page_title: Ecotourism in Costa Rica
section_title: Current situation
hierarchical_section_title: Ecotourism in Costa Rica / Current situation
caption_attribution_description: العربية: ضفدع الأشجار أحمر العينين (Agalychnis callidryas)، صُوَِّرت على مقرُبة من مُنتجع جاكو في كوستاريكا. Čeština: Listovnice červenooká (Agalychnis callidryas) nedaleko Playa Jacó v&#160;Kostarice English: Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas), photographed near Playa Jaco in Costa Rica (retouched version). Deutsch: Rotaugenlaubfrosch (Agalychnis callidryas), fotografiert bei Playa Jaco in Costa Rica Türkçe: Ağaç kurbağaları (Hylidae) familyasından Agalychnis callidryas (Kırmızı gözlü ağaç kurbağası) Español: Rana verde de ojos rojos (Agalychnis callidryas), fotografiada cerca de Playa Jaco en Costa Rica Sunda: Cakung Panon-Beureum (Agalychnis callidryas), dipoto deukeut Playa Jaco, Kosta Rika Français&#160;: Une grenouille aux yeux rouges (Agalychnis callidryas), photographiée à Jacó, au Costa Rica Português: Rã das arvores de olhos vermelhos (Agalychnis callidryas), photographiée à Jacó, au Costa Rica Русский: Красноглазая квакша (Agalychnis callidryas), фото сделано вблизи Playa Jaco в Коста-Рике. Italiano: Rana verde dagli occhi rossi (Agalychnis callidryas), fotografata vicino alla spiaggia di Jaco in Costa Rica Tiếng Việt: Nhái cây mắt đỏ (Agalychnis callidryas) là một loài nhái bén sống trên cây bản địa rừng mưa Neotropical ở Trung Mĩ. Nhái cây mắt đỏ có mắt màu đỏ, ngón chân màu da cam.
context_page_description: Ecotourism in Costa Rica is one of the key activities of the tourism industry in the country. By the early 1990s, Costa Rica became known as the poster child of ecotourism. The country is among many developing nations that look to ecotourism as a way of cashing in on the growing demand for this popular trend of travel.
  Ecotourism draws many tourists to visit the extensive national parks and protected areas around the country. Costa Rica was a pioneer in this type of tourism, and the country is recognized as one of the few with true ecotourism. While Costa Rica has gained immense popularity for its development of a successful, yet environmentally friendly, ecotourism industry, environmentalists and economists alike debate whether an economy centered on tourism produces more good than harm.
context_section_description: With its rich biodiversity and immense ecosystem, ecotourism in Costa Rica leads the ranks in this category of tourism. The country takes advantage of the growing demand for eco-tourists to visit these protected areas in exchange for profit. For years, growth in tourism in Central America was extremely slow due to civil wars in various regions; however, as peace developed in neighboring countries, tourism in Costa Rica has skyrocketed over the past two decades.
  Many of the first ecotourists were academics who came to the country to study biology. The publications generated by of these biologists, coupled with a more aggressive campaign by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), soon led to a growing group of "nature tourists." By 1995, more than 800,000 foreigners came to Costa Rica, many of whom visited national parks and reserves. The tourism boom began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1.03 million in 1999, to a historical record of 2.34 million foreign visitors in 2012. In 2012 international tourist receipts reached US$2.4 billion. The country is ranked fifth in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2012 Environmental Performance Index.
caption: Costa Rica's biodiversity is an asset for ecotourism. A notable frog species is the red-eyed tree frog.
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