Costa Rica is a global model for nature-based tourism, thanks to bold policies that reforested a quarter of the country and prioritized conservation. But now, mass tourism and foreign investment have begun to raise questions about whether outsiders are loving Costa Rica too much – and whether too many local people have been left behind.
Costa Rica is among the world’s most famous nature-based tourism destinations. But pressure on local economies and ecology are raising questions about ecotourism’s limits.
The marketing of Costa Rica as an eco-luxury hotspot is pricing out locals.
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As ecotourism booms, Costa Rica struggles to reconcile this modern industry with traditional agriculture. -
Ecotourism can harm the very wild animals that visitors flock to Costa Rica to encounter. -
The solutions to overtourism include new models to help visitors leave places even better than they found them. -
Meet 10 University of Florida student journalists who spent their spring semester reporting on the human, economic and environmental tensions surrounding nature-based tourism in their own state and in global leader Costa Rica.
