page_title: Ecotourism in Costa Rica
section_title: Benefits
hierarchical_section_title: Ecotourism in Costa Rica / Effects on the economy / Benefits
caption_attribution_description: Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni) in Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica Cropped version of original photograph uploaded to commons by Leyo.
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: Costa Rica has turned to ecotourism as its key to economic development. Since 1984, international tourism receipts have grown from $117 million to $136 million in 1987, and $577 million in 1993. Such phenomenal growth has made tourism the leading source of foreign exchange in Costa Rica.
  The growth linkage possibilities of ecotourism development have had, consequently, far reaching effects on other sectors of the economy. For example, “a visit to the Carara Biological Reserve entails not only a $15 entrance fee and possible additional donation, but also a flight into San José's International Airport, a bus ride to the park, a stay in a local hotel, dining in the town's restaurants, and the purchase of souvenirs from street vendors” (TED). To this extent, the ecotourism industry has had a trickle-down effect, bringing added revenues to rural and previously disadvantaged areas.
  Less obvious growth linkages of ecotourism can affect everything from the communications industry to agriculture. The successes of Costa Rica's ecotourism industry have also helped breathe life into the nation's sagging coffee market. Tourists consume an average of two cups of the nation's gourmet coffee a day adding up to approximately 22 million cups of coffee a year, which, at 75 cents per cup, brings in about $16.5 million. Therefore, as many Latin American nations are losing jobs and revenue to falling coffee prices caused by an influx of cheaper Asian brands into the market, Costa Rica has managed to stay afloat with this increase in domestic consumption.
  With a rise in ecotourism and benefits to other industries, locals were relocated and logging industries shut down and Costa Ricans were able to turn to the tourism industry for employment. This would not have been possible if Costa Rica had adhered to former protectionist measures that tended to wall off protected areas from the public.
  Ecotourism in Costa Rica has also helped “diversity the national economy, which previously depended upon the exportation of a few agricultural products, namely coffee, bananas, meat, and sugar, for 65% of its exports.” Like many countries in Central America, Costa Rica's small internal market and scarcity of raw materials make industrialization a slow and difficult process without much room for expansion.
caption: Two-toed sloth in Manuel Antonio National Park.
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