Beatrice Blake - http://www.keytocostarica.com - is the veteran guidebook author of New Key to Costa Rica and has kindly agreed to participate in an online Q&A
Starting this conversation ...
Beatrice, in the world of ecotourism and responsible travel, what issues are you paying attention this year? What gets your goat? What's gives you hope?
Costa Rica: Conversation with Beatrice Blake
13 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Costa Rica: Conversation with Beatrice Blake
by planeta » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:37 pm
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by Beatrice Blake » Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:21 pm
Thanks for asking!
2008 marked a new era in "telling it like it is" in tourism in Costa Rica. In areas like the beaches of northern Guanacaste, where overdevelopment goes beyond the capacity of local water and sewer infrastructure, certain hotels were closed by the government (temporarily) until they could figure out something to do with their sewage besides dumping it in the ocean. New developments were actually checked for building permits, and many were found lacking. A four-story height limit was put on new buildings in some areas.
Since I have been excited by the development of community-owned ecotourism businesses in Costa Rica over the last decade, and have given them a lot of space in The New Key to Costa Rica, I started seeing overdevelopment as a community issue too. It's a sign that the people of a community do not have a say in what goes on there--to the point where the community's water supply can be threatened. This has been the subject of several lawsuits in the northern Guanacaste beaches.
So it gives me hope that under the government of Nobel prizewinner President Oscar Arias, these attempts to call a spade a spade in terms of overdevelopment have been at least named, if not addressed. But it also deeply saddens me that drug money seems to call the shots in Central America and Mexico these days, causing so much death and destruction at the same time as the hotels and shopping malls rise. Couldn't there be a way for the US to control its hunger for drugs? And as the world economy falls apart, can we rebuild it in ways that make it possible for poor people to make a living?
Because the new edition of The New Key features innovative communities where visitors can see permaculture, alternative energy, organic banana, coffee and chocolate, and positive community ownership and inclusion, I decided to just leave out communities that were examples of the failure of inclusion and the giving over of healthy community needs to the needs of developers, like Playa Jacó and the beaches of Northern Guanacaste. I'd be glad to include them once they at least solve their infrastructure problems. But until then, it is impossible to talk of sustainable tourism in those regions.
On a happier note, for most of the travelers who visit ACTUAR's community-owned ecotourism destinations, the experience is the highlight of their trip, offering them real interactions with Costa Rican people who are creating healthy communities by conserving their forests and rivers, and attracting tourism in a responsible way.
2008 marked a new era in "telling it like it is" in tourism in Costa Rica. In areas like the beaches of northern Guanacaste, where overdevelopment goes beyond the capacity of local water and sewer infrastructure, certain hotels were closed by the government (temporarily) until they could figure out something to do with their sewage besides dumping it in the ocean. New developments were actually checked for building permits, and many were found lacking. A four-story height limit was put on new buildings in some areas.
Since I have been excited by the development of community-owned ecotourism businesses in Costa Rica over the last decade, and have given them a lot of space in The New Key to Costa Rica, I started seeing overdevelopment as a community issue too. It's a sign that the people of a community do not have a say in what goes on there--to the point where the community's water supply can be threatened. This has been the subject of several lawsuits in the northern Guanacaste beaches.
So it gives me hope that under the government of Nobel prizewinner President Oscar Arias, these attempts to call a spade a spade in terms of overdevelopment have been at least named, if not addressed. But it also deeply saddens me that drug money seems to call the shots in Central America and Mexico these days, causing so much death and destruction at the same time as the hotels and shopping malls rise. Couldn't there be a way for the US to control its hunger for drugs? And as the world economy falls apart, can we rebuild it in ways that make it possible for poor people to make a living?
Because the new edition of The New Key features innovative communities where visitors can see permaculture, alternative energy, organic banana, coffee and chocolate, and positive community ownership and inclusion, I decided to just leave out communities that were examples of the failure of inclusion and the giving over of healthy community needs to the needs of developers, like Playa Jacó and the beaches of Northern Guanacaste. I'd be glad to include them once they at least solve their infrastructure problems. But until then, it is impossible to talk of sustainable tourism in those regions.
On a happier note, for most of the travelers who visit ACTUAR's community-owned ecotourism destinations, the experience is the highlight of their trip, offering them real interactions with Costa Rican people who are creating healthy communities by conserving their forests and rivers, and attracting tourism in a responsible way.
- Beatrice Blake
- Traveler
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 12:24 pm
- Location: Vermont
ACTUAR
by planeta » Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:20 pm
Again, thank you for participating in this conversation, Beatrice. I've enjoyed your New Key book since the 8th edition.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planeta/3356028827
I'd like to focus on ACTUAR - can you tell us more about what this organization does and how you collaborate with them?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planeta/3356028827
I'd like to focus on ACTUAR - can you tell us more about what this organization does and how you collaborate with them?
