An alliance between a guidebook author and community-based tourism
Location
Community ecolodges funded by the Small Grants Program in Costa Rica banded together in 2001 to form ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Association for Rural Tourism. I have formed an alliance with ACTUAR in which I use the knowledge and reader trust that I have developed over the 26 years that I have written and updated The New Key to Costa Rica, to familiarize tourists with the benefits of community-based tourism, thus generating sales for ACTUAR member businesses.
In addition to featuring ACTUAR member destinations in The New Key, ACTUAR and I have worked to develop ways in which I could help them market their unique form of tourism. In 2003 I started planning customized itineraries for the many readers and web browsers who contact me for travel planning advice. I always try to offer ACTUAR destinations as part of these itineraries. I am now the North American sales representative for ACTUAR and I answer their 800 number in the US. People who contacted me for travel planning advice have generated over $250,000 in income for ACTUAR over the last year and a half. That income allows ACTUAR to serve as an interface between the communities and tourists, and provides income for ACTUAR members and their families.
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
Barrio Amón
City
San José
State/Province
San José
Postal/Zip Code
1000
Country
Costa Rica
Year innovation began
2003
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of benefit to the people of the desitination
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Tourism-related business
Geographic location
Rural, Mountain, Rainforest, Multiple locations.
Plot your innovation within the Mosaic of Solutions
Main insight addressed
Market authenticity
Name Your Project
An alliance between a guidebook author and community-based tourism
Describe Your Idea
Community ecolodges funded by the Small Grants Program in Costa Rica banded together in 2001 to form ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Association for Rural Tourism. I have formed an alliance with ACTUAR in which I use the knowledge and reader trust that I have developed over the 26 years that I have written and updated The New Key to Costa Rica, to familiarize tourists with the benefits of community-based tourism, thus generating sales for ACTUAR member businesses.
In addition to featuring ACTUAR member destinations in The New Key, ACTUAR and I have worked to develop ways in which I could help them market their unique form of tourism. In 2003 I started planning customized itineraries for the many readers and web browsers who contact me for travel planning advice. I always try to offer ACTUAR destinations as part of these itineraries. I am now the North American sales representative for ACTUAR and I answer their 800 number in the US. People who contacted me for travel planning advice have generated over $250,000 in income for ACTUAR over the last year and a half. That income allows ACTUAR to serve as an interface between the communities and tourists, and provides income for ACTUAR members and their families.
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation?
Connecting travelers with community-based tourism, thus creating sustainable livelihoods for agricultural communities and memorable experiences for travelers.
How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Each ACTUAR (Costa Rican Rural Tourism Association) member community presents knowledge gained from the generations before them. Examples:
sharing the traditional uses of rainforest trees, flowers and plants at Los Campesinos Reserve,
telling how they stopped hunting and became conservationists at Cerro Escondido Lodge, showing how they protected their coral reef in order to bring back fish stocks in Isla de Chira,
local children playing with visiting children and learning to make tortillas at Nacientes Palmichal,
BriBri women demonstrating the ancient method of processing their sacred fruit, cacao, at La Casa de las Mujeres in Yorkín,
In all the above examples traditional culture becomes alive for visitors. The fascination in the eyes of the visitors shows the value of knowledge previously taken for granted. This kind of tourism encourages and supports agricultural communities to remain on their land and conserve their rivers and forests. It helps their children appreciate the values of traditional country life. Thus the flavor, beauty and richness of rural life are fostered and become inspirational to visitors, giving them the authentic experiences that they seek.
Describe your approach in detail. How is it innovative?
ACTUAR CONSERVacations are customized itineraries that combine community-based destinations with privately-owned destinations. The itineraries are developed from my 26 years of experience as a guidebook writer. I use the confidence that readers and web browsers have in my recommendations to introduce the concept of community-based ecotourism. By carefully listening to the needs and desires of the travelers who consult me, I can customize itineraries that give people the unique, authentic natural and cultural experiences that they ask for. By and providing excellent guides and drivers, we make it easy for travelers to include ACTUAR’s community-based destinations in their vacations.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
Marketing for our guidebooks (The New Key to Costa Rica and ACTUAR’s bilingual publication “Costa Rica Auténtica”) and our travel planning services. Long term commitments to teaching English and other languages in ACTUAR communities. Government cooperation in improving road access to ACTUAR destinations.
Impact
In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Marketing rural tourism by using the confidence that the traveling public has in guidebooks and guidebook author recommendations
Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts? 200 words or less
Because ACTUAR member destinations are owned and operated by community conservation organizations, all revenues go directly to the communities. Revenues from tourism supplement farming incomes and provide jobs for farming families. Profits are reinvested in improving infrastructure, marketing and training. Income from CONSERVacations also goes to pay the expenses of maintaining an office and staff that are the interface between the rural tourism destinations and tourists. ACTUAR has developed into a full service travel agency, and it also organizes training programs for its members. international and internet marketing, and liaisons with government and NGOs that support the development of community-based tourism. ACTUAR CONSERVacations has generated $253,866 in income for ACTUAR since May of 2006, representing 47.8 percent of ACTUAR’s total income.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Each ACTUAR tour includes time for interactions between hosts and guests. ACTUAR members often have inspiring stories of how their tourism efforts have improved their lives and provided opportunities for their families. They tell of how their conservation consciousness has grown over the years and how they see rivers flowing again and animals coming back. They also learn about the lives of their guests. Many memorable moments of heartfelt inter-cultural exchange flow from these interactions.
ACTUAR provides a customer satisfaction survey to each of its guests. The feedback is used to improve services and to show which experiences visitors especially liked.
Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area’s cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
The experience of visiting tourism destinations where the owners are people who might be only gardeners or maids in a regular hotel, gives tourists the opportunity to hear the stories of real people that they might not hear otherwise. ACTUAR members are often leaders on the forefront of the environmental, political and economic challenges facing their communities, so visitors also learn about these issues. Once they have had the experience of community-based tourism, visitors are prone to request this kind of experience when they visit other countries.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
ACTUAR was created by the network of community-based tourism businesses. and is governed by a board of directors made up of representatives from the community organizations that are its members. The communities are happy to have the business that ACTUAR CONSERVacations provides.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Our innovation is precisely that ACTUAR has become financially sustainable through the sales of CONSERVacations customized itineraries and through being featured in The New Key to Costa Rica. This financial stability allows ACTUAR to be a viable interface between tourists and member communities, all of whom have their own community-owned lodges and tours.
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
ACTUAR earns 47.8 percent of its income from CONSERVacations clients and another 40 percent from groups sent by European and North American travel agencies. 12% percent of ACTUAR’s income comes from internet sales and sales to Costa Rican clients.
In the last two months, ACTUAR has experienced a 60% growth rate. Its income goal for 2008 is $361,535. Its projected expenses for 2008 are $261,375. ACTUAR has a fulltime director, an accountant and two sales and operations personnel. As the North American sales representative, CONSERVacations receives a 10% commission on sales as do all other agencies who sell tour to ACTUAR member destinations.
What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
It would be good if other guidebook writers in other countries would take the time to get to know the community-based destinations in the regions they write about, and help local travel agencies design customized itineraries that include those destinations. Guidebook writers can also invite people from community-based tourism projects to accompany them as the writers visit hotels in areas close to community-owned destinations. This helps the communities get to know the hotels in their area and make connections with the hotel staff members that help hotel guests figure out which tours to take.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The travel guidebook industry is dominated by a few large, well-known companies who sell lines of guidebooks to many countries. The New Key to Costa Rica became a best seller in the era of mom-and-pop bookstores and travel bookstores, before the larger companies had guidebooks to Costa Rica. Dramatic changes in the business of book distribution have greatly reduced the number of locally-owned and travel bookstores. Big box bookstores buy very limited numbers of each title, making it easy to run out of a small title like ours. It would be great if The New Key could be more effectively distributed. It would also be good if the publishers of travel guidebooks would allow their writers the time and budget to experience off-the-beaten-track destinations like ACTUAR communities. These destinations cannot be evaluated on the appearance of their installations alone. The interactions and tours take time to experience—time that most travel writers do not have.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
• BA UC Berkeley, Social Sciences and Spanish, 1969
• Author of The New Key to Costa Rica now in its 18th edition. Co-author of the Key to Costa Rica Sustainable Ecotourism Rating System 1990-1998. The New Key to Costa Rica was the first guidebook to rate lodgings on their commitment to conservation, to preserving local culture, and to fostering local economies. In 1998, Costa Rica became the first country to adopt a similar system, the Certification of Sustainable Tourism.
• Green travel planning consultant for independent travelers to Costa Rica since 1996.
• North American representative of ACTUAR
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
I inherited the guidebook, The New Key to Costa Rica, when my mother, Jean Wallace, passed away in 1982. She had published the first edition in 1976, when there were no other guidebooks to her adopted country. I am currently working on the 19th edition, to be published in October 2008 by Ulysses Press in Berkeley, California.
When the book became a best seller in 1989, I was afraid that it might be aiding and abetting the destruction of the natural wonders it was extolling. So, with co-author Anne Becher, we developed a system that rated lodgings on their commitment to conservation, to preserving local cultures and fostering local economies. As far as I know, it was the first “green rating” to be published in a guidebook. A rating system similar to ours was adopted by the Costa Rican government in 1998.
In the last ten years, the Small Grants Program of the Global Environmental Facility has funded campesino and indigenous conservation organizations in Costa Rica to build their own ecolodges and create trails and other nature tourism attractions within their forest reserves. These destinations represent what I had always wanted to see in Costa Rican tourism: locally-owned lodges that preserve natural resources, provide great adventures, and give visitors a chance to meet real Costa Rican campesino conservationists. Now I feature these lodges in my book.
The community ecolodges that had been funded by the Small Grants Program banded together in 2001 to form ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Association for Rural Tourism. I have formed an alliance with ACTUAR in which I use the knowledge and reader trust that I have developed over the 26 years that I have written and updated The New Key to Costa Rica, to familiarize tourists with the benefits of community-based tourism.
In addition to featuring ACTUAR member destinations in The New Key, ACTUAR and I have worked to develop ways in which I could help them market their unique form of tourism. The first idea was for me to lead groups to visit ACTUAR destinations. I gathered the first “pilot” group together in 2003 and led two other tours in 2004. By the end of 2004, ACTUAR started hiring excellent bilingual naturalist guide/drivers, and I started planning customized itineraries for the many readers and web browsers who contact me for travel planning advice. I always try to offer ACTUAR destinations as part of these itineraries. I am now the North American sales representative for ACTUAR and I answer their 800 number in the US. People who contacted me for travel planning advice have generated over $250,000 in income for ACTUAR over the last year and a half. That income allows ACTUAR to serve as an interface between the communities and tourists, and provides income for ACTUAR members and their families.
Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on the competition homepage.
Community ecolodges funded by the Small Grants Program in Costa Rica banded together in 2001 to form ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Association for Rural Tourism. I have formed an alliance with ACTUAR in which I use the knowledge and reader trust that I have developed over the 26 years that I have written and updated The New Key to Costa Rica, to familiarize tourists with the benefits of community-based tourism, thus generating sales for ACTUAR member businesses.
