Turismo Parte Uno

Well I don't know much about the trousim industry in Costa Rica yet except that I am a part of it. I do remember that the lecturer (Roldolfo maybe, I really can't remember his name) who spoke to us yesterday about sustainability said that toursim has become the number one industry in Costa Rica. He said that since 1994 their has been a big boom in tourism and that it now exceeds other industries like bananas and Intel. I can understand why more and more tourists would want to come here; it is such a beautiful country, though I am sure I will see this more as we really get out and explore Costa Rica. The infocostarica.com website (which seems to be a bit outdated) says that 17% of the Tico population are employed by the tourism industry and that there has been a very large jump in employment and hotels being built and other tourist related figures. I would imagine that these numbers are now a bit higher which seems to make sense because Costa Rica has the lowest unemployment rate in the area. I have heard and read a few things about some damaging effects of the tourism industry but do not have anything too concrete yet. The tourism industry has grown so much and so quickly that developers are only thinking about the short term demand and profit so they do not really take enough time to think about the long run and the invaluable ecosystem that they may be harming. I have heard about animals becoming endangered or hunted or having their homes destroyed because of tourism developments which is really sad because these are the things that tourists come to Costa Rica to see in the first place. I guess everything has it's consequences and luckily CR does a good amount of protected areas and parks, but the tourism developers need to be very careful and consider the results that their actions will have. Costa Rica is a beautiful place that should be shared with the world and hopefully if people are smart about it, the beauty can stay intact for many many generations to come and enjoy.