DOCSLIB.ORG

Costa Rica: on the Beaten Path

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Costa Rica: on the Beaten Path Chapter 5 Costa Rica: On the Beaten Path Costa Rica is ecotourism's poster child. Since the mid-1980s, this tiny Central American country has been transformed from a staging ground for the covert U.S. war against Nicaragua and a testing ground for USAID'S free-trade and privatization policies1 into a laboratory for "green" tourism. More than any other event, President Oscar Arias Sanchez's 1987 receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize propelled Costa Rica onto the world stage, secur- ing its image as a peaceful country and marking the start of the ecotourism boom. In the 1990s, Costa Rica jumped in popularity to the head of the ecotourism queue, ahead of older nature travel destinations such as the Gallipagos Islands, Kenya, and Nepal. In 1992, the U.S. Adventure Travel Society dubbed Costa Rica the "number one ecotourism destination in the world," and a survey conducted by Costa Rica's government showed that most tourists were entering Costa Rica for ecotourism-related reason^.^ Ecotourism projects run a wide gamut in Costa Rica. Whereas many developing countries have only a handful of really fine ecotourism experi- ments, Costa Rica offers a cornucopia of choices, ranging from rustic to lux- urious, from counterculture to indigenous culture, from spiritual to scien- tific, from purely Costa Rican to undeniably North American or European to eclectic, cross-cultural blends. The best of these ecolodges, totaling sev- enty-nine in 1997, are listed at the beginning of a tourism guidebook titled The New Key to Costa Ri~a.~This annual survey, begun as a pilot project in 19934 and perfected by researchers Anne Becher and Jane Segleau with the assistance of many of Costa Rica's leading ecotourism experts, was the world's first thorough, impartial assessment of nature tour destinations and ecolodges. It provides ecotourists with critical guidelines and gives the industry itself benchmarks for evaluating hotels and lodges. It seems that every traveler from the United States who is interested in nature is heading for, or has already been to, Costa Rica. What they find is both a rich and a rough-hewn ecotourism tapestry, an industry fill of creativity and experimentation as well as crass opportunism, marketing ploys, and downright scams. Costa Rica's ecotourism panorama is marked by both contradictions and potential. Although the country is marketed as an ecotourism haven, investment policies have favored large, foreign mass 132 Part 11. Nation Studies Chapter 5. Costa Rica: On the Beaten Path 133 tourism developments. Despite Costa Rica's international reputation, Tahle 5.1. Costa Rica's Tourism Growth ecotourism has so far only partially fulfilled its twin objectives of providing significant resources for national conservation efforts and benefiting local 1976 1982 1984 1986 1989 1990 1992 1994 1995 1996 communities. Arrivals 299 372 274 261 376 435 611 761 792 555 Costa Rica's natural wonders, encapsulated in the statistic that the coun- (in thousands) try contains 5 percent of the world's biodiversity within just 0.035 percent Gross receipts 57 131 117 133 207 275 431 626 718 654 of the earth's surface, were once a well-kept secret. When my family and I (in millions of first moved to Costa Rica, in the early 1980s, the country was not yet on the U.S. dollars) radar screen of most U.S. travel agencies and tour operators. In Costa Rica Source: Statistics are from the Costa Rican Tourist Board's Department of Statistics and itself, environmentalism was confined to a small cadre of scientists and Investigations, supplied by Anne Becher; Elizabeth Boo, Ecotourism: Potentials and national park offices. When we left, a decade later, ecotourism and environ- Pitfalls, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund, 1990), p. 26; the World Tourism mental ethics had become part of Costa Rica's national consciousness. Organization; the Economist Intelligence Unit; and various articles in the Tico Times. "Ecotourism has helped create the self-image of Costa Ricans. It's now their Note: Figures include international tourist arrivals via land, sea, and air. self-identity," says writer and activist Cliris Wille, who together with Diane Jukofs'sky heads the Rainforest Alliance's office in San Jost. "That's tremen- ganizing and beefing up funding (in part through hotel and airfare taxes) for dously important. There's a lexicon of environmentalism here, right up to the country's tourism board, the Costa Rican Tourist Board (ICT). The the president." - ICT's operating budget came from a 3 percent hotel room tax and an 8 per- Costa Rica has the right stuff, the proper building blocks, for ecotour- cent airline ticket tax.5 ism. As is the case in many developing countries, Costa Rica's ecotourism Beginning in the mid-1980s, the visitor pattern began to shift: the num- industry is built on its national park system. Here, however, it is comple- ber of tourists from North America and Europe grew while both the per- mented by other ingredients lacking in many