In addition to featuring ACTUAR member destinations in The New Key, ACTUAR and I have worked to develop ways in which I could help them market their unique form of tourism. In 2003 I started planning customized itineraries for the many readers and web browsers who contact me for travel planning advice. I always try to offer ACTUAR destinations as part of these itineraries. I am now the North American sales representative for ACTUAR and I answer their 800 number in the US. People who contacted me for travel planning advice have generated over $250,000 in income for ACTUAR over the last year and a half. That income allows ACTUAR to serve as an interface between the communities and tourists, and provides income for ACTUAR members and their families.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ACTUAR director Kyra and Don Félix.jpg | 164.74 KB |
| ASEPALECO dancers.jpg | 35.78 KB |
| conversation with statues San José.jpg | 35.29 KB |
| campesinos puente colgante_2.jpg | 59.79 KB |
| Don Miguel at Los Campesinos reserve.jpg | 173.16 KB |
| Guias MANT dolphin tours, Manzanillo.jpg | 39.37 KB |
| Iliana at Isla de Chira.jpg | 97.8 KB |
| Jumbo shrimp at Costa de Pájaros.jpg | 120.5 KB |
| making cacao paste, Yorkin.jpg | 48.89 KB |
| El Copal rainforest reserve near Turrialba.jpg | 157.85 KB |
| making thatch yorkin.jpg | 84.73 KB |
| Mascaradas at El Encanto de la Piedra Blanca.jpg | 36.11 KB |
| Nacientes Palmichal Lodge.jpg | 295.2 KB |
| Waterfall, Yorkin.jpg | 69.61 KB |
| Swimming hole at Los Campesinos.jpg | 57.58 KB |
 | Key to Costa Rica said: That's geotourism in a nutshell, is it not? about this Competition Entry. - 1371 days ago read more > |
| Key to Costa Rica said: Dear John, I know that you are dedicated to making changes in society in deep and vital ways. It was an honor to have fellow ... about this Competition Entry. - 1371 days ago read more > |
| Key to Costa Rica said: Dear Hank and Linda. I remember that the communities really loved having your visit, because you were so open to the people and so ... about this Competition Entry. - 1371 days ago read more > |
| Key to Costa Rica said: Dear Jane, I remember that the people in Yorkín thought that you were very brave to travel all that way by yourself. about this Competition Entry. - 1371 days ago read more > |
| jfields1 said: Four of us traveled to Costa Rica last year based on our reading The New Key to Costa Rica and our interactions with Beatrice Blake and ... about this Competition Entry. - 1380 days ago read more > |
| tanzes said: My wife and I had the good fortune to participate in an ACTUAR CONSERVacation in the fall of 2006, having discovered Ms. Blake's book, ... about this Competition Entry. - 1381 days ago read more > |
| janecc said: When I went to Costa Rica for the first time I was a woman alone and I spoke no Spanish. ACTUAR made sure the time of my life, ... about this Competition Entry. - 1382 days ago read more > |
| Key to Costa Rica said: Yes, just by visiting ACTUAR's member destinations, you become part of the change. Thanks for pointing that out. about this Competition Entry. - 1384 days ago read more > |
| Key to Costa Rica said: Dear Ron, On the website of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) there are small photographs with links on either side of the index ... about this Competition Entry. - 1384 days ago read more > |
| planeta said: Quick question - Is Actuar linked to from Costa Rica's tourism portal? about this Competition Entry. - 1384 days ago read more > |
Comments
I was reading Beatrice Blake book last summer and I was enticed about the challenges and opportunities for rural tourism in sustainable local communities in Costa Rica.
I recommended this project to a friend in Brazil, to copy her advice and replicate this kind of experience in this country that really need a conservationist practice and also a better income distribution.
As a business this kind of tourism is great for families traveling together in holidays and under a budget.
I strongly recommend Actuar project,
Oscar Ruiz,
Recife Brazil
Dear Oscar,
Thanks for spreading the word about ACTUAR in Brazil. I know there are similar projects there. It would be wonderful to do an exchange between the Brazilian and Costa Rican community-based tourism groups!
Beatrice Blake arranged a "bird watching adventure" for my wife and I for eight days in Costa Rica. Our trip involved an opportunity to have a close association with the people of Costa Rica and their daily lives. The birding was fantastic as were the opportunities to enjoy the untarnished natural surroundings of some of Costa Rica's forests and jungles. Close-up meetings with the Howler and White faced monkeys were an unexpected treat. The irridescent Blue Morpho showed its blinking flashes at numerous locations. At times the birds came so fast we couldn't keep up. Our "Birds of Costa Rica" now have many well worn pages.
Dear Nobi,
ACTUAR wouldn't exist without people like you who really want to include local culture in your nature trips. I have heard complaints about birders--that they only care about the birds and not about the people who live and work in these pristine areas. But the neat thing about ACTUAR sites is the campesinos who by nature are excellent birders and are preserving their forests and rivers so that the birds and animals will be there for their children.
Kudos to Beatrice and the good people of ACTUAR. I was one of the first ecotourists visiting Costa Rica in 1989 with my own copy of 'New Key,' the classic eco guidebook. It is great to see how the current edition highlights agrotourism and conservation efforts in Costa Rica's rural communities.
Congratulations to you, Ron, for being a great catalyzer of innovative thinking for people all over the world, in the years when these project were just ideas, not yet manifesting. We are part of a giant network of people passionate about the place where rural communities, conservation and tourism meet. And you almost singlehandedly wove that web! On the web!
