyond—offer vast tourism potential. Their value chain—from cultivation and harvest to processing and the production of derivatives—provides multiple “experience moments” that can be transformed into tourism products: interpretive walks through cacao and coffee plantations, workshops, hands-on activities, pairings with local foods, fair-trade sales at the farm gate, and harvest festivals that open the calendar to national and international visitors. Integrating these components into professionalized agrotourism programs not only diversifies income for small and medium-sized producers; it also raises traveler awareness of the importance of conserving soils, protecting watersheds, preserving heirloom varieties, and paying prices that recognize rural labor.
“With the addition of Viviana Carvajal, TSTT takes a decisive step toward transforming the agricultural richness of our territories into high-value experiences that respect nature, dignify farm work, and offer travelers memorable learning,” stated the leadership of the Tourism and Society Think Tank. “Her experience in Mexico and in community-focused projects will be key to accelerating processes, consolidating partnerships, and scaling best practices,” they added.
For her part, Carvajal stated that her priority will be “co-creating with communities and producers proposals that unite sustainability, identity, and market,” and she emphasized that the design of routes and programs will be grounded in data, quality standards, and the measurement of social and environmental impact. “The goal is for visitors to contribute to local development while discovering the origin of the chocolate they love or the story behind their favorite coffee,” she stressed.
The work plan she will lead includes: identifying pilot destinations with agricultural vocation; mapping stakeholders and cultural assets; strengthening capacities in hospitality, safety, and interpretation; designing modular products for different segments (families, schools, specialists, cruise passengers, and independent travelers); pricing models that ensure fair remuneration for producers; and an omnichannel commercialization scheme that enhances online bookings, agreements with tour operators, and visibility campaigns with a territorial storytelling approach. TSTT will support this with collaborative governance tools and indicators that measure benefit distribution, job creation, increased in-destination spending, and resource conservation.
With this appointment, the Tourism and Society Think Tank reaffirms its commitment to connecting tourism, agricultural production, and community well-being, and to positioning agrotourism—with cacao, coffee, oil, and other emblematic crops—as a true driver of sustainable development, inclusion, and local pride.