developing countries: its well- centage of domestic tourism and the number of visitors from other Central functioning democracy, its political stability, the abolition of its army, its American countries declined. Investment patterns also changed. In the respect for human rights, and its (generally) welcoming attitude toward for- 1980s, assistance from USAID, the World Bank, and the International eigners, particularly the ~rzngovariety. Costa Rica has one of the highest Monetary Fund (IMF) mushroomed and helped engineer the shift toward standards of living, the largest middle class, the best public health care sys- overseas, particularly U.S., investment. This flow of dollars came with strings tem, the best public education through the university level, and the highest attached, including the requirement that Costa Rica quietly support the '4 literacy rate in Latin America. The country has produced an outstanding U.S. war against Nicaragua and adhere to wide-ranging structural adjust- coterie of scientists and conservationists. More than a hundred local and ment policies such as privatization of government businesses and industries, international environmental NGOs have branches in the country. Costa Rica promotion of exports and foreign investment, and cutting of funds for is physically compact and easy to get around in, with paved roads, tele- national parks, the ICT, and other public instit~tions.~Tourism was classi- phones, electricity, and a pleasant climate, and it is just a few hours' flight fied as an export industry because it earned foreign exchange. from the United States. In 1984, the government of Costa Rica passed legislation to provide investment incentives for hotels, air and sea transportation companies, car - ~overhrpentPolicy and the Private Sector rental agencies, and travel agencies. Most of the shares of LACSA, Costa Rica's national airline since the mid-1940s, were gradually sold to Japanese In the 1960s and 1970s, many tourist resorts, clubs, and parks were devel- and Salvadoran investors, and the government's share shrank to a mere 3 oped by Costa Rican entrepreneurs especially for the country's middle and percent. With passage of the Tourism Development Incentives Law in 1985, upper classes. Domestic tourism (as in socialist Cuba) was substantial, and tourism projects became eligible for ICT-administered incentives and tax most foreign tourists were from other Central American countries. By 1980, breaks. These included exemptions from property taxes and from import tourism was the country's third largest foreign exchange earner (see table duties for construction and remodeling materials and vehicles such as vans 5.1 for Costa Rica's overall growth in tourism since 1976). In the 1980s, and cars, fishing and pleasure boats, jet skis, dune buggies, and golf carts.7 the government began for the first time to invest seriously in tourism, reor- To qualify, however, facilities needed to have more than twenty rooms and 134 Part 11. Nation Studies Chapter 5. Costa Rica: On the Beaten Path 135 had to conform to strict standards on use of space and furnishings. "These variety of incentives to tourism investors, and launched a $15 million pub- restrictions often preclude local people from qualifiing for incentives," licity campaign to attract U.S. and Canadian ecotravelers. Some tighter reg- wrote Carole Hill, a professor of anthropology and geography, in 1990.8 In ulations were also instituted. A new Basic Environment Law, unanimously 1996, the government passed a new tourism incentive law providing hotel passed by the Legislative Assembly in September 1995, makes environmen- developers, car rental agencies, and tour operators with a twelve-year mora- tal impact studies mandatory for all tourism projects and other development y torium on tares in return for investments in new tourism projects. Between projects. Figueres promoted legislation to give incentives to investors and to 1985 and 1995, the number of hotel rooms nearly tripled, growing from improve roads, ports, airports, and street signs, all of which primarily bene- 4,866 to some 12,000.9 Although the ICT must approve all hotel con- fit large, foreign-owned tourism projects. struction, environmental impact studies were not required until 1995, when a new environmental law required such studies. In 1987, the ICT kicked off a campaign to attract foreign investment in Papaga~o luxury tourism resorts, and ICT officials later signed a tourism incentives Despite his environmental agenda, Figueres decided in mid-1995 to give a agreement with CINDE (Coalition for Development Initiatives, subse- green light to Papagayo, a $3 billion megaresort project-the largest in - quently renamed Costa Rican Investment and Trade Development Board), Central America. Papagayo is set to become Costa Rica's Cancun: a giant an institute created and financed by USAID for the purpose of bringing in conventional resort complex on seventeen beaches strung around the Gulf overseas investment.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ecotourism As a Development Strategy: Experiences from Costa Rica