I am the general manager of La Cusinga Eco Lodge, a community based and ecological preservation, a small lodge in the southern pacific of Costa Rica. TO me Beatrice Blake has been a source of inspiration and a guide. I had the honor to travel with her around Costa Rica in one of the editions of her book, and that trip was to me better than any formal education that I will ever get, her care for what she does, she is not one of those people that cut and paste her work from other places, she works hard to make sure her info is correct and she not only talks to the hotel people but has put a great deal of effort into making sure she get to know the situation of every community. When she started to work with ACTUAR to me it was perfect fit. ACTUAR is an organization that has a great leader; Kyra is to me a younger version of Beatrice… both of them have the same passion for the communities and the environment.
Beatrice Blake has helped us in so many ways; she was the first one to add us in her book, which has brought a significant increase in business. She always visit us and takes the time to see the lodge completely and spends some time given us her recommendations to improve from small details to overall strategies. She has also helped us in creating stronger relationships with ACTUAR, her believe in our project has help bring ACTUAR closer to us and to create a better business relationship.
Community based tourism has taken off in Costa Rica thanks to Beatrice and ACTUAR, they are pioneers in the area and they put their heart to doing things right! We are proof of their work. La Cusinga Eco Lodge (www.lacusingalodge.com ).
Thank you and if you need more information we will be glad to talk to you!
Geinier Guzman, MBA General Manager, La Cusinga Eco Lodge
Dear Geinier,
Thank you so much for your recognition of all that Kyra and I are trying to do. I remember the first time I saw the main building of La Cusinga rising up in its unique shape. I felt that seeing it was aligning my own spine, that there was a special energy there of love for nature in all its forms. The rocks showed me that. The beauty of rocks was brought out in every creative way possible so one could really appreciate the shapes and colors of the tiniest to the biggest. That love for nature made La Cusinga what it is today. I hope that as more and more people learn about La Cusinga you can preserve that special wildness that is so rarely found.
Beatrice Blake has been a shining light in field of sustainable tourism in Costa Rica. Beatrice was kind enough to list my tourism center since her 15th edition. She did this because of my committment to eco, rural and community based tourism. She was inspriational in in my "true" discovery of Costa Rica, and I must thank her because I have since returned to graduate school to focus on community based ecotourism. Had I never bought a copy of "New Key", who knows where I would be...All the best to ACTUAR and Beatrice.
Bobby Chappell
Hi Bobby,
It's good to hear what you are doing after so many years. I am pleased to know that the New Key helped you discover the true Costa Rica. It is definitely there, and worth being discovered. I was just in Jacó and saw the huge gray hulks of unfinished condos towering over the town. Would love to know what your thoughts are about that. As the huge gray hulks get hulkier, ACTUAR is helping its members create healthy communities out in the countryside. And it is happening. The farmers of the earth, and the huge wave of organic farmers in Costa Rica, are going to be the preservers of life in the future.
Costa Rica además de su rica biodiversidad, tiene un enorme potencial en su gente, en su cultura... en las comunidades. Beatrice Blake y su programa Conservacations, ha hecho posible que esto sea conocido fuera de Costa Rica. Ella ofrece itinerarios de viaje en donde los visitantes pueden tener un contacto más humano con las comunidades receptoras, sin perder el norte que vacaciones son vacaciones. De esta forma, las asociaciones gestoras del turismo rural comunitario, perciben ingresos que las encaminan hacia la autosostenibilidad y los motivan a perfilar sus proyectos como pequeñas empresas productivas, exitosas y emprendedoras.
Considero que Beatrice Blake y Conservacations son un ejemplo a seguir en el camino hacia un desarrollo turístico sostenible.
Atte: Elena Arias / turismoautentico@gmail.com
Gracias, Elena, por expresar en tan pocas palabras,todo el significado de lo que estamos haciendo. Tu visión te va a llevar a la realización del sueño que tenemos todas y todos.
Imagine if all the guidebook writers would do what Beatrice does to promote community-based rural tourism...there would be a completely different picture of the impacts of tourism in local communities. Local people would not be selling their land to tourism corporations and real estate companies...and more communities would be proud of keeping the land, the forest and the local traditions as a unique value to share with visitors.
Every two years Beatrice publishes The New Key To Costa Rica, so every year she visits Costa Rica at least once. When she comes to Costa Rica, she visits ACTUAR's community-based lodges...providing advise on how to improve the services...this last year we used also her influence with hoteliers to promote Casa de las Mujeres (a Bribri Indigenous community-based rural tourism lodge & one day tour)as a one day tour for visitors staying at hotels in the South Caribbean. Together with Daisy, from the bribri community, she visited more than 20 hotels to both edit the guidebook and promote Casa de las Mujeres one day tour. At every hotel she visited, she talked about ACTUAR and community-based rural tourism in Costa Rica. With a changemaker like Beatrice, we have been able to make other very important alliances with people who have been inspired by Beatrice's passion for community-based rural tourism.
For me personally, as Director of ACTUAR, Beatrice has been my mentor, inspiration and every day practical support. She has tought me how to sell community-based rural tourism. She has taught me how to listen to desires of the travellers, and she has also thaught me how to improve the services we offer taking into account all the comments of our common clients. Thanks to Beatrice, ACTUAR is not only teaching how to make tourism to communities in Costa Rica, but together we are operating great geotourism experiences for local communities and the travellers willing to experience a truly unique experience in partnership with local people.
THANK YOU BEATRICE!!!!
Ah,Kyra,we do share this passion about giving back justice and dignity and a way of maintaining rural life to the people who still work the earth to provide our food.
