By Wendy Anders

Beyond the direct and indirect economic benefits derived from tourism, Costa Rica’s Tourism Institute (ICT, in Spanish) wanted to start measuring the industry’s broader impacts on local communities.

In a first study, done last year, they interviewed residents in 10 such towns, and now have a baseline for monitoring progress.

“We wanted to measure social progress in these towns to identify ways the industry benefits Costa Rica’s economy and society. This strategic analysis will allow us to promote innovative joint actions by state, civil society and private businesses to strengthen tourism and its positive impact on tourist communities,” said Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism.

The study showed an overall positive perception of tourism by local residents, who noted employment, development, increased income and greater local economic activity, as well as more contact with English as the main benefits of tourism.

Respondents also noted that local institutions had become more efficient with the advent of tourism, and this enhanced the social progress and also the competitiveness of their towns.

Based on these initial results, the ICT identified four areas of action to further promote social progress in these 10 tourist communities. These involve inter-institutional efforts to promote English language learning, strengthening public safety, greater digital connectivity, and approval of public zoning plans for regulating land use.

An estimated 600 thousand people in Costa Rica are engaged either directly or indirectly in work related to tourism, said the ICT, and the industry generates a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product.

The country’s INCAE business school interviewed over 2,000 people in the towns of La Fortuna, Papagayo, Tamarindo, Santa Teresa, Monteverde, Drake Bay, Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo, San Gerardo, and Manuel Antonio. The ICT said this year an additional 22 towns will be researched.

The ultimate goal is to have the necessary information to take steps to improve services and programs that bolster local residents’, and also tourists’, quality of life and experience.

Ventura said he hopes these studies will aid in the creation of an inclusive and sustainable tourism development model that “makes Costa Rica different from the rest of the world.”