    Environ Dev Sustain (2009) 11:1225–1237 DOI 10.1007/s10668-009-9214-3 Ecotourism as a development strategy: experiences from Costa Rica Jacobus Franciscus Koens • Carel Dieperink • Miriam Miranda Received: 15 August 2005 / Accepted: 3 January 2006 / Published online: 8 October 2009 Ó The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract This article reflects on the Costa Rican experiences with ecotourism by assessing the positive and negative environmental, economic and social impacts of eco- tourism development at four tourist destinations—Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, Tortuguero and ASCOMAFOR. These destinations represent different stages of tourism development. The assessment shows that the development of ecotourism has a dilemma character. Compared to alternative land-use options, ecotourism remains a promising development strategy. However, it should be embedded in a broader process of capacity building. Keywords Costa Rica Á Development strategy Á Ecotourism Á Impact assessment Á Sustainable tourism 1 Ecotourism: potentials and pitfalls Since the mid-1980s, Costa Rica has been very successful in attracting tourists. Annually, more than one million tourists visit the country, and the tourism industry has an annual turnover of over 1,200 million dollars (ICT 2002). The country has especially much to offer to nature enthusiasts. Ecotourism is the leading concept in the country’s development Readers should send their comments on this paper to [email protected] within 3 months of publication of this issue. J. F. Koens Á C. Dieperink (&) Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Chair of Environmental Studies and Policy, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] J.
    [Show full text]
  • Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica
    Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica Geoffrey Jones Andrew Spadafora Working Paper 16-136 Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica Geoffrey Jones Harvard Business School Andrew Spadafora Harvard Business School Working Paper 16-136 Copyright © 2016 by Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora ABSTRACT Between the 1970s and the 2000s Costa Rica became established as the world’s leading ecotourism destination. This working paper suggests that although Costa Rica benefited from biodiversity and a pleasant climate, the country’s preeminence in ecotourism requires more than a natural resource endowment explanation. The paper argues that the ecotourism industry was a co-creation of the public, private, and tertiary sectors. While the role of the government and conservation NGOs is acknowledged in the existing literature, this study draws attention to the critical role of small entrepreneurs. Making extensive use of oral history, the working paper demonstrates the role of tour companies in drawing affluent Western ecotourists to the country, and of the creators of ecolodges and other forms of accommodation in providing them with somewhere to stay. These entrepreneurs, many of them expatriate Americans, helped ensure that formally protected areas remained sustainable parks and reserves, by providing revenues, education in conservation to tourists, and community development and jobs.
    [Show full text]
  • SOUTHERN COSTA RICA 367 Parque Internacional La Amistad Reserva Indígena Boruca Cerro Chirripó Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary Los Quetzales Parque Nacional
    © Lonely Planet Publications 366 lonelyplanet.com 367 SOUTHERN COSTA RICA Southern Costa Rica In southern Costa Rica, the Cordillera de Talamanca descends dramatically into agricultural lowlands that are carpeted with sprawling plantations of coffee beans, bananas and Afri- can palms. Here, campesinos (farmers) work their familial lands, maintaining an agricultural tradition that has been passed on through the generations. While the rest of Costa Rica adapts to the recent onslaught of package tourism and soaring foreign investment, life in the southern zone remains constant, much as it has for centuries. In a country where little pre-Columbian influence remains, southern Costa Rica is where you’ll find the most pronounced indigenous presence. Largely confined to private reservations, the region is home to large populations of Bribrí, Cabécar and Boruca, who are largely succeed- ing in maintaining their traditions while the rest of the country races toward globalization. Costa Rica’s well-trodden gringo trail seems to have bypassed the southern zone, though this isn’t to say that the region doesn’t have any tourist appeal. On the contrary, southern Costa Rica is home to the country’s single largest swath of protected land, namely Parque Internacional La Amistad. Virtually unexplored, this national park extends across the border into Panama and is one of Central America’s last true wilderness areas. And while Monteverde is the country’s most iconic cloud forest, southern Costa Rica offers many equally enticing opportunities to explore this mystical habitat. If you harbor any hope of spotting the elusive resplendent quetzal, you can start by looking in the cloud forest in Parque Nacional Los Quetzales.