Writing a guidebook is not fun unless it has meaning and purpose. I loved combining my research with Daisy's efforts -- it was great to see the genuine interest in the eyes of the people at the hotels as they heard about the exciting trip in a dugout canoe and the experience of seeing cacao growing on the tree and learning how it becomes the chocolate we know and love. And it is the sacred tree of the BriBri! Daisy and her group are offering a really memorable experience. Combining my research on local hotels with her information sharing brought a delightful sense of partnership and teamwork.I would love to do that again!
Thank you, Kyra,for devoting all your intelligence, creativity and professionalism to the building of successful community-based, conservation-driven rural tourism.
I first discovered the New Key to Costa Rica while planning a honeymoon trip fifteen years ago and have picked up a new edition every few years since. Using the guide lead to a general awareness of the alliance with ACTUAR but after reading Beatrice's Challenge entry I have a new understanding of how comprehensive and practical this approach is.
Helping the communities to help themselves by providing the publicity, infrastructure and reassurance necessary to bring tourists and their money to remarkable locations and introduce them to local cultures and people seemed almost too idealistic to me. Fortunately Beatrice, CONSERVacations and ACTUAR didn't share my timidity and have made this idea not only reality but financially sustainable.
I applaud your innovation, congratulate you on your success so far and hope the GeoTourism challenge proves an avenue for growth both within Costa Rica and into the rest of the world.
--Ray Krueger Koplin
Dear Ray.
Thank you for understanding so well what we are doing. The detail that goes into your Toucan maps of Costa Rica has made navigating so much easier. We are grateful for ,your willingness to partner with us by sharing your unigue talents and expertise and are looking forward to working with you!
Beatrice Blake and Actuar provided our family with a fun and enlightening trip to Costa Rica. We are a family of 5 (mom, dad, 2 teens and 3 year old) that wanted to visit Costa Rica "off the beaten track" but needed the experience to be accessible, fun, and relaxing. Beatrice provided excellent recommendations -- she grasped our needs over a couple of email and phone conversations and was able to match us with locations/lodging perfectly. Actuar provided a great guide, as he was very comfortable with our kids and and a true nature lover. (He was just as intrigued as our three-year old with the ants in the rain forest!) In fact we even met his family during our travels, which cemented our friendship. We spent a memorable 2 days and nights in Jaunilama, which is a community-based eco-tourism location. Everywhere we went in the community we were treated as special visitors. It was a joy for all to see our kids play with the other children and enjoy farm life. The simplicity and beauty affected everyone in our family and we will not forget the hand made crib our hosts provided. I think there are many families like ours, people who want to experience the "real" Costa Rica and meet the people who live there. Thank goodness for Beatrice Blake and Actuar. The work they do truly benefits visitors and the people and places we want to experience.
Dear Sara,
It's so great to know that you enjoyed your trip and your experience in the community of Juanilama. Families like yours that value simplicity, beauty and intercultural communication, and want to share that with their kids--families like yours complete the circle, and the exchange goes both ways. Thanks for travelling with us!
Beatrice
What Beatrice does is wonderful.
Granted, therre are many wonderful things being done.
But I choose this one, as the most wonderful among the wonderfuls.
Enzo
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Dear Enzo,
Thanks for choosing us as the most wonderful of the wonderfuls. And thanks for making the connection for me between the Slow Food Movement that was founded near you in Torino, and the community-based tourism movement. Both seek to honor the people that grow our food, and to keep their traditions alive. A strong culture that shares its traditions, protects its environment, and knows how to grow delicious, nutritious food can be a great source of grounded leadership in our out-of-whack world. ACTUAR members come from and are constantly creating such communities. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all come and celebrate with you in Italy!
I was privileged to have an author who wrote the book on ecotravelling in Costa Rica help me arrange my latest family vacation there. After an initial "phone interview" with Beatrice during which she learned as much as she could about my family and me, she "chiseled" for us a gem of a trip packed with fun activities and exposure to the real Costa Rica through accomodation arrangements in paradisiacal community-based facilities. These accomodations gave us, every day, the opportunity to talk to real people living in real communities, eager and proud to share with us everything they knew about their country's immense natural richness and history. Adding to this unbelievable experience was our access to a bilingual naturalist guide and driver that Betarice had arranged for us. If you ever dreamed of visiting the back country of Australia in the company of Crocodile Dundee, this is exactly what we EXPERIENCED by travelling for 8 days in the company of Mr. Julio Madriz, a bilingual naturalist-guide-driver with infinite knowledge of Costa Rica's trees, plants, birds, climate, geography, history and traditions. At every stop, he was the connecting link between us, cityslickers on vacation, and Costa Rican living in the purest traditions of their ancestors while applying the most ecologically friendly techniques of this century to preserve and enhance their national, regional and local heritage. This trip will remain for ever etched in our family memory as the trip that opened our eyes on the infinite beauty of well-preserved and well-protected nature and the importance of supporting communities living in harmony with nature's wonders. Thank you Beatrice, Julio and ACTUAR for a life changing experience!
Dear Karim,
Thanks for calling attention to our wonderful bilingual naturalist guides like Julio, who really weave the magic of creating memorable trips for our visitors. And at the same time as many parts of Costa Rica are being sold off to the highest bidder--at the very same time, there are people like Julio and like the members of ACTUAR, working every day to realize their dream of human life in harmony with nature. Costa Rica has a history of being innovative.It started public education in 1889.It abolished its Army after the war of 1948. It created its National Park system in the 1970s and 80s and opened its natural wonders to tourism. A generation of Ticos has grown up now knowing that we can live better if our forests and animals are healthy. ACTUAR members are inspiring because they are committed to conservation, and that commitment shines through to the people who visit them. The guides share their values and help transmit them from heart to heart.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!
