September 22, 2010
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Projects > Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
CREST’s field work in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica has three key components:
- Phase 1: Conduct a baseline assessment of the economic, social and environmental impacts of ecotourism
- Phase 2: Strengthen the positive benefits of ecotourism for communities and conservation by expanding travelers' philanthropy initiatives
- Phase 3: CREST, together with Fundacion Corcovado proposes to create a destination-wide Travelers' Philanthropy Fund for the Osa.
The Goal
The Osa Peninsula, with 50% of all species found in Costa Rica, is considered the country’s last wilderness frontier and one of the most important biodiversity hotspots left on earth. It is also the 
only remaining region along the Pacific coast where ecotourism, catering to both the domestic and international market, is still the predominant tourism model. Tourism in the Osa consists of some hundred small to medium size lodges and hotels, ranging from rustic to luxury and offering nature-based activities. Annual tourist arrivals to Osa have doubled since 2002, with some 150,000 visitors expected this year, predominantly from the United States.
With the completion of the coastal highway and plans to build a new international airport on the southern coast, the Osa Peninsula is now poised to open up to large-scale resort and vacation home development, dominated by foreign investors, developers, and owners. To date, government and private sector expansion plans have been made without a solid understanding of the Osa’s ecotourism model or the likely impacts of large-scale, conventional tourism developments to both local livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in this region. This research and the final report seek to help fill this knowledge gap.
This project draws upon the body of relevant research already conducted by CREST, including a two-year CREST study (2008-2010) of mass tourism along the Pacific coast, a study of global trends in coastal tourism (2007), and a study of the impacts of cruise tourism in Costa Rica and Honduras (2007).
Click here for Phase 1 information.
Click here for the final report on Ecotourism in the Osa Peninsula.
Click here for the Key Findings
Click here for an analysis of a Travelers' Philanthropy Survey in the Osa Peninsula
Clic Aqui para leer el reportaje en Español
Clic Aqui para leer los resultados claves
Clic Aqui para leer el comunicado de prensa
Clic Aqui para leer un analisis del sondeo de Filantropia del Viajero en la Peninsula Osa
The Project Team
The field research was carried out in August 2010 by a joint team of Costa Rican and U.S. researchers that included four Stanford University students and two tourism students from the Golfito branch of the University of Costa Rica. It was led and directed by CREST and Stanford University personnel. Fundacion Corcovado was our primary local partner, providing logistical assistance and support. In addition, a number of hotels in Drake Bay and Puerto Jimenez collaborated by providing their knowledge and expertise, access to staff and guests, and lodging.
The methodology included field surveys and interviews with tourists; local residents; hotel employees, managersand owners; and a range of other stakeholders. The research team conducted a total of 225 interviews.
CREST staff at Stanford then analyzed the survey and interview results and prepared the final report, CREST’s Washington, DC office conducted background research for the final report. Drafts of the final report were reviewed by a number of experts, and went through a series of revisions prio
r to its public release.
The final publication, The Importance of Ecotourism as a Development and Conservation Tool in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, which includes a list of “Key Findings”, was publicly released in April 2011, with a press release and a workshop in San Jose, Costa Rica. The findings are being used in a series of workshops in the Osa given by CREST and Fundacion Corcovado.
The project was financed by the Tinker Foundation with additional support from Stanford University.
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Phase 2: Working with Ecotourism Businesses in the Osa Peninsula to use Travelers' Philanthropy as a Tool for Development and Conservation (December 2010 - May 2011)
With a grant from CRUSA, a Costa Rican based foundation on sustainable development, CREST is implementing a six month project to expand and strengthen travelers’ philanthropy to the tourism businesses operating in the Osa. In this effort, we are partnered with Fundacion Corcovado, a Costa Rican NGO working in the Osa, and the Osa Tourism Chamber (CATUOSA), with its 100+ members.
Through travelers' philanthropy, businesses and travelers contribute "time, talent, or treasu
re" tosupport local conservation and community projects in tourism destinations. Travelers' philanthropy is therefore generating additional resources, beyond the cost of the travel or the vacation package. As such, it represents an increasingly important new source of development assistance flowing from the tourism industry into host communities around the world.
Several of the Key Findings from the phase 1 ecotourism study in the Osa are helping to inform this project. They include:
• Just over half (6 of 11) say their hotels are volunteering time or contributing material resources or funds to support community and conservation projects. However, tourist participation in these “travelers’ philanthropy” projects was even less at most hotels in the sample, ranging from zero to 20%. But the proven record of hotels in Osa with successful projects is proof concept: there is great potential for expanding these efforts in Osa.
• Over half (58%) of visitors surveyed said they were willing to contribute on average $68 more to support local projects in the Osa. This indicates strong support among visitors for the idea of travelers’ philanthropy. Clearly the potential exists in the Osa to generate more money from tourism by soliciting contributions for local projects.
Phase 3: CREST, together with Fundacion Corcovado proposes to create a destination-wide Travelers' Philanthropy Fund for the Osa.
This concept was nominated as a finalist in the Changemakers 2010 competition sponsored by National Geographic, Ashoka, and the Inter-American Development Bank. For more details, Click Here!
We are currently seeking funding to undertake this next phase.
CREST, together with the Monteverde Institute, is also involved in a similar iniative to create a destination-wide Travelers' Philanthropy Fund in Monteverde.
The project has four main components:
1. Survey: CREST, together with its partners, is undertaking online and telephone surveys of tourism businesses in the Osa, including the 100-odd members of CATUOSA. The purpose is to determine whether these businesses currently have any travelers’ philanthropy initiatives and whether they are interested in being involved either on their own or as part of a new destination-wide fund for the Osa. Three students from the university in Golfito are assisting in conducting this survey.
2. Workshops: Through a series of six workshops in key locations around the Osa, we will train
between 70 and 140 individuals, mainly from tourism businesses, in how to set up and run effective travelers' philanthropy programs. Through these programs, tourists and the businesses themselves can support designated community and conservation projects. Representatives from local NGOs, park and government officials will also be welcome to attend. Workshops will be held in Puerto Jimenez, Drake, Palmar Norte, Golfito, and Matapalo in May 2011.
3. Individual support for businesses: During the training workshops, CREST and its partners will identify a handful of businesses to receive more in-depth support in creating or improving their travel giving programs. We will also select a dozen worthy participants to receive scholarships to attend the 3rd International Travelers' Philanthropy Conference, which will take place in San Jose and Monteverde, July 20-23, 2011.
4. Capacity building and knowledge sharing: CREST is working with Fundacion Corcovado to teach staff, including their new Sustainable Tourism Director, in about travelers’ philanthropy and to help build the organization’s capacity to run an umbrella project on travelers’ philanthropy in the Osa. It is envisioned that should a Travelers’ Philanthropy Fund be created in the Osa, Fundacion Corcovado would provide the technical and administrative staff to run it.
Click here to read about CREST's work in the Osa in English.
Clic aqui para leer acerca del trabajo de CREST en Osa en Español.
Leer sobre el proyecto en El Financiero
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