Today we went to Arenal Mundo Aventura for a lecture on their business practices and a tour of their grounds. We then went into downtown for lunch, returning to the hotels early to begin working on our blog projects (my group is focusing on Multinational Corporations and Green Economy Integration).

Our lecturer at Mundo Aventura explained how around 85% of their customers are from the USA or Canada and are not too familiar with Costa Rica and the tour groups there. In La Fortuna, the town we are in now, there are 80 companies that all offer ziplining which accounts for 80% of Munda Aventura’s revenue. Because their target market is so uninformed and there are so many other companies, Mundo Aventura relies on building connections with hotels and advertising to travel agencies. By building connections with hotels, the front desk will be more likely to recomend them to any guests asking about nearby ziplines. And, by advertisng to travel agencies, they are able to reach the people who are actually the ones making decisions about tourists vacations.

Mundo Aventura has over 1300 acers of land, but they only use 10% for their tours. The other 90% acts as a natural bridge between the national park and protected area that Mundo Aventura sits between. This allows for animals to cross into each section withoutcomming across people or roads. However, commercializing nature cannot be the best way to save it. There are many other options that do not include the exploitation of our world; the best way to save nature is to just leave it alone. Obviously, that is not practicle or something you could tell a business that relys on nature for its profits, but you could tell it to the businesses in the cities. If just 1% of profits were set aside to buy land and do nothing with it (other than protecting it from other people), I feel like that would do more than allowing random people into what they claim is protected grounds to step on ants and yell at birds.

For our group project, we are making up a coffee company that wants to expand its roasting facilities into Costa Rica, making it a Multinational Corporation. But, they want to do this ethicaly and without hurting the enviroment. As we answer their hypothetical questions, we are keeping sustainability and conservation at the forefront of our thoughts.