Throughout our time in Costa Rica, we have explored ecotourism in many different aspects. At first, I wasn’t sure what ecotourism is. To be honest, I had to look it up… It is as simple as it sounds. It is protecting the land, minimizing pollution, and also supporting local people while educating people and tourists on conservation and nature.
I first noticed ecotourism in La Paz. We got to see many different animals, and also land. They have specific signs around each area, for example saying all the animals there are rescue animals from illegal capturing. This helped me understand many different things about how they try to help these animals live their best lives and also be in safe places.
Another thing La Paz did was let people explore different trails and see waterfalls, but we could only go on trails and not off into the wild. They put these specific trails in specific places so they don’t disrupt nature, have to cut down lots and lots of trees and make animals lose their homes, etc.
I also noticed ecotourism in our cloud forest hike. Josue was telling us how he used to be able to go on any trail he wanted and it was no big deal. Now, there was only 1 trail us tourists could go on. You could buy more trails if you wanted, but most people stuck with the one we were allowed on. I believe this is because they wanted to conserve nature in as many ways as possible, and many people don’t want to spend money on things so they knew it would help with conservation and ecotourism overall.
One final part of the trip that helped me understand ecotourism was whenever we got a tour visit of AMA. They discussed their slow seasons, how to help with that like promos and discounts, they protect 90% of their land which is 1,300 acres, and many more. The part that stood out to me the most was how much land they protect and conserve. They protect more land than they even have open to the public, which means they make a lot of revenue from the area they don’t have protected.
I have learned many different things I will use in the future of my business careers. I feel like almost every day we talked about tourism, how to catch people into your marketing, how to even run a business, etc. The most useful in my opinion was learning how to get people coming to your business so you make revenue even in your slow season. I think that is very important for any business, or you will end up bankrupt.
Overall this experience was the best 2 weeks of my life. I had so much fun getting to know everyone on the trip, making lifelong friends and memories, and learning all about different businesses. This is an experience I will never forget about and I will always cherish!!!! Thank you Katie and Ryan for the most amazing trip (and of course my best friend Pino, Ivan, and Josue)!