I was privileged to have an author who wrote the book on ecotravelling in Costa Rica help me arrange my latest family vacation there. After an initial "phone interview" with Beatrice during which she learned as much as she could about my family and me, she "chiseled" for us a gem of a trip packed with fun activities and exposure to the real Costa Rica through accomodation arrangements in paradisiacal community-based facilities. These accomodations gave us, every day, the opportunity to talk to real people living in real communities, eager and proud to share with us everything they knew about their country's immense natural richness and history. Adding to this unbelievable experience was our access to a bilingual naturalist guide and driver that Betarice had arranged for us. If you ever dreamed of visiting the back country of Australia in the company of Crocodile Dundee, this is exactly what we EXPERIENCED by travelling for 8 days in the company of Mr. Julio Madriz, a bilingual naturalist-guide-driver with infinite knowledge of Costa Rica's trees, plants, birds, climate, geography, history and traditions. At every stop, he was the connecting link between us, cityslickers on vacation, and Costa Rican living in the purest traditions of their ancestors while applying the most ecologically friendly techniques of this century to preserve and enhance their national, regional and local heritage. This trip will remain for ever etched in our family memory as the trip that opened our eyes on the infinite beauty of well-preserved and well-protected nature and the importance of supporting communities living in harmony with nature's wonders. Thank you Beatrice, Julio and ACTUAR for a life changing experience!
For UNDP Small Grants Programme, where I had the privilege of working during the last six years, Beatrice has been one of these “angels” that helps to transform dreams into reality. When community based tourism was barely more than a promising idea, Beatrice contributed to inspire people, to develop self-confidence, to feel proud of their culture, to build a different relationship between tourists and hosts, to show their efforts in preserving nature…. THANK YOU BEATRICE for having this sensitivity, for your commitment, for your understanding and for your generosity to share your wide experience in tourism with us. We learned a lot from you. And Costa Rican offer today is much more diverse and sustainable thanks to Actuar, Conservacations and other initiatives that prove that “another tourism is possible”.
Dear Arantxa,
You and Gaby Calderón were my first guides to community-based tourism in 2002, first through your writing in the guidebook published by the Small Grants Program, Costa Rica Autentica, then through my first tour with Gaby. The more I learned about the vision behind the Small Grants Program,the more impressed I became. The evolution of thinking about conservation and its relationship to local communities has evolved in a fascinating way in the last two decades, and the Small Grants Program takes that evolution from thinking to reality. I try to explain this evolution, and why Costa Rica has been the ideal place to make it work, in the introduction to my book, which people can read at www.keytocostarica.com.
The SGP worked closely with all the members of ACTUAR, making sure that there was input from many parts of each community, that women were fully involved and in leadership positions, that lodge design, business training, publicity, and leadership training were all carried out in a planned and well-coordinated way. The SGP thus laid the foundation for the broad-based vision of tourism that ACTUAR works with today. I hope that more people will learn about your work in countries all over the world, and will support the SGP and the UN Development Program for showing that another tourism is possible.
Thanks again!
Beatrice
Fabulous organization that has allowed my family to see wonderful parts of Costa Rica while clearly benefiting the local residents. Unlike more traditional tours, our individualized trip allowed us to have unhurried time with Costa Ricans who are using tourism to strengthen and protect their local culture and environment. We look forward to our next journey.
Lewis, reading your comment reminds me that ACTUAR CONSERVacations are not always tours led by our excellent bilingual naturalist guides. Some families and couples really want to go at their own pace, and immerse themselves in the jungle, or in birding, or in practicing Spanish. Lewis is fascinated with fair trade and organix agriculture and finding out how that works. He and his family also wanted to practice their Spanish. So they immersed themselves in the ACTUAR communities without an expert guide, going at their own pace. Trips are more economical that way too. I think that one of our strongest points is being able to customize. That lets a wide variety of people, with different needs and different travel styles, all get to experience ACTUAR communities.
Thanks so much for coming back, Lewis!
My family and I just came back from a trip organized by Beatrice Blake for Actuar Conservations and let me tell you that we had a blast. We were a little anxious about it as it was our first trip to Costa Rica and we wanted all members of our group (with different likes and expectations) to have a fun and educational experience.
Hats off !!! We all came back with a renewed and healthy respect for Mother Earth and all the people who are trying to keep it as intact and beautiful as the day it was created.
Keep up the good work Actuar !!!!
I really think that the most important thing Costa Rica and especially the farmer/conservationists of ACTUAR have to offer the world is their love for Mother Earth. I'm so glad that you were all touched by it. Hope to see you in Costa Rica again!
Beatrice
I am struck by your vision of guidebooks serving as catalysts for the ecotourism movement. It makes so much sense, and I wonder why more aren't doing it. Do you have connections to similar organizations in other countries?
Best,
Keren
Reynolds Ashoka Ambassador
New York University School of Law
J.D. Candidate 2010
Dear Karen,
I think that one of the reasons more don't do it is that to make a living as a guidebook writer, you usually have to write about several different countries. Putting together guidebooks is a lot of work. So if you have to do several of them, and update them, you don't have a lot of time.
The isolated pristine locations where ACTUAR members have their lodges are not easy to get to, and each one takes time to know, because experiencing them means experiencing the people. So you have to spend a day or two on one "entry" instead of whipping through 20 in a day. This can be frustrating for a writer working with a deadline.
But I never set out to be a travel writer. I always had another profession and did the book because I had inherited it from my mother. So I had to make it interesting and rewarding for myself. Since 2005 I have been working with ACTUAR fulltime.
