ECOTOURISM IN COSTA RICA

Rob Rachowiecki, co-author of LP's new edition of 'Costa Rica', says size 
definitely matters when it comes to ecotourism development.

Costa Rica has so much to offer the wildlife enthusiast that it's small 
wonder that ecotourism is growing in the country. Over 70% of foreign 
travellers visit one or more nature destinations; half of these visitors 
come specifically to see Costa Rica's wildlife.

During the past few years, the natural wonders of Costa Rica have been 
discovered. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, the annual number of 
visitors doubled, and now over 700,000 foreign tourists visit every year. 
The tourism industry recently surpassed bananas and coffee as the nation's 
biggest industry (though 1998 figures placed it second, behind electronics, 
another newcomer). Prices for the traveller have risen substantially.

The financial bonanza generated by the tourist boom means that new 
operations are starting up all the time - many are good, some are not. The 
big word in Costa Rica is 'ecotourism' - everyone wants to jump on the 
green bandwagon.  There are 'ecological' car rental agencies and 
'ecological' menus in restaurants! Taking advantage of Costa Rica's 'green' 
image, some developers are promoting mass tourism and are building large 
hotels with accompanying environmental problems. Apart from the immediate 
impacts, such as cutting down vegetation, diverting or damming rivers and 
driving away wildlife, there are huge secondary impacts like erosion, lack 
of adequate waste treatment facilities for a huge hotel in an area away 
from sewerage lines, and the building of socially, environmentally and 
economically inadequate 'shanty towns' to house the maids, waiters, cooks, 
cleaners, and many other employees needed. I recommend staying in smaller 
hotels that have a positive attitude about the environment rather than 
large, mass-tourism destinations.

At first, the growth in tourism took the nation by surprise - there was no 
overall development plan, and the growth was poorly controlled. Some people 
wanted to cash in on the short term, with little thought for the future. 
Many developers are foreigners - they say that they are giving the local 
people jobs, but locals don't want to spend their lives being waiters and 
maids while watching the big money go out of the country.

Traditionally, tourism in Costa Rica has been on a small and intimate 
scale. About 90% of the country's hotels are small (fewer than 50 rooms), 
and the friendly local people have worked closely with tourists, to the 
benefit of both. This intimacy and friendliness was a hallmark of a visit 
to Costa Rica, but this is changing.

The developers of a recent project to build a 402-room hotel (the first of 
a chain) on a remote Pacific beach were sued for causing environmental 
damage and treating employees unfairly. Although the government agreed that 
laws were broken, the Spanish-owned hotel opened in 1992 and sparked off a 
spirited controversy within Costa Rica.

The big question is whether future tourism developments should continue to 
focus on the traditional small-hotel, ecotourism approach, or turn to mass 
tourism, with planeloads of visitors accommodated in 'mega-resorts' like 
the ones in Cancun, Mexico. From the top levels of government down, the 
debate has been fierce. Local and international tour operators and travel 
agents, journalists, developers, airline operators, hotel owners, writers, 
environmentalists and politicians have all been vocal in their support of 
either ecotourism or mass tourism. Many believe that the country is too 
small to handle both forms of tourism properly.

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