José Koechlin, founder of Inkaterra, has been nominated as World’s Leading Sustainability Leader 2026 by the World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards, an international recognition honoring the pioneers who have made a significant impact on the sustainable transformation of travel and hospitality.

The nomination recognizes a career spanning more than five decades dedicated to demonstrating that tourism can be a powerful tool for conservation. Since founding Inkaterra in 1975, José Koechlin has pioneered a model that integrates ecotourism, scientific research, biodiversity conservation, and the development of local communities, through projects in some of Peru’s most extraordinary ecosystems.

International voting will remain open until October 21, 2026, and the winners will be announced on December 9 in Paris, during the World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards gala.

We invite you to vote for José Koechlin and celebrate his more than 50 years dedicated to conservation through ecotourism. To cast your vote, please register at the following link.

Inkaterra is proud to present Birds of Machu Picchu: The Cloud Forest Restored by Inkaterra, a new publication celebrating its 50th anniversary as a pioneer of regenerative tourism in Peru.

In this deluxe edition, photographer Steve Sánchez captures stunning images of several of the 321 bird species recorded at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, according to eBird.org (Cornell University). Iconic birds such as the Andean cock-of-the-rock, Andean motmot, and golden-headed quetzal, along with a remarkable variety of tanagers and hummingbirds, take center stage in a visual journey through one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots.

Birds of Machu Picchu is a visual testament to the ecological restoration undertaken by Inkaterra over more than five decades, which has helped restore habitats for numerous species of flora and fauna. Through its pages, Machu Picchu emerges not only as one of the world’s great cultural wonders, but also as an extraordinary natural heritage site.

The book includes an introduction by José Koechlin, founder of Inkaterra, reflecting on this work of restoration and conservation, and on birds as an expression of the renewed vitality of the forest. “Through these images, we seek to share the beauty of the ecosystem we have restored at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel over the past fifty years, while renewing our commitment to protecting it for future generations,” he said.

More than a record of species, the book captures extraordinary moments of life in the forest. The photographs reveal behaviors, colors, movements, and interactions that are often difficult to observe with the naked eye, portraying birds in intimate connection with the natural environment that sustains them. The result is a vivid portrait of the cloud forest and the diversity that thrives within this natural sanctuary.

With texts in English and Spanish, Birds of Machu Picchu invites readers to rediscover one of the planet’s most iconic destinations through its natural heritage and to contemplate, page after page, the extraordinary splendor of its birdlife.

Birds of Machu Picchu: The Cloud Forest Restored by Inkaterra is now available at Inkaterra shops. To purchase a copy, please contact us at books@inkaterra.com.

Inkaterra designed the Peru Pavilion for the 5th Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) in Hangzhou, creating a space that presented Chinese audiences with a contemporary vision of Peru, where biodiversity, culture, tradition, and innovation come together as part of a shared national identity.

Held from September 23 to 27 in Hangzhou, one of China’s leading technology hubs, the Global Digital Trade Expo is China’s only national-level international professional exhibition dedicated specifically to digital trade. Its fifth edition brought together 2,008 exhibitors and more than 50,000 professional buyers, with participants from 163 countries and regions, and welcomed a record 428,000 visitors. Artificial intelligence, e-commerce, augmented reality, smart mobility, and emerging technologies were among the major highlights of an event conceived as a platform connecting innovation, investment, and international trade.

Within this global setting, the Peru Pavilion, organized by CANATUR in partnership with SAGEUS, brought together Inkaterra, Sol Alpaca–Michell Group, and LATAM Airlines, representing three fundamental pillars for promoting Peru internationally: its extraordinary natural heritage, the richness of its textile tradition, and growing connectivity between Latin America and the Chinese market.

Peru’s biodiversity was at the heart of the experience. Rokid, a Hangzhou-based technology company and a leader in the development of augmented reality (AR) glasses, created an immersive experience especially for the Peru Pavilion, showcasing the biodiversity that Inkaterra protects across its destinations. Through AR glasses, visitors were able to discover iconic Peruvian species and ecosystems in an innovative way, bringing part of the experience of exploring Inkaterra’s forests into the digital realm.

The experience was complemented by a Sol Alpaca space, highlighting the quality, creativity, and heritage of Peruvian textiles through one of the country’s most emblematic natural fibers, as well as the presence of LATAM Airlines, which focused on promoting connectivity as an essential means of bringing Peru closer to the Asian market and facilitating new flows of tourism and exchange.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Peru to China, Carlos Raúl Vásquez Corrales, and José Koechlin, President of CANATUR and founder of Inkaterra, together with representatives of the participating companies.

The Peru Pavilion offered a different perspective on the country: a megadiverse nation with a millennia-old culture that is finding new ways to share its heritage with the world through technology. Peru’s participation in Hangzhou also opens new opportunities to strengthen tourism, cultural, and commercial ties between Peru and China, positioning biodiversity, textiles, and connectivity as platforms for an increasingly close relationship between the two countries.

Inkaterra and the National Tea Museum of China, based in Hangzhou, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at strengthening cooperation and cultural exchange between Peru and China through a shared millennia-old tradition: tea cultivation and culture.

The agreement was signed during the opening of the Peru Pavilion at the Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) in Hangzhou, as part of a tea ceremony attended by representatives of both institutions. The agreement opens new opportunities for collaboration in research, cultural outreach, and the promotion of tea as a means of bringing the two countries closer together.

As part of this initiative, José Koechlin, founder and President of Inkaterra, visited the National Tea Museum of China, where he explored the origins of Camellia sinensis, its evolution, and the important role the plant has played throughout centuries of Chinese history and tradition.

During his visit, José Koechlin also toured the section dedicated to tea’s influence around the world, illustrating how a tradition that originated in China transcended borders to become part of cultures across the globe. In this context, he donated a sample of the organic tea grown at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, in the Machu Picchu cloud forest, as a symbol of the encounter between Chinese traditions and Peru’s biodiversity.

Inkaterra tea has received five distinctions at the Teas of the World Awards in Paris, including a Gold Medal in 2023, as well as two Silver Medals in 2024 for its black and green tea varieties. Grown amid the extraordinary biodiversity of the Peruvian Andes’ cloud forest, Inkaterra’s organic tea also represents an experience in conservation and sustainable production closely connected to Machu Picchu’s cultural and natural landscape.

Through the agreement with the National Tea Museum of China, Inkaterra seeks to establish tea as a cultural bridge between Peru and China, connecting two geographies and millennia-old traditions through knowledge, biodiversity, and the exchange of experiences.

The initiative will also explore the potential of sustainable tea cultivation as a means of generating economic opportunities and strengthening the capacities of local communities, integrating conservation, responsible production, and sustainable development.