Environmental education at San Martín canton Baños Ecozoo to promote ecotourism and conservation of wildlife species

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to give the visitor a unique experience, in a special tour inside the facilities of the San Martín Ecozoological and certain cubiles selected by the guides, using attached tools that provide necessary information, making known the reality of the rescue centers for the care of wildlife species. In accordance with the objectives set, a tourism diagnosis of the Ecozoologico was carried out, which allowed obtaining information about the tourist facilities, physical support, supply and demand of the place, opening the way to continue with the implementation of tools for Environmental Education that raised awareness of the Ecozoologico tourists in the conservation of wildlife species, an environmental interpretation center was built and adapted to provide visual information for the visitor, also an informative script was restructured, turning it into a training manual for the guides who work at this site.  Once the preparation of the program was completed, we began to make the tour a reality, randomly selecting the visitors that arrived at the Ecozoological and confirming that the program would effectively transmit environmental awareness to the tourist,  The visitors participating in the Environmental Education Program were evaluated with two question tests, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the tour, to determine the level of knowledge acquired during their visit to the San Martín Ecozoological San Martín in Baños, province of Tungurahua-Ecuador.