Apbril 12, 2016
“Sustainability. It has become a buzzword in recent years, especially in the tourism industry. What does it really mean for a company or activity to be sustainable? If we look for definitions, most agree on a development that maintains the integrity of the environment, society, and culture, protecting opportunities for the future.
Costa Rica is one of the countries most often heard when talking about sustainable development, in part because one of the strongest voices globally is that of Christiana Figueres, an analyst in global climate change, and since 2010 Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
On a global level, the term Sustainable Tourism began to be heard in the early nineties, and the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) began to include the topic on its agendas, publishing a practical guide in 1997. The United Nations declared 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism. Ecotourism is recognized as an economic activity that provides funding to conserve natural resources and cultural values while generating lucrative activities for local communities.
For it to be a successful activity, not only the company conducting the tourist activity is involved, but also the community and the traveler themselves.
A change that has occurred in recent years is that tourists not only appreciate a provider that is sustainable, but they have come to demand it. Both in corporate and leisure travel, customers now demand that their accommodation and activities be sustainable. This is due to multiple factors, including companies that cannot deduct travel expenses from their taxes in their home countries without proving that they are using a carbon-neutral provider, for example.”
Esto nos lleva a certificación. Quién le garantiza al cliente que la empresa que escoge está realizando sus actividades de manera sostenible a nivel ecológico, cultural y social. Aquí es donde los empresarios deben invertir para que una entidad avalada a nivel internacional los certifique, y esa inversion es constante, y con periodicidad anual o hasta varias veces al año.