    [Show full text]
  • Coastal and Marine Tourism in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua
    Coastal and Marine Tourism in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua Prepared by: Erick Vargas, M.Sc. Santa Ana, Costa Rica On behalf of: Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development A Nonprofit Research Organization Stanford University and Washington, DC Prepared for: Marine Program World Wildlife Fund Washington, DC November 2007 Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Panama: Coastal Tourism Trends TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 5 1. TRENDS IN COASTAL AND MARINE TOURISM IN THE AREA OF STUDY ......................... 5 1.1 COASTAL DEVELOPMENT MODELS ............................................................................................ 8 1.3 ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.......................................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Regulations ................................................................................................................ 15 1.3.2 Judiciary System ....................................................................................................... 16 1.3.3 Land use planning ..................................................................................................... 16 1.3.4 Environmental impact ............................................................................................... 17 1.3.5 Infrastructure development ...................................................................................... 18 1.3.6 Incentives & subsidies
    [Show full text]
  • The Life and Adventures in California of Don Agustín Janssens, 1834-1856
    The life and adventures in California of Don Agustín Janssens, 1834-1856. Edited by William H. Ellison and Francis Price. Translated by Francis Price Huntington Library Publications The LIFE AND ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA of DON AGUSTíN JANSSENS 1834-1856 Edited by WILLIAM H. ELLISON and FRANCIS PRICE The Huntington Library SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA 1953 COPYRIGHT 1953 BY HENRY E. HUNTINGTON LIBRARY & ART GALLERY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD The life and adventures in California of Don Agustín Janssens, 1834-1856. Edited by William H. Ellison and Francis Price. Translated by Francis Price http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.172 NUMBER 53-12526 PRINTED IN U.S.A. BY ANDERSON, RITCHIE & SIMON: LOS ANGELES DESIGN BY JOSEPH SIMON v CONTENTS PAGE Preface vii Victor Eugene August Janssens, 1878, Statement by Thomas Savage xi I.Early Life of Agustín Janssens 3 II.The Híjar and Padrés California Expedition of 1834 10 III.The Expedition's Reception in California 20 IV.Collapse of the Colony: Governor Chico's Turbulent Administration 36 V.The Revolution of 1836 49 VI.Opposition to Alvarado in the South 64 VII.Carlos Antonio Carrillo Displaced by Alvarado 82 VIII.Indians and Horse Thieves 93 IX.Janssens Appointed Administrator of the Mission San Juan Capistrano 106 X.Governor Manuel Micheltorena and the Bloodless Revolution 116 XI.The American Conquest: Fremont's March to Santa Barbara and Cahuenga 126 XII.Later Years: California, 1848-1856 136 Bibliography 155 Index 161 vi ILLUSTRATIONS OPPOSITE PAGE Victor Eugene August Janssens 4 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH Mission Santa Barbara, 1834 20 FROM AN ETCHING BY EDWARD BOREIN Los Angeles, 1847 52 FROM A CONTEMPORARY DRAWING BY WILLIAM RICH HUTTON Monterey, 1847 68 FROM A CONTEMPORARY DRAWING BY WILLIAM RICH HUTTON vii PREFACE The life and adventures in California of Don Agustín Janssens, 1834-1856.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impacts of Tourism and Development in Nicaragua: a Grassroots Approach to Sustainable Development
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 January 2007 The mpI acts of Tourism and Development in Nicaragua: A Grassroots Approach to Sustainable Development Jennifer Atwood Burney University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Burney, Jennifer Atwood, "The mpI acts of Tourism and Development in Nicaragua: A Grassroots Approach to Sustainable Development" (2007). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 70. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/70 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM AND DEVELOPMENT IN NICARAGUA A GRASSROOTS APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Thesis Presented By JENNIFER ATWOOD BURNEY Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF REGIONAL PLANNING September 2007 Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM AND DEVELOPMENT IN NICARAGUA A GRASSROOTS APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM A Thesis Presented by Jennifer Atwood Burney Approved as to style and content by: _____________________________ Ellen Pader, Chair _____________________________ Elisabeth Hamin, Member _____________________________ Henry Geddes, Member __________________________________________ Elizabeth Brabec, Department Head Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To begin with, I would like to thank Steve Grimes M.D. for introducing me to Nicaragua through the volunteer organization NEVOSH. I would also like to thank my thesis committee members for their suggestions, input and guidance, especially to Ellen for her enthusiasm and support in both my topic and field work.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study on Coastal Costa Rica Thuy-Linh Pham
