Community-based ecotourism to meet the new tourist's expectations: an exploratory study

 
Case 6 : Monteverde Natural Park, Costa Rica 
(Aguirre, 2006) 
Monteverde National Park is one of the most visited places in Costa Rica. It is also an ideal 
destination for tourists in search of outdoor activities, like tree climbing, and ecotourism.
The tropical forest park is 3,604 hectares and hosted 73,000 visitors in 2004. According to 
Aguirre (2006), the area is going through an intense period of stress between park managers and 
host communities. This stress is explained by the strategic change the park has undergone. Once 
a place for scientific investigations, it is now a strong economic stake for the country. Host 
communities tend to feel that they should gain from all resources..
Quakers, a religious community from the United States, founded Monteverde Park in 1951. In 
opposition to the Korea War that was lead by the U.S. Government, some Quakers left the states 
in search of a quiet and peaceful place. At present, the park is owned by a non-governmental 
organization, which has its headquarters in San José, the capital town of Costa Rica, 60 miles 
from the park.
Like other national parks in Costa Rica, Monteverde has entrance fees for visitors, tourists and 
host communities. These fees are then given to the central state administration and are the source 
of funds for the yearly budget of the park.
Aguirre (2006) has observed that a large part of government funds are spent on monitoring the 
park boundaries because park managers fear that people from other communities come to destroy 
natural resources such as protected species or plants.
 
 
 

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17 
R
ESULTS
 
These cases show that community-based ecotourism is a developing phenomenon and that it 
differs from ecotourism and other forms of alternative tourism. Community-based ecotourism 
appears to be the most successful form of sustainable tourism because it meets the societal 
request for a respectful form of tourism that will bring economic, social and ethical added-value 
(Mazuel, 2003, p.333). CBET also meets the new tourists’ expectations.
The first five cases contain similar elements and allow us to isolate and draw attention to the 
main features of community-based ecotourism. The first five cases are concerned with small 
communities with some economic and social difficulties but with a great ancestral history; their 
lifestyles are linked to the natural environment, which is a rich and sometimes fragile ecosystem. 
The most important feature is their level of control over the tourism project, or, in other words, 
their extent of empowerment. 
In the light of this analysis from our meta-study, we can draw a synthesis of the main features of 
community-based ecotourism.