Costa Rican Ecotourism: My Reflection of the Past 5 Weeks

Costa Rica Self Reflection

Over the past 5 weeks living and studying in Costa Rica, I have been given so many incredible opportunities that I have almost lost count. One of the aspects of my time abroad that has impacted me the most was my encountering of Costa Rican ecotourism. As an individual with great affection for business, many of the aspects surrounding ecotourism where either not of particular interest to me or completely foreign. However, throughout the past five weeks I have learned just how successfully private enterprise and sustainability truly can co exist with one another. After witnessing the dynamics of Isla Tortuga’s operations and reviewing INBioparque’s financial statements, I have started to become more aware of just how profitable the relationship between business and sustainability can be.

As a business student with an interest in the tourism industry, I have been able to learn and apply a completely new and unique aspect of tourism to my educational concentration. Learning about ecotourism has led me to the conclusion that even areas lacking as much biodiversity as Costa Rica possesses will still need to take a vested interest in their surrounding area to maintain a healthy ecosystem that further encourages individuals to visit and maintain a stable tourism industry in these locations. This aspect will be crucial for future business success because locations with severe environmental degradation will eventually no longer be able to support a well functioning tourism industry.

Overall I consider these past 5 weeks in Costa Rica and my experience with ecotourism as something that has left a significant impact on my future potential career endeavors. I truly have learned why sustainability is so important to the tourism industry and I truly posses the desire to apply these concepts to all of my future business endeavors with the intentions of still creating profit.

Costa Rican Ecotourism Certification

Synopsis

Above is an image associated with the Certification for Sustainability Tourism in Costa Rica (CST). The CST Program was developed by the Sustainability Programs Department of the Costa Rica Tourist Board and the Costa Rica National Accreditation Commission (www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr). At the national level, CST represents a new form of competition; a new way to differentiate our tourist industry with respect to our competitors, and one which enhances those tourism products which show a connotation of sustainability, opening new possibilities for marketing and international promotion (www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr). This type of sustainability certification is not anything unique to Costa Rica, but there is a significant amount of attention associated with this national certification process that has helped make Costa Rica one of the front runners of this initiative. It has taken on a life of its own as more and more of Costa Rica’s tourism purveyors have started to see the benefits of becoming certified. Over the course of a five week period, I have been introduced to multiple types of tourism purveyors and almost all of the ones we met with were either already certified or in the process of seeking certification. This significant influx of certification requests have unfortunately brought to surface many of CST’s logistical issues. The CST is relatively ill equipped to handle such inquiries because they are severely understaffed, utilize an ineffective evaluation procedure that appears to be too broad, or are having one of many other forms of operating inefficiencies according to many of Downtown San Jose’s tourism organizations.

Application

Although it appears that the CST is faced with a considerable amount of opportunities to improve its business model and to beef up its logistics, overall the CST appears to be fulfilling a desperately needed niche in Costa Rican tourism. I believe that the CST is needed even if it possesses significant flaws because without it, the potential exists to have no other organizations interested in creating a process for rewarding those individuals who have taken a vested interest in keeping Costa Rica’s natural biodiversity present in order to facilitate future generations of tourism.
One of the major flaws associated with the CST program is that it seems to assist those organizations in the promotion of “green washing” or those who abuse the concepts of "eco" and/or "sustainability” (www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr) even when CST claims that it is directly trying to “attack the problem generated by this unethical behavior.” Many individuals appear to qualify simply if they have created a recycling program, have switched out old light bulbs for newer LED bulbs, and have made a few other minimal efforts towards being sustainable. I personally believe that there should be more involved in being considered sustainable and those aforementioned actions should just be completed before an organization can even be considered for certification. After all, if CST certifies these organizations than it has effectively undermined its entire mission statement by supporting such minimalist organizations who are not truly interested in sustainability and who will continue exploiting the environment for their own benefit.

Ecotourism's Competitiveness

Synopsis

Above is an image affiliated with Australia’s board of ecotourism and it is a significant representation of the kind of marketing that currently exists for the promotion of ecotourism. One of the largest dilemmas currently and potentially facing ecotourism in the future is whether or not it can sustain itself in an already incredibly competitive tourism industry. Whether hard or soft core ecotourists would consider themselves apart of the same tourism category, the most important distinction to make is that purveyors of ecotourism and traditional tourism are still dependent on consumers to stay in operation. This is an important distinction to make because it is incredibly difficult for ecotourism purveyors to compete with the billion dollar budgets that traditional tourism corporations have access to. The potential future of ecotourism could rest on the marketing decisions that many within the ecotourism sector make and also on the kinds of necessary concessions that will make ecotourism more appealing to the general population.

