In the early 1980s, annual tourist numbers were around 41,000. Today, approximately 160,000 people visit the islands annually. This increase in traffic also supported a boom in the islands population, regularly increasing by 12% annually. These factors are having immense affect on the natural resources of the islands and threaten some of the already endangered species living on the island. Although monitored and nominally controlled by the Ecuadoran government, these demographic patterns may herald the destruction of the very place where modern humanity first became aware of the richness and complexity of the Earth's ecological systems.

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History and Analysis of Galapagos Tourism up to 1993 from American University