Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica

Geoffrey G. Jones () and Andrew Spadafora ()
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Geoffrey G. Jones: Harvard Business School, General Management Unit
Andrew Spadafora: Harvard Business School

No 16-136, Harvard Business School Working Papers from Harvard Business School

Abstract: Between the 1970s and the 2000s Costa Rica became established as the world's leading ecotourism destination. This working paper suggests that although Costa Rica benefited from biodiversity and a pleasant climate, the country's preeminence in ecotourism requires more than a natural resource endowment explanation. The paper argues that the ecotourism industry was a co-creation of the public, private, and tertiary sectors. While the role of the government and conservation NGOs is acknowledged in the existing literature, this study draws attention to the critical role of small entrepreneurs. Making extensive use of oral history, the working paper demonstrates the role of tour companies in drawing affluent Western ecotourists to the country, and of the creators of ecolodges and other forms of accommodation in providing them with somewhere to stay. These entrepreneurs, many of them expatriate Americans, helped ensure that formally protected areas remained sustainable parks and reserves, by providing revenues, education in conservation to tourists, and community development and jobs. Clustering created positive externalities for new entrepreneurs to enter the industry, who could also learn from knowledge spillovers. There were downsides to the new industry, however. The creation of the national image of a natural paradise enabled many businesses which were not environmentally sustainable to free-ride on the green image. Even values-driven ecotourism entrepreneurs faced questions about their impact as they expanded the scale of their operations. While scaling was a sign of success and delivered many benefits to Costa Rica, there were distinct drawbacks from a sustainability perspective.

Keywords: eco-tourism; Costa Rica; entrepreneurship; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N56 N86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ent, nep-env and nep-res
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-136

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