Eco Tourism - Post 1

In the lecture that we had today, the man talked alot about tourism in Costa Rica and the part that I found most interesting was the magazine that he showed us at the end. The magazine was displaying many tourist spots in Costa Rica by showing pictures and explaining what can be done at each location. If I would have looked at the book before his comments, I would have assumed that the magazine was telling the truth, however he said that alot of the pictures that were displayed for the area were not actually true representations of the area. In addition, he said that alot of the descriptions were not correct, they were modified to fit what tourists wanted out of each location. A big part of Costa Ricas economy comes from tourist, and they must feel that they have to do whatever it takes to get us to visit the area and invest money in the country. Additionally, he brought up the point that many of the forests in Costa Rica have been sacrificed in order to meet the demands of the tourists. It was very evident in his voice that he had a huge problem with this, however the problem is that without tourism, Costa Rica would not be able to have the financial support that it needs in order to survive.

I did a little research on the tourism in Costa Rica and since I have to write four more posts about tourism, I'll just explain the basics: The reason that Costa Rica is known for its tourism is because it is surrounded by the Pacific and Altanic Oceans. These are the areas with the most tourism, which have yet to visit at this point in our trip. The problem with these areas being full of tourists is that tourists come to Costa Rica to see the rain forest. When so many tourists visit the area, it makes the inhabitants of the land move to other places and if there is no place for them to move they will eventually disappear. There is a constant stuggle in Costa Rica over whether or not tourism is good for the country because while it bring in alot of money, it also ruins the rain forests and natural areas that have existed in Costa Rica for such a long time.