Sustaining Ecotourism: Insights and Implications from Two Successful Case Studies

Abstract

We draw on field research from Costa Rica and New Zealand to examine the potential for sustaining ecotourism projects over time. We find that successful ecotourism projects exist in a paradoxical or dialectical system with internal dynamics that tend to speed up the rate of tourism production. This poses a number of ecological, economic, and social problems. In general, the problems are known to local communities and public officials. The challenges are also technologically fixable and economically viable. The obstacles are political. The communities exist in larger political systems that lack the capacity to control economic action. In other words, the political process is not capable of keeping the economic system in check.

Keywords:

• Costa Rica
• Development
• Ecotourism
• Environment
• Sustainable Development
• Tourism
• New Zealand