The Small Grants Program of the Global Environmental Facility, often administered by the UN Development Program (see Arantxa Guereña's letter below), has started tourism projects in poor rural communities near pristine natural resources all over the world. The fact that the Costa Rican communities have been able to band together to create a full service travel agency is due strategic SGP funding, to the high level of education and community organization in Costa Rica, as well as the dedication and tireless efforts of ACTUAR's director, Kyra Cruz, and the wisdom of its board of directors, made up of representatives of the communities themselves.
Of course it would all be for naught if they didn't have some tourists visiting, to get them off the ground, and that's where I come in, and other pioneers like Fran Doyé of Cultourica. I don't have connections to similar organizations, but I bet they are out there.
Could I apply to be an Ashoka fellow? Beatrice
Hi Beatrice,
It is wonderful to read your story. I have written a guidebook on New Zealand eco-friendly accommodations, organic food outlets and ecotourism adventures with an accompanying website that has been operational for just on 1 year. So it is really interesting for me to see how your work/project has developed over the years, how you financially sustain both yourself and the community you work with, and what a huge and positive impact you have obviously made on so many lives. I would very much like to read your book - would you be interested in exchanging books at all? If not I'll just have to buy one! Thank you Beatrice.
Leonie Johnsen
Dear Leonie,
Sounds like you are doing great work in New Zealand. Guidebooks do change lives! My personal book supply is running low although there are plenty of copies available on the internet. I am working on an update right now that should be out in October or November, so I'd be interested in a swap for the next edition. Keep up the good work! Beatrice
Hi Beatrice,
I have ordered your book on-line. Lets swap our next issue. Organic Explorer will be published September, so I'll be in touch then or thereabouts.
Thanks,
Leonie
Rural Community Tourism is a type of travel experience that has been catching more and more attention...and tourist dollars...over the past decade, and for all the best reasons. These sites are usually connected very closely with local communities, and the profits stay in the local economy. They are owned, operated and staffed by local folks, and visitors feel welcomed into the community in a way that is missing in most other types of tourist venues.
In Costa Rica there are around 30 of these sites, from Yorkin, a BriBri Indian community on the east coast, to Isla de Chira, a women's fishing cooperative on the west coast. They are all represented by an advocacy organization and travel agency called ACTUAR, and, in working with ACTUAR, guidebook author Beatrice Blake seems to have found a particularly effective route to bringing more tourists to these sites.
In February my husband and I spent a month traveling in Costa Rica. This was our first trip to Costa Rica and I prepared for it by reading a number of guidebooks. My favorite guide book soon became Beatrice's The New Key to Costa Rica (15th edition). I soon purchased the new (18th) edition. The voice of the author was one I could trust. I liked her encouragement of environmentally thoughtful travel. We stayed, almost exclusively, at places recommended in The New Key…and loved them all. This kind of travel included travel on public buses (which we now favor) and rural community tourism. This concept was new to us and we were both thrilled with our experiences in each of the four communities we visited. Because they were off the beaten tourist path we would not have found them on our own.
It took some doing to get to each of the places—an hour and a half hike to Cerro Escondido, a two-hour ride in a dugout canoe to Yorkin, an hour and a half four-wheel-drive trip to Los Compesinos, but we invariably arrived in yet another gorgeous environment, hosted by wonderful people and their extended families. We realized quickly that we were visiting a side of the country that the routine tourist never meets. Learning about the making of chocolate, swimming in gorgeous waterfall pools, eating wonderful local foods, visiting with—being guided by—the children of the community often, are the kinds of experiences that may now have spoiled us for any other kind of tourism. Our only regret is that we did not stay longer in each of these communities.
Community rural tourism is an exciting concept and a fine model for…the world. Preserving communities/biological corridors through tourism is a brilliant idea. Training local people about their natural environments and cultures—to prepare them to be guides—is also a brilliant approach to fostering and perpetuating the broader acceptance of community rural tourism. (We saw the children accompanying their parents—learning to identify plants and animals along the trail—excited to become guides themselves one day. )
And, as far as we are concerned this model is working and I believe more people would love to know about it.
Joan and George Packard
Warner, NH, USA
Thank you so much for your kind comments about your experiences in Costa Rica and The New Key. I was lucky enough to accompany you to at least one of the communities, and it was fun to share your enthusiasm as you discovered this new way of travel. I can´t wait to see your videos!
Beatrice
Mi nombre es Bernarda y soy líder de Estibrawpa, una inicitiva de turismo rural comunitario en un pueblo indígena bribri llamado Yorkín. Nuestros objetivos son 3: protección de la biodiversidad, fortalecimiento de la cultura y mejoramiento de la economía familiar.
Para nosotros es importante el apoyo de Beatrice hemos logrado cumplir los objetivos porque ha aumentado el cliente para la organización nuestra. Mucha gente se ha beneficiado, no solamente gente de la organización sino también gente de la comunidad. La cultura bribri se ha fortalecido en Yorkín gracias a los visitantes que envía beatrice y otras personas porque para nosotros es un intercambio que se hace y la gente ha comprendido que no solo hay una cultura sino que hay muchas culturas en el mundo y que la nuestra es importante y debemos conservarla. La gente que llega anima a los vecinos para que sigamos hablando en bribri, el canto en bribri. También nos hacen muchas preguntas de nuestra historia, lo cual no hace que nosotros seamos más curiosos de nuestra historia. Al buscar la información, se interesa de que es importante. Estibrawpa, ACTUAR y Beatrice contribuyen con la conservación porque el turismo rural le dan empleo a personas que antes no lo tenían, que cortaban árboles para poder vivir o tenían que salir a trabajar a las bananeras dejando la comunidad. Ahora con los visitantes la gente se mantiene más en la comunidad y hay más conciencia sobre la protección de los árboles y los animales, porque antes todo eso se vendía. Ahora contamos con mayor seguridad de que en el futuro no nos va a escasear el agua y es una comunidad de las mejores del Territorio Indígena Bribri, ya que contamos con escuela y colegio. Nos gusta más trabajar en turismo ya que es divertido, porque no rotamos los trabajos: un día estamos guiando, otro día enseñando el proceso del chocolate, otro día en la cocina, otro estudiando, otro día platicando con los visitantes, otro día trabajando en las fincas con el banano y el cacao y eso lo hace más entretenido y no aburrido. Los visitantes también que no estamos aburridos y que nos gusta hacer lo que hacemos. Gracias Beatrice por todo el apoyo que ha brindado para ACTUAR y nuestra organización Stibrawpa.