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by Beatrice Blake » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:27 am
ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Rural Tourism Association, was created in 2001 by community organizations in many parts of Costa Rica that have their own community-owned ecolodges, forest reserves and adventure attractions. ACTUAR has evolved into a full service travel agency that serves as an interface between the rural communities that created it, and the tourists who want to experience its destinations. ACTUAR is a model of sustainable tourism development that encourages local residents to be entrepreneurs on their own land rather than being pressured sell it. People who previously would have only been gardeners or maids in an ecolodge now are the owners of their own tourism destinations, providing visitors with memorable experiences of nature and local culture. ACTUAR members are often conservation activists, so they have many interesting stories to share, and are a source of inspiration for visitors.
On ACTUAR tours, you get to know the cultural diversity of Costa Rica, experiencing indigenous, Afro-Caribbean and campesino cultures. You can travel by dugout canoe to the indigenous community of Yorkin, and learn how they process the fruit of their sacred tree, the cacao, to make chocolate. You can walk on a suspended bridge near a 175-foot waterfall at Los Campesinos Reserve, and swim in pristine waterfall pools. Or hike to a hidden valley at Cerro Escondido Lodge on the Nicoya Peninsula. You can take a 3-day hike into the ancient oak forests of La Amistad International Park to see the unforgettable Resplendent Quetzal, and experience what it's like to be immersed in the natural world. You can sit on the verandah of El Copal Reserve and be overwhelmed by the constant parade of brightly colored tanagers and hummingbirds. Travelers can participate in farming activities, conservation programs, and other aspects of rural life, or cultural events like the Fiesta de los Diablitos in Boruca or the Fiesta del Toro y la Mula inTérraba. ACTUAR promotes decentralized tourism, encouraging direct contact with nature in less-visited areas in order to reduce the impact on over-exploited parks, reserves and tourist destinations. ACTUAR member organizations preserve over 25.000 acres of forest, thus creating biological corridors throughout the country.
ACTUAR rescued me from a meaningless life as a travel writer, and showed me that there is another way of doing tourism: where tourism preserves local culture rather than destroying it, where tourism is used to help farmers supplement their income so that they can stay on the land, and where visitors feel that they have had a truly unique and memorable experience of getting to know the people of small rural communities so that their vacation is making a difference in their lives and in the lives of those they visit.
I have been the North American sales representative for ACTUAR since 2005. I help travelers learn about community tourism so that they can include it in their itineraries. Through ACTUAR's travel agency, we set people up with excellent bilingual naturalist guide/drivers who know their stuff, are people pleasers, and make the experience of getting to these isolated rural communities enjoyable, intimate, and hassle-free. I love it when I hear how our guides can connect with grandparents, little kids, and teenagers, and how our travelers feel that they have made new friends, and come to a new understanding of how rural communities can develop through tourism and conservation.
On ACTUAR tours, you get to know the cultural diversity of Costa Rica, experiencing indigenous, Afro-Caribbean and campesino cultures. You can travel by dugout canoe to the indigenous community of Yorkin, and learn how they process the fruit of their sacred tree, the cacao, to make chocolate. You can walk on a suspended bridge near a 175-foot waterfall at Los Campesinos Reserve, and swim in pristine waterfall pools. Or hike to a hidden valley at Cerro Escondido Lodge on the Nicoya Peninsula. You can take a 3-day hike into the ancient oak forests of La Amistad International Park to see the unforgettable Resplendent Quetzal, and experience what it's like to be immersed in the natural world. You can sit on the verandah of El Copal Reserve and be overwhelmed by the constant parade of brightly colored tanagers and hummingbirds. Travelers can participate in farming activities, conservation programs, and other aspects of rural life, or cultural events like the Fiesta de los Diablitos in Boruca or the Fiesta del Toro y la Mula inTérraba. ACTUAR promotes decentralized tourism, encouraging direct contact with nature in less-visited areas in order to reduce the impact on over-exploited parks, reserves and tourist destinations. ACTUAR member organizations preserve over 25.000 acres of forest, thus creating biological corridors throughout the country.
ACTUAR rescued me from a meaningless life as a travel writer, and showed me that there is another way of doing tourism: where tourism preserves local culture rather than destroying it, where tourism is used to help farmers supplement their income so that they can stay on the land, and where visitors feel that they have had a truly unique and memorable experience of getting to know the people of small rural communities so that their vacation is making a difference in their lives and in the lives of those they visit.
I have been the North American sales representative for ACTUAR since 2005. I help travelers learn about community tourism so that they can include it in their itineraries. Through ACTUAR's travel agency, we set people up with excellent bilingual naturalist guide/drivers who know their stuff, are people pleasers, and make the experience of getting to these isolated rural communities enjoyable, intimate, and hassle-free. I love it when I hear how our guides can connect with grandparents, little kids, and teenagers, and how our travelers feel that they have made new friends, and come to a new understanding of how rural communities can develop through tourism and conservation.
