Community Based Tourism
Finding the Euilibrium in the COMCEC Context
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A case study in Costa Rica on Chira Island was performed to determine if CBT could
contribute to the wellbeing of rural residents through the development of economic
linkages (Trejos and Chiang, 2009). As with any other form of economic activity, the
developmental impacts of tourism depend on the interactions of tourism-related activities
with both suppliers (backward linkages) and customers (forward linkages) in the provision
of food, construction outputs, power supplies, transportation, and so on. In most
developing countries, there are few links between tourism and local economic sectors,
especially links to the large informal economy that sustains livelihoods in rural and urban
areas.
The case study from Costa Rica demonstrates that CBT can be a catalyst in developing local
economic linkages that may improve the economic conditions for locals. However, the case
study also demonstrates that what devalues the economic linkages is the problem of
‘leakages’, or earnings spent outside of the local economy to support local tourism
activities. Generally, this external spending occurs in distant or peri-urban rural contexts,
most notably on imports of food and drinks, of capital and technology, as well as
advertising and additional government expenditure on tourism infrastructure. An
important lesson from this case is that in order to maximize the benefits of tourism
development for rural communities, ways must be found to increase the utilization of local
linkages especially those that have a higher impact on the local impact such as the
purchasing of local food products and, where feasible, agriculture (Trejos and Chiang,
2009).
Benefits:
 This case did not generate significant employment opportunities but the CBT initiatives
did strengthen existing employment positions and did promote the development of
businesses (small and medium enterprises) by stimulating economic linkages that did
spread to the wider community.
 There is opportunity for local government organizations, NGOs, universities (national
and foreign) to perform leading roles in the training of local residents to improve CBT
initiatives.
Challenges:
 Emerging destination communities are at a disadvantage in terms of skills, experience,
and knowledge of the tourism industry; and, therefore, require institutional support for
information, capacity building and networking opportunities relating to community
based ventures.
Lessons Learned:
 The success of a CBT project depends upon the equitable distribution of surplus
revenue that requires internal collaboration, effective leadership, and safe access to
locations.
CASE 4 - Costa Rica: Chira Island