Estimada Bernarda,
Me alegra mucho escuchar sus comentarios. Usted y los comapañeras y compañeros de Estibrawpa son una inspiración para quienes les visitan. Gracias al liderazgo que ha tomado en su comunidad y en la junta directiva de ACTUAR, muchas vidas han cambiado y ACTUAR ha podido enfrentar los retos de ser un negocio para la conservación, el cambio social, y el acercamiento de los pueblos.
Sinceramente,
Beatrice
It's been a personal pleasure for me having the experience to travel and rediscovering rural Costa Rica with Actuar's Rural Adventures packages. For me as a "Tico" (acronism for Costa Rican), it is sometimes hard to experience the old-fashion customes of rural country, their stories that remind you of your grandparents folk tales, the pristine landscapes of these untouched and preserved forests, and a more relaxed way of life that is lived on the country, away from clocks, tvs and phones. Now, besides what you get when you visit rural tourism communities in terms of personal experiences, you are also given the chance to be part of the change and to help these communities to make business of preserving their forests and to withstand the pressure of selling their land to give way to the increasing and threatening "development", currently affecting our environment countrywide.
Thanks Actuar for great experiences in the rural path, and congratulations for your efforts and achievements!
Yes, just by visiting ACTUAR's member destinations, you become part of the change. Thanks for pointing that out.
My wife and had a great time traveling through Costa Rica 2 winters ago, on a trip arranged through ACTUAR. We can't wait to get back. We found "The New Key to Costa Rica" invaluable in planning the trip.
Dear John,
I know that you are dedicated to making changes in society in deep and vital ways. It was an honor to have fellow changemakers on our tour!
Quick question - Is Actuar linked to from Costa Rica's tourism portal?
Dear Ron,
On the website of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) there are small photographs with links on either side of the index page. The fifth one on the right says Rural Tourism and goes to four pages describing rural tourism and the ICT's efforts to support it. Finally there is an information page with links to ACTUAR, COOPRENA, ACEPESA and the Small Grants Program of the UNDP.
ACTUAR is second on the list of Travel Agencies that you also get to from the ICT index page.
Thanks for asking!
When I went to Costa Rica for the first time I was a woman alone and I spoke no Spanish. ACTUAR made sure the time of my life, everything went off without a hitch, and I
fully recommend ACTUAR to anyone who wants an authentic community friendly, ecofriendly experience in a beautiful country.
Dear Jane,
I remember that the people in Yorkín thought that you were very brave to travel all that way by yourself.
My wife and I had the good fortune to participate in an ACTUAR CONSERVacation in the fall of 2006, having discovered Ms. Blake's book, The New Key to Costa Rica, at a bookstore in our home in Tacoma, WA. We were intrigued by her description of community-based ecotourism as a way to have in-depth exposure to the people and culture of Costa Rica as well as its natural wonders, while encouraging the conservation of its resources and support of local communities.
Ms. Blake arranged a week's home stay for us to allow us to (try to) improve our Spanish, during which we were introduced to all aspects of life in a coffee-producing village by a delightful and knowledgable young guide. We and another couple then toured several lush and scenic Costa Rican community-based as well as privately-owned lodges, ecologically sensitive and supportive of the local economies, under the care of a very experienced driver/guide. Each lodge experience was different, but usually involved wonderful communal home-cooked meals, tours and in-depth demonstrations and explanations of the local environment and economy, including community-based tourism. It was a fabulous experience, very intimate, illuminating, and beautiful. The lodges were rustic but comfortable, and the jungles, cloud-forests, and beaches just gorgeous. We had close contact with our several hosts, their families, and their friends. It could not have been a better combination of rewarding travel, support of local communities, and protecting the environment.
Dear Hank and Linda.
I remember that the communities really loved having your visit, because you were so open to the people and so interested in their lives. And I remember that you really noticed the difference when you had to stay at places that were "just hotels". I think that that is why it is so hard for travel writers to write about ACTUAR destinations. If you just look at the amenities, there are hundreds of hotels that would be better. But if you look at the richness of the connections, the stories, the chance to share what you have always known but that was not valued--then the simple wooden buildings become the setting for a beautiful, life-changing experience. Travel writing can be so boring and superficial, or quirky and clever at best. But when you meet people whose lives are dedicated to conservation, and see what they have done, and the hope and recognition that your visit brings. there is the dawning understanding for all of us of the new meaning tourism can have.Thanks so much for your comments.
Four of us traveled to Costa Rica last year based on our reading The New Key to Costa Rica and our interactions with Beatrice Blake and ACTUAR. They put together a customized itinerary for us that took us off the beaten path, gave us a wide diversity of things to do and see and introduced us to both the culture and people of Costa Rica in a way that would have been impossible on a typical tour. Based on this experience we now look for community based, off the beaten path destinations wherever we travel.
That's geotourism in a nutshell, is it not?