THE CHANGING FACE OF TOURISM
Sam Crosby1974
A tourist arrives in Monteverde after long bus trips
from San Jose to Puntarenas and from there to Santa
Elena, prepared to spend a week or more bird watch-
ing and walking in the rain forest. He finds the town's
only pension and hopes there will be space in one of
its four rooms for him. The biologists staying there
give him tips on the best places to find the Resplen-
dent Quetzal, and in the morning he sets out alone
with his notebook and binoculars.
1996
A tourist arrives in Monteverde by tour bus with 15
other tourists. They will spend one day and two
nights in Monteverde, at one of the zone's more than
35 hotels and pensions. In the morning, they have
reservations for a guided natural history walk in the
MCFP (Fig. 10.8); they are among the 50,000 tourists
to visit it each year.Although ecotourists constitute a diverse group, the
majority of tourists in the mid-1990s arrive with pack-
age tours. According to guides, one of the main dif-
ferences they encounter between present-day tourists
and those of two decades ago is the amount and kind
of information they have and want. Early tourists were
largely bird-watchers, scientists, or naturalists who
came with information about the area and specific
interest in the Resplendant Quetzal or other species.
Recent tourists have less information about what to
expect from Monteverde itself but a greater conscious-
ness of the need to conserve rain forests due to the
subject's popularity in the media.PROS AND CONS OF ECOTOURISM
Francisco Chamberlainourism in the Monteverde Zone has had major
positive and negative effects on the commu-
nities and the environment. Positive economic
growth of the area is strongly related to the MCFP, as
most of the establishments (e.g., hotels, restaurants)
that generate economic activities depend on it to at-
tract tourists. The economic impact of this industry
on a community of 4000 inhabitants was estimated
at $5 million in 1992, of which only 13% was spent
in the MCFP (Solorzano and Echeverria 1993). The
remainder was dispersed in the Monteverde econ-
omy. The MCFP has also contributed to economic de-
velopment by creating work opportunities. In 1992,
it employed 48 workers and paid 39 million colones
($283,500) in wages and benefits; in 1993, it employed
53 workers with a budget for wages and benefits of
55 million colones ($400,000).
The tourism industry employs an increasing num-
ber of residents. It generally offers better pay than farm
jobs and provides more status, which siphons work-
ers out of agriculture. There is a high demand in tour-
ism businesses for workers who speak English and
operate a computer, which results in competition for
workers. Tourism provides higher salaries at mid-
level educational positions than the Costa Rican av-
erage. As new hotels developed, the demand for per-
sonnel increased, which produced unprecedented
immigration to Monteverde.
Social, economic, and infrastructure problems ac-
company increased immigration and tourism. The
demand for basic public services (water, electricity,
telephone) grew faster than the supply, and roads have
deteriorated due to increased traffic. The price of land
in the community of Monteverde has increased to an
average of $15-$20/m^2 , which is comparable to San
Jose. Another impact is waste management; no com-
munity waste collection system existed until local
institutions started one in 1993.376 Conservation in the Monteverde ZoneT