    Florida State University Libraries 2016 Cultural, Social, and Environmental Effects of Tourism: A Case Study on Coastal Costa Rica Thuy-Linh Pham Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Cultural, Social, and Environmental Effects of Tourism: A Case Study on Coastal Costa Rica By THUY-LINH PHAM A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Fall, 2016 Pham 2 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Thuy-Linh Pham defended on November 28, 2016. ______________________________ Dr. Kristin Dowell Co-Thesis Director ______________________________ Dr. Joseph Hellweg Co-Thesis Director Outside Committee Member ______________________________ Dr. Rochelle A. Marrinan Committee Member Pham 3 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Florida State University’s Social Science Scholar Program for providing me with the funds to travel throughout Costa Rica to collect data, especially Dr.Mayo and Dr. Taylor who assisted me in determining the best process. I would also like to Dr. Romanchuk for pushing me to conduct my own research after working on his projects for the last couple years. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Dowell, Dr. Hellweg, and Dr. Marrinan for serving on my thesis committee. I know that the process has been less than ideal with timing, but I appreciate all the time and effort they have put into this project, which has been a dream of mine since I was a child.
    [Show full text]
  • Globalization, Ecotourism, and Development in the Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 11-16-2004 Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The onM te Verde Zone, Costa Rica Edgar Allan Amador University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Amador, Edgar Allan, "Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The onM te Verde Zone, Costa Rica" (2004). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/940 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica by Edgar Allan Amador A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Trevor W. Purcell, Ph.D. Mark Amen, Ph.D. Kevin Yelvington, Ph.D. Date of Approval: November 16, 2004 Keywords: tourism, central america, survey, demography, anthropology © Copyright 2004 , Edgar Allan Amador Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the most important people in my life: my wife, Jennifer, my mother, Gioconda, and my brothers, J. Alejandro and Alvaro. Acknowledgements I want to thank my wife, Jennifer, for her criticism, patience, and support during the writing of this thesis. I also thank my mother for her self-sacrifice, so I could get this far.
    [Show full text]
  • Did You Know?
    2. COSTA RICA INFO GENERAL DATA OF THE COUNTRY Republic of Costa Rica, the National Flag, the Whi- te Tail Deer, the Guaria Morada (Purple Orchid), the Costa Rica is located in Central America, territory Marimba, the Oxcart, the Clay-colored Robin, and the that is connected to North America and South Ame- Guanacaste Tree, among others. rica. It borders to the north with Nicaragua and Pana- ma to the south. Due to its position, the warm weather Learn more about the national symbols on this link. dominates; however, many different microclimates can be found throughout the country. According to the projections of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), Costa Rica has a population of approximately 4 890 379 people, from which 2 467 829 are men and 2 422 551 are women. Did you know? The Crestones of Chirripó National Park are the national symbol of the natural wealth of Costa The country is divided into seven provinces (San José, Rica. the capital city; Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Puntare- nas, Guanacaste y Limón), 81 cantons and 463 dis- tricts, in 51 100 square kilometers, which is the area of the country. It is a democratic, free and indepen- GENERAL DATA OF THE DESTINATION dent Republic; most of the population professes the Catholic religion and has freedom of worship. The cu- rrency is Colón and the official language is Spanish. The distance between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea is 200 miles. One of the most important and recognized features of the country is the abolition of the army, which was The variety of landscapes and microclimates that dissolved on December 1st, 1948 by former President can be enjoyed in one day, make this country a pa- José Figueres- Ferrer, when peace became one of the radise destination.