Application

The fact that ecotourism purveyors are unable to compete with the traditional tourism corporations (mainly lodging operations) on the same scale means that it will be difficult to attract a sustainable amount of the general population to justify continuing business operations. After all, even an ecotourism venture is still a business and in need of capital, unless otherwise supported by a not for profit or government organization. I personally believe that the ecotourism industry is approaching a crossroads, even if more and more of the global population is beginning to think more sustainably. This is because this portion of the general population is still relatively small and not capable of facilitating a large scale ecotourism industry. It is also important to note that I am not calling for a resource consuming ecotourism industry that simply replaces the current traditional tourism model, but I am suggesting that there will be many more economic and environmental benefits associated with a larger TRUE ecotourism industry.

In order to achieve this larger and more adept ecotourism industry, there is going to be a significant amount of people, time, and capital spent on promoting the benefits of ecotourism and making it MORE appealing to consumers. Currently, I do not feel that there is a significant portion of North Americans who would prefer to engage in ecotourism as there would be those who would prefer to participate in the traditional tourism model. I for one believe that special concessions need to be made by local governments or some other form of power to assist in increasing the popularity and understanding of ecotourism and its benefits. Just one example is the idea of a proposed tax break for participating in ecotourism. The United States government has acknowledged that giving donations to those in need is worthy of a tax break, and converting to newer and more efficient forms of alternative energy are worthy, so why couldn’t the argument be made that traveling sustainably is also worthy of some kind of tax break. This would then in turn offer promotion to an industry in need of it, as well as offer those individuals who may have not been interested in ecotourism before some incentives to begin participating.

Ecotourism: The Indigenous Experience

Synopsis:

During a recent visit to the South Eastern Caribbean coast of Cost Rica, I was given an incredible opportunity to visit and interact with and individual who is part one of Costa Rica’s largest and oldest indigenous populations. His name is Herman and he is part of an indigenous tribe known as the Bribri. The Bribri consists of around 10,000 members living in the Puerto Viejo de Talamanca canton inside the Limon Province of Costa Rica (www.wikipedia.org). They communicate with one another in their own language and have a rich cultural heritage and are a large part of Costa Rica’s history. The context surrounding this wonderful experience consisted of an approximately 3.5-4 hour nature hike through the rain forest surrounding Puerto Viejo. During the hike I encountered a seemingly endless amount of both plant and animal species that were truly incredible to see outside of captivity. Possibly the greatest aspect of the entire hike however was the vast amount of information and Bribri cultural applications Herman would provide with every encounter (even while being bombarded by a swarm of Fire Wasps)!
Although this encounter with a Bribri individual giving tourists the opportunity to interact with their native territory isn’t completely unheard of or rare, I do personally feel like it is a substantially undervalued or underappreciated experience.

Application:

To many individuals, especially many North Americans, the prospect of hiking around in the wilderness for 4 hours may not seem all that appealing. There climate may not be incredibly accommodating, one might get his or her shoes muddy, and there won’t be any complimentary beverages around before or after the experience. But there are many other incredible opportunities one is not taking advantage of by paying $50 per person to take a ride in a gondola above the rain forest canopy. If the wilderness is what has brought and individual across the country, even around the world to a specific destination, why wouldn’t an individual want to get their money’s worth and truly have an interactive experience with it as opposed to just viewing it for 45 minutes before heading back to their resort in time for lunch. Not only would this approach be more economical for travelers, but it would be more sustainable and provide for MANY more experiences than those gained at an ecological rainforest theme ride.I suggest interacting with the local indigenous population if the opportunity presents itself as these individuals have lived off of the surrounding wildlife for centuries and are therefore more knowledgeable about their environment than a company employee who has memorized parts of a company pamphlet. I am not suggesting that alternative wilderness experiences are not worth the money, as many of them are! But as a former skeptic, I am suggesting to give it a chance as I completely underestimated how truly exhilarating and exciting interacting with a TRUE local can be, not to mention the fact that you would be more sustainable as well as be providing economic stability to a current underrepresented minority of incredible individuals.

Ecotourism in the City?: INBioparque

Synopsis

Costa Rica is a country world renowned for its rich biodiversity and the measures it has taken to protect it. “Covering only 0.1% of the earth’s landmass, Costa Rica accounts for over 5% of the planets biodiversity (http://www.nature.org/). Costa Rica contains 25 national parks, 8 biological reserves, 32 protected zones, 11 forest reserves, 58 wildlife refuges, 15 wetlands/mangroves, and 12 other categories totaling 161 conserved areas in Costa Rica (www.costarica-nationalparks.com/). While visiting Costa Rica, I was granted an opportunity to visit INBioparque located in San Jose. National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio Research center) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to studying and conserving biodiversity in Costa Rica (http://www.inbio.ac.cr/). INBioparque is a rather unique anomaly as it is surrounded by an overwhelmingly populated, metropolitan city. The pollution levels are high, there are little to no conservation efforts within the city, and many other general accompaniments associated with large Latin America cities can all be found in San Jose thus making it rather surprising to encounter such biodiversity inside INBioparque.

