The new Transforma Program aims to promote the Route of Parks as a key destination for nature and conservation, fostering the sustainable development of 60 local communities over the next 10 years.
The “Route of Parks of Patagonia, a Global Destination for Nature and Conservation” initiative launched by Chile’s Economic Development Agency (CORFO) aims to prepare, enhance, and coordinate a sustainable tourism offering in the southern part of Chile, in addition to enabling infrastructure to connect the 17 national parks located in the regions of Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes.
«This program highlights one of our main attractions, which are the national parks. More than 56% of foreign visitors to Chile come to see the country’s nature, so this route is one of the flagship products that speaks volumes about the type of tourism we want to develop for the future of our country—sustainable tourism that becomes a real tool for conservation,» said Cristóbal Benítez, National Director of Chile’s National Tourism Service (Sernatur).
The presentation of the roadmap for the initiative took place at Parque Nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins, with the participation of public, private, academic, and community stakeholders.
Its main goals includes developing entrepreneurial and management skills in the tourism and conservation sectors.
«This initiative reflects CORFO’s work and spirit, which drives productive and territorial development with a sustainability outlook, focusing on the needs and decisions of Chile’s regions based on their individual characteristics, and with public-private collaboration that requires community participation and the benefits of the projects being developed in their territories,» said CORFO’s Strategic Affairs Manager, Hugo Arias.
Other key cornerstones of the roadmap are accessibility, transportation, enabling infrastructure, and improving digital connectivity, including the creation of a manual for sustainable design and construction based on scenic route standards, in addition to enhancing digital connectivity in protected areas and nearby communities.
The implementation of this program aims to consolidate the economic development generated by the Route of Parks of Patagonia, a region that will host a new edition of the Adventure Travel World Summit in 2025, organized by the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA). This is the world’s most important adventure tourism summit, and it will be held from October 13-16, 2025 in Puerto Natales, Magallanes Region.
«Our goal is to transform the route into a global tourism destination as a result of conservation. We believe that Chile has all the credentials, the ingredients, and the passion to promote a region where tourism activities serve as a response to care, conservation, renaturalization of biodiversity, and our territories, valuing the identity of these areas,» said the president of the program, Raffaele Di Biase.
This strategic regional initiative forms part of the Transforma Programs, implemented by CORFO, which aim to improve Chile’s economic competitiveness through strengthening human capital, innovation, and sustainability.
In September 2014, what was then known as Fundación Yendegaia (now Rewilding Chile) presented the concept of the Route of Parks of Patagonia to the Government of Chile, a territorial vision that uses conservation as a driver of development.
«This territorial vision of the route places national parks at the center of conservation, but also at the center of local development. If we invest in national parks, they become engines for local economies and surrounding communities, as well as for Chile as a whole and on an international level. It’s a new form of development, an invitation to grow alongside nature,» said Carolina Morgado, Executive Director of Fundación Rewilding Chile, an organization that forms part of the legacy of Douglas Tompkins and the governance of the program.
In October 2015, Tompkins formally presented this route at the first Adventure Travel World Summit held in Chile, in the city of Puerto Varas. In January 2018, the decrees were signed to formalize the largest land donation ever made by a private entity to a state worldwide.
With this donation, along with the contribution from the State, which included public lands and the reclassification of national reserves to create five new national parks, the Route of Parks of Patagonia was brought to life: 11.8 million hectares protected in 17 national parks.