Aqua Expeditions Added to Travel+Leisure World's Best Awards Survey 2010

01/08/2010

Aqua Expeditions, Peru’s first five-star luxury cruise company that ventures through rarely seen areas of the Peruvian Amazon, has been added to the prestigious Travel+Leisure World’s Best Awards Survey for 2010.

Each year, readers of Travel+Leisure, the top travel magazine in the US, choose from among the world’s top hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines, airlines, travel companies and destinations, to determine the winners of the World’s Best Awards. This is the first year that Aqua Expeditions--which launched its flagship vessel, the M/V Aqua, on the Peruvian Amazon in 2008—will be included on the prestigious readers’ ballots.

Readers who cast votes in the readers’ poll at www.tlworldsbest.com through March 31, 2010, will also be entered to win a $10,000 dream trip to the destination of their choice. Results of the survey will be announced in the January 2011 issue of Travel+Leisure magazine.

Aqua Expeditions Appoints Juan Díaz Alván Community Outreach Manager
11/02/2009

Aqua Expeditions has a strong commitment to identifying and helping to meet the needs of local communities in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, where it operates its luxury vessel, the M/V Aqua. To underscore that commitment, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Francesco Galli-Zugaro recently appointed Juan Díaz Alván to the newly created position of Community Research Manager.
“I am delighted to welcome Mr. Díaz Alván into the Aqua Expeditions family,” Galli-Zugaro noted. “His very important role will be to help identify the specific needs of the communities in Pacaya Samiria, and to help us implement plans to provide meaningful assistance.”
Galli-Zugaro noted that this is just one part of an overall sustainability project that the company conducts in the areas of Amazonia where the M/V Aqua takes its passengers.
Mr. Díaz Alván is a biologist who specializes both in working with communities in protected areas, as well as in the study of Amazon birds. He will manage relationship-building between Aqua Expeditions and the local riverside communities, and will also work with the leadership of the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and other institutions related to tourism and environmental conservation in Amazonia. He is a graduate of Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP). 
 

Reaching Out to Fourteen Communities
11/02/2009

“One of our company’s key goals is to have a positive social impact on the some 14 Amazon communities that are touched by the M/V Aqua,” Galli-Zugaro explained. “We want that impact to include environmental conservation and protection of natural resources. That means we need to find environmentally friendly ways for these people to earn their livings.”
Mr. Díaz Alván will help in such areas as consulting regarding the manufacture of handicrafts; the importance of conserving key natural resources to support tourism; and the implementation of Community First Aid Centers. He will also coordinate assistance from the M/V Aqua’s paramedics, when certain health problems arise in the communities visited. In addition, he will implement specific environmental changes, including the use of garbage cans, especially for plastic items that might otherwise land in the river, and the collection of used batteries, which can seriously contaminate the water.
Aqua Expeditions is also a pioneer in establishing a Memorandum of Understanding, regarding cooperation with the chief of Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. This agreement also helps support conservation of natural resources among the communities in the buffer area near the reserve, along the Marañón, Ucayali, and Amazon rivers.