Application

My initial impression of INBioparque is that it was quite surprising and reassuring to come into contact and interact with such a large amount of biodiversity. Although certain elements appeared to be more “zoo-like” than many other Costa Rican nature reserves or national parks, I was still impressed by how much nature was thriving in an area inside San Jose. I would have NEVER guessed that in a million years, such a place could exist in one of the most polluted cities I have ever experienced.
INBioparque and those associated with it consider the wildlife refuge to be considered a theme park. This fact is not disputed and is found all over INBioparque literature and therefore it is important to note that INBioparque is still a profit/loss producing entity. According to the National Institute of Biodiversity’s (INBio) 2007 Annual Report, roughly 60% of the organizations profits from park operations and other items go to either Strategic Action Units or to special projects that INBio has designated to receive funding. Overall I was surprised at how much of INBio’s profits are truly dedicated to creating more conservation. This is also something that reassures me and should reassure many other individuals on both ends of the conservation spectrums. Both hardcore conservationists who believe that all businesses are inherently evil and all businesses who don’t believe that conservation can be a profitable entity should use the INBioparque case study to prove that real, authentic and mutually beneficial relationships can exist between these two groups!

Costa Rican Agriculture and Essential Economic Diversity

Synopsis

Above is a photograph of a Costa Rican individual picking coffee beans in one of Costa Rica’s famous coffee fields. This is a relevant photograph when discussing Costa Rica’s economy and its dependency on tourism and agriculture. Much of Costa Rica’s economy is derived from foreign and domestic tourism dollars, but another substantial portion of Costa Rica’s economy is derived from luxury crops and this creates an interesting dilemma for the Costa Rican case study. Much of the crops that are grown in Costa Rica (bananas, coffee, pineapple, etc.) are considered to be crops that are incredibly sensitive to economic fluctuations and are therefore crops that have the potential to leave Costa Rica vulnerable to economic downturns like the one the entire world is currently experiencing. It is also important to note that tourism is severely impacted by economic downturns as well.

Application

This creates an incredible dilemma for those living and interacting within the Costa Rican economy. Because a substantially large portion of Costa Rica’s agriculture consists of luxury crops that are most often replaced or excluded from consumer’s grocery lists around the world in an economic downturn, there are going to be severe negative impacts on the Costa Rican economy. Although Costa Rica has tried to diversify its major industries (i.e. computer processing chips and Intel), there are still a significant portion of Costa Rica’s industry segments that are too susceptible to economic fluctuations. In terms of ecotourism, all this means is that because Costa Rica’s economy may not be as stable as it could be if more recession proof industries were developed, foreign investors will still be able to monopolize the billions of tourism dollars entering the country annually. When a country’s own economic cycles are not able to facilitate enough capital for enough of its citizens to produce viable tourism entities of their own(hotels, tour operations, food and beverage outlets, etc), foreign investors will continue to take domestic Costa Rican profits overseas to their own countries, regardless of whether or not they have a vested interest in Costa Rica itself. Costa Rica will either diversify its industry segments or face a potential future of tourism dollars being siphoned to foreign investors and their countries.

The Isla Tortuga Case: Private/Public Property and Sustainability

Synopsis:

July 18, 2009 I visited Isla Tortuga in the Gulf de Nicoya on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Isla Tortuga, as it was described to me, is a privately held island in which the government will eventually gain control of based on certain land owner/leasing agreements that typically last well into hundred year periods. As one of Costa Rica’s most popular tourist destinations, Isla Tortuga has provided multiple opportunities for many individuals to develop successful business models centered on visiting the isolated private island. One of the most important characteristics about Isla Tortuga that makes it such a unique Costa Rican tourist destination is that the island title is held under private control and therefore the Costa Rican government has little control over its use. These circumstances have made Isla Tortuga what it is today, a completely tourist driven entity that has no other means of funding other than private equity from the island’s legal owners. It is important to view Isla Tortuga as more than just an incredibly beautiful and stimulating tourist attraction but to also analyze it more critically from an ecotourism perspective.

Analysis:

A unique aspect about Isla Tortuga is it is so isolated that a boat is the only means of transportation for reaching the island. It was also very apparent from taking a Calypso Cruise (one of Isla Tortuga’s prominent tourism service providers) that the tourism providers were conscious of what ecological impacts on the island could mean for their bottom lines. It appeared evident that the tour operators knew that if Isla Tortuga’s environment became degraded, so would their profits. This understanding has resulted in very primitive amenities like non-drinkable water and no bathrooms, but has also facilitated the sustainability of the Islands original fauna.
It is also interesting to note that no person is capable of legally owning a portion of coastline or beach in the country of Costa Rica. This is also the case for the owner of Isla Tortuga and this was very apparent as there were multiple other individuals utilizing the island the day I visited by using their own vessel as a means of transportation as opposed to the companies that I would assume have some kind of connection to the island’s ownership. This distinct government mandate would make it difficult to police certain aspects of Isla Tortuga simply due to the fact that any individual has the right to visit the beach at any time of their discretion. This also means that they would be able to engage in unsustainable activities whilst visiting the island whether these activities are legal or not as there was clearly no police force or environmental group present as an authority.