    [Show full text]
  • From Agriculture to Ecotourism: Socio-Economic Change, Community Development and Environmental Sustainability in a Costa Rican Village
    From Agriculture to Ecotourism: Socio-Economic Change, Community Development and Environmental Sustainability in a Costa Rican Village By Josephine Howitt Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Master of Arts in Globalization and International Development School of International Development and Global Studies Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Josephine Howitt, Ottawa, Canada, 2012 Abstract: This research is an ethnographic case study of the emerging ecotourism economies in the agricultural village of San Gerardo de Rivas, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. Due to the village’s location as the main entry point to climb the country’s tallest mountain within Chirripó National Park, the majority of households in San Gerardo now derive some income from tourism. I conducted twenty household surveys, followed by twenty-one semi-structured interviews with male and female heads of households and representatives of local organizations and tourism businesses. Drawing on local perspectives, I found that ecotourism was a complementary income source to agriculture and that men and women were engaging differently in ecotourism employment. Local organizations were involved in the participatory management of ecotourism activities within Chirripó National Park. Ecotourism has affected environmental practices and local people are strategically negotiating the direction of tourism development, including through using environmental discourses, to optimize the benefits to their community. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the individuals from San Gerardo de Rivas who participated in my research and shared their time and experiences with me. I am so grateful to the community members who welcomed me to their village and invited me to community events, to visit their farms or to enjoy a coffee and pan casero (homemade bread) while waiting for the rain to ease.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Tourism Related Development on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica Summary Report
    Impact of Tourism Related Development on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica Summary Report By: Martha Honey Erick Vargas William H. Durham Center for Responsible Travel A Nonprofit Research Organization Stanford University and Washington, DC www.responsibletravel.org April 2010 1 Foreword The following Summary Report, based on two years of research and some two dozen individual studies by a team of Costa Rican and U.S. experts, offers the first multidimensional analysis of the phenomena that Costa Ricans have dubbed “residential tourism.” While this term has become popular, most Costa Ricans have had little understanding of its dimensions and implications for the country, the country’s Pacific coast, or Costa Rica’s tourism industry. The study traces the origins of this coastal transformation from the 1970s to the present, with particular focus on the real estate and construction boom and bust (caused by the global economic crisis) from 2002 through 2009. As members of the Advisory Committee that has assisted the research team, we believe that the study’s findings and recommendations can play a constructive role in helping to foment public discussion, civic engagement, and policy reforms to ensure a sustainable economy in coastal and marine tourism. Over the last decade, Costa Rica’s Pacific coast has become one of the epicenters in the Americas for rapid beach resort and vacation home development closely tied to the U.S. market. Together with cruise ship tourism, residential tourism is transforming swaths of the physical landscape and displacing or competing for resources with many fishing, farming, and ranching communities in the coastal zone.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Ecotourism in Costa Rica
    IMPACTS ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF CHANGING PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF ECOTOURISM IN COSTA RICA DRAFT Prepared for: UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME in conjunction with Institute for Environmental Studies Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Prepared by: INCAE Costa Rica Project Director: Crist Inman, Ph.D. Research Team: Nathalia Mesa, Reyna Oleas, Juan Jose de los Santos 1 1. Introduction Costa Rica, a small Central American country with approximately 3.5 million people and a Gross National Product (GNP) of US$2,400 per capita in 1995 (WRI, 1996), has gone through several successful periods of resource-based exportation. In successive waves--first coffee, then beef, followed by bananas and currently tourism—each resource has seen periods of intense expansion in output. The boom in Costa Rica’s tourism market began in 1987, and by 1995 the industry was generating US $659.6 million per annum. This made tourism the top generator of foreign revenues and 7.5% of Costa Rican GDP, above the banana industry (US$ 633.2 million), coffee (US$ 417.1 million) and beef (US$ 43.6 million) (ICT, 1995). Tourism is the largest economic sector in the world, generating US$381 billion in 1995, excluding the approximately US$57 billion spent on international transport. Costa Rica has gone from accounting for 0.8% of world tourism income in 1986 to 1.9% in 1993; tourism income “per capita” is now approximately US$140 per annum, the highest in Central America. From 1969 to 1982 tourist arrivals rose at an average of 9% per year, compared with the 14% growth rate during the 1986 to 1994 period (Aylward et al.).
    [Show full text]