Maria Luisa is a Phd Candidate in Social Sciences with a Specialization in Andean Studies from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in Ecuador.
She's now conducting a research on the relationship of development, cultural policies, heritage and tourism in the transnational project about Qhapaq Nan - Main Andean Road, recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO last year.
She has a strong background in Sustainable Tourism Management an Local Development, and published different books and articles on this topics. She also holds two Masters in Business Administration and in Leisure Management from the Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña, Spain and a specialization in Sustainable Tourism from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. During the last years, she was a teacher and a researcher at the University of La Molina (Lima, Peru), FLACSO (Ecuador), the National University of Lujan (Argentina), and the Superior School of Local Government of Iberamerican Union of Municipalities (Granada, Spain). She also worked as project consultant on responsible tourism for CARE International, Ecuador, AECID-ADPM, Manabi-Ecuador, as network manager of local entrepreneurs in Argentina (RTR Global-Generacion PAR) and Peru (Swisscontact), and as a Tourism Specialist in Peru for Exterior Commerce and Tourism Ministry (MINCETUR) - AECID.