0190389316001.001.4000386
Ecuador Ministry of Tourism · Dual Travel Agency (tour operator + travel agency) · status Ratificado. Published in Ecuador's public tourism register — check it yourself.
About
A licensed Ecuadorian operator. Here are the numbers to check.
Anyone can call themselves a tour operator on the internet. Below is everything you need to verify that we are one — and everything about who actually runs it.
What Zielo Adventures is
Zielo Adventures is the inbound brand of AEQUATORIAN TOURING CÍA. LTDA., a travel agency incorporated in Cuenca, Ecuador on 15 February 2013 and registered with Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism. In Ecuador, the company trades as AQT Ecuador; Zielo is the name it works under with international travellers.
The name is a compound: Ziel, German for destination, and cielo, Spanish for sky. A destination company with an Andean sky over it.
The verifiable details
| Legal entity | AEQUATORIAN TOURING CÍA. LTDA. |
|---|---|
| Trading as | Zielo Adventures (international) · AQT Ecuador (Ecuador) |
| RUC (Ecuadorian tax ID) | 0190389316001 |
| Ministry of Tourism registry | 0190389316001.001.4000386 |
| Classification | Dual Travel Agency (tour operator + travel agency) — status: Ratificado |
| Incorporated | 15 February 2013 (13 years) |
| Legal representative | Edwin Roberto Cabrera Arias |
| Registered office | Río Upano 3-87 y Ayapungo, Totoracocha, Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador |
A Agencia de Viajes Dual licence is the classification that permits a company to both operate its own tours and act as a travel agency. It is issued by the state and it is checkable in Ecuador's public tourism register.
Roberto Cabrera
Founder & Operations Director, and the legal representative of the company since 2013. Licenciado in Tourism Management and Development from Universidad del Azuay. He is the person who signs off itineraries, and the person whose name is on the licence.
His publishable credentials, all documented:
- BA in Tourism Management & Development — Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, 2012. Licenciado en Gestión y Desarrollo Turístico — the Ecuadorian degree title.
- Human Trafficking from a Human Rights Approach (24 h) — International Organization for Migration (IOM/UN) with Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior, 2012. Training by the UN migration agency.
- Prevention of ESNNA in Tourism Travel — Ecuador Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), Zone 6, 2013. Child-protection certification for tourism operators.
- Instructor — Tourism Operations & Safety — Guardia Ciudadana de Cuenca (municipal police), 2013.
- TourCert International Certification (40 h) — Ecuador Ministry of Tourism, 2017. Sustainability in tourism.
Why an immigration background matters for a tour company
AQT Ecuador did not start as a tour operator. For more than a decade its main work has been visa and consular documentation — preparing Ecuadorians' applications for embassies and consulates, and handling the records requests and appeals that follow a refusal.
That is an unusual background for an inbound operator, and it shows up in exactly one place: the paperwork. Entry requirements, transit permits, insurance conditions, the customs form introduced in 2025 — the parts of a trip most operators wave away are the parts this company was built on. It is why our entry-requirements guide exists and why it is more careful than the industry norm.
About reviews, stated honestly
We are not going to invent testimonials
Zielo Adventures is a new brand and it does not yet have its own review history. What it has is a parent company with 4.9 stars from 71 Google reviews under the name AQT Ecuador — most of them from Ecuadorian clients of the visa side of the business, not from international travellers. You can read them here.
We are telling you that rather than repackaging them as tour reviews, because a company whose whole pitch is straight answers does not get to start with a misleading one. The Zielo reviews will accumulate from real travellers, and when they do we will publish them with names attached.
Where we are
Río Upano 3-87 y Ayapungo, Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca sits at 2,548 m in the southern Andes, is a UNESCO World Heritage city, and is consistently among the safest places in the country. It is four hours from Quito's circuit, which is why we know the southern highlands better than operators based in the capital do.
Mon–Fri 9:00–13:00 / 15:00–19:00 · Sat 9:00–13:00 (ECT, UTC−5)
Credentials you can check
Sustainability
TourCert international certification in sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibility, held since 2017 through Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism.
Association
Member of ACTUAL — Asociación para la Cultura y el Turismo en América Latina, the association for culture and tourism across Latin America.
MINTUR ESNNA certification on the prevention of the commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism, plus IOM/UN training in human trafficking prevention — held by our founder since 2012.
AEQUATORIAN TOURING CÍA. LTDA.
RUC 0190389316001 · incorporated 15 February 2013 ·
13 years operating from Cuenca.
Ask us anything, including the awkward questions.
Licence details, who runs your ground transport, what happens if a flight cancels. We would rather answer now.
Talk to usStraight answers
About the company
Is Zielo Adventures a real company or a brand name?
Both, and the distinction matters. Zielo Adventures is the inbound brand of AEQUATORIAN TOURING CÍA. LTDA., RUC 0190389316001, a travel agency registered with Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism and incorporated on 15 February 2013. The licence, the insurance and the legal responsibility sit with that company.
Where are you based?
Cuenca, in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. Not Quito, and not abroad. It means we are in the same time zone as your trip and a domestic flight from the coast, the Amazon and the Galápagos connections.
Who actually plans my trip?
Roberto Cabrera signs off every itinerary that leaves the office. He holds a BA in Tourism Management from Universidad del Azuay and certifications from the Ministry of Tourism and the UN's migration agency, all listed on this page.
Why does a tour operator talk so much about visas and paperwork?
Because our parent company has spent thirteen years doing consular documentation for Ecuadorians travelling abroad. It is an unusual background for a tour operator, and it is why our published guidance on entry rules and fees is more detailed than the industry norm.
