A few months ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a world without tourism, today it is a palpable reality, the tourism industry has no choice but to reinvent itself. How to do it is the question with a difficult answer, many begin to look at what the most visionary destinations did.
Costa Rica is a small country, but with enormous economic and political stability, it barely represents 0.03% of our planet’s land area. However, it concentrates 6% of the planet’s biodiversity and has 25% of the territory under some degree of protection. Agricultural activity, which exports traditional products from the region such as coffee, cocoa, bananas, and tourism, strongly anchored in ecotourism, became the main economic activity of Costa Rican. In this type of tourism, based on sustainability, the eyes of the future development of the activity around the world are fixed: no one disputes that pandemics are linked to the abuse of nature (flora and fauna).
Volcanoes, valleys, forests where quetzals, mangroves and Caribbean beaches nest: if there is something that is not lacking in Costa Rica, they are settings for natural and adventure tourism, which especially attracts American and European visitors. Recently, the press echoed the story of a London family who had to cancel their trip to Costa Rica due to the coronavirus and recreated for their daughters, in the basement of their home, a paper rain forest where they could continue dreaming of sightings. of fauna, since this family has been enchanted with the natural beauty of the country.
Virgilio Espinoza Rodríguez, head of the Tourism Social Responsibility department, recalls that the organization has two programs linked to natural tourism: the main one is the Tourism Sustainability Certification and the second is the Ecological Blue Flag, designed to protect the Caribbean beaches. and the Pacific. “From the 80s until now we have managed, as pioneers, to develop a series of schemes related to nature. We are consolidated in ecotourism, which in our country was born from the observation of forests, but little by little we refined it until we were able Present it to the world as sustainable tourism, and then we develop a very important segment: the visit not only of nature but also of a series of communities with very particular cultural and social characteristics, “he explains.
Everything indicates that this is where the key to post-Covid tourism lies: nature, sustainability. But Costa Rica is clear that the post-pandemic challenge joins another that seems to have been in the background in these months: climate change, which is already having its impact worldwide, and the small Central American country is not an exception.
Faced with the reality of global warming, Costa Rica promotes that “the tourist entrepreneur understands that it is worth having the tree standing instead of cutting it. The standing tree can be seen many times; the cut tree is no longer seen; understands and manages not only to strengthen the natural areas around it, which belong to the State, but that same State also generated the protection of small reserves and some patches of forest that they have. At this moment, whoever has a small forest receives an annual amount to protect that forest, because they know that the tourist will visit it and walk on its trails. You can take advantage of that forest in the morning to observe birds, in the afternoon for recreational tours and at night, on a night tour where different species birds, amphibians or mammals are seen The ecological tourism entrepreneur earns at all times, protects, sells, cares for and receives a remuneration from the State through the protection of this strip of forest. ”
On the other hand, Costa Rica chose another model for the tourist himself to contribute to the activity: instead of rates of stay, common in other destinations, he created programs that ask the visitor if they want to allocate a sum of money to protect, for example, a square meter of forest. And those who have just experienced this forest are much more willing to collaborate in its conservation.
The sighting of the quetzal, the mythical Central American bird, is a good example of this protection: although it is in danger in the rest of Central America, it can be seen at a short distance in the magnificent surroundings offered by the enclosed valleys of the National Park.
The region is surrounded by other valleys where coffee and other tropical plants are grown in a sustainable way, with the least possible impact on ecosystems: there is Coopedota, one of the most active in Costa Rica, a cooperative famous for the very high quality of its coffee, located in the town of Santa María de Dota, is also famous for its “carbon-free” coffee. There are reforestation tasks, community cleaning campaigns and care of all aspects of the chain, from water production to energy production.
The same in other valleys, not far from the border with Panama. There the sisters Graciela and Edith Naranjo took the reins of good practices and founded the cooperative Tierra con Esencia de Mujer. From their farms in San José la Amistad they grow bananas and other tropical products; They also open their organic businesses to visitors who can participate in the collection of ginger, coffee, bananas, and many other plants. A direct experience with nature, between valleys where crops alternate with native forests that lend themselves to wildlife sightings.
The benefit is threefold: for agriculture, nature and those who live on tourism. And when nature gives way to human activities, it is hardly noticeable: many times, the coffee plantations receive the necessary shade from the native trees. Renato Alvarado Rivera, Minister of Agriculture of Costa Rica, underlines that the Dota Valley region aspires to become the first place in Central America to be named an Important Site for World Agricultural Heritage (Sipam) by FAO.
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