- Beatrice Blake
- Traveler
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 12:24 pm
- Location: Vermont
CBT?
by planeta » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:17 am
Recently Harold Goodwin announced the depressing news -- http://haroldgoodwin.blogware.com/blog/ ... 08659.html -- that in a survey of community-based tourism initiatives, only a few have been successful. In your view, is ACTUAR an example of community-based tourism? Also, how is it faring in economic and cultural terms?
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ACTUAR and Harold Goodwin's article, part 1
by Beatrice Blake » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:31 am
I agree with Harold Goodwin's study that "The two most significant criteria {to define Community Based Tourism} are community ownership/management and community benefit".
Social capital and empowerment are also important. I consider them both results of the success of CBT, and part of the PROCESS of developing a new model of tourism "development" that includes the residents of pristine natural areas in determining how tourism can meet their needs for conservation, education, supplemental income and cultural preservation.
It is useful that Goodwin notes that there is "no agreement about the meaning of CBT and that whenever the words are used the meaning needs to be made clear." I think that community OWNERSHIP and foreign ownership should be distinguished from each other. That is again where the PROCESS comes in.
Clearly there is a learning curve for campesino communities that are learning how to own and manage successful tourism projects. Community owned ANYTHING involves a learning curve in our present societies, as anyone who has participated in the running of a community food coop will recognize. But food coops in the US have learned and grown, often as a result of the very specialized help that cooperative development organizations have provided to coop boards and communities.
Organizations that are very familiar with the pitfalls of food coop development have assisted local food coops in overcoming these pitfalls. In a similar way, ACTUAR, acting as an umbrella group for various community owned tourism projects throughout Costa Rica, tries to provide the training in organizational development, business management, tour guide training, marketing, customer service, quality control, navigating liability insurance, interfacing with the national tourism board, etc. required for community owned tourism projects to be successful.
Using the characteristics of CBT defined by Goodwin, I can say that the successful community owned projects that are members of ACTUAR provide, to varying degrees
• benefits going to individuals or households in the community
• collective benefits – creation of assets which are used by the community as a whole, roads, schools, clinics etc
• community benefits where there is a distribution of benefit to all households in the community
• conservation initiatives with community and collective benefits
• community owned and managed enterprises
• private sector enterprises with community benefits
• product networks developed for marketing tourism in a local area.
• community enterprise within a broader co-operative
The one criteria that is slightly different from the Yachana model is "joint ventures with community and/or collective benefits, including an anticipated transfer of management." In various ACTUAR projects, community members who have university degrees have become the focalizers of community tourism projects. Their objective is to initiate programs that will benefit both conservation and their communities as a whole. They often become the managers of community tourism projects because of their commitment and vision, and often they receive a salary from the community organization that they have helped to found. But often these people lack tourism and business experience, unlike the entrepreneurs who have founded successful tourism projects that benefit communities, like Yachana.
In the latest edition of my book, The New Key to Costa Rica, i decided to include tourism projects that were owned by foreigners who have years of experience and residency in Costa Rica, like Finca Luna Nueva in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas, and Rancho Margot near El Castilo, on the west side of Arenal Volcano, because the dynamic foreign born entrepreneur/owners started these projects with the same impulse to benefit their local communities as the university educated Costa Ricans who start projects that are members of ACTUAR. And often the foreign-owned projects are more successful economically at this point than many ACTUAR projects, because of the connections, marketing, and internet savvy of the owners.
I want to point out that some ACTUAR communities are lead by campesinos, some by university trained people, but they all work together to make ACTUAR what it is. ACTUAR grew very rapidly with Bernarda Morales, an indigenous leader with not much formal education, but with tremendous vision and spirit, as the president of the board of directors. You can see an example of the project she leads in her BriBri community of Yorkín, with a few moments of her talking about the way the project benefits the community here: http://www.parrotcreek.com/costarica/
Now the president is a university professor. The director of ACTUAR's travel agency, Kyra Cruz, has years of experience as a professional in the travel industry. They all work together within the progressive values that characterize Costa Rican history and society. That is why i talk about the way that Costa Rican history and social movements have created a CLIMATE in which community owned projects have a chance of success.
The biodiversity of the Costa Rican rainforest developed in response to the needs of plants, animals, insects and birds to find the niche that would guarantee their survival. I see the process of communities working together to learn how to SURVIVE in the harsh climate of "tourism development" as a similar process. ACTUAR is trying to provide the tools needed by these communities. In further posts I will talk about the conditions within the successful communities that lead to success in tourism.
I am interested in knowing if the distinctions I have made up til now are useful as a jumping off point for further discussion of Goodein's article, which I find helpful in clarifying a little-known field, rather than depressing.
Please let me know if what I have said is useful so far.
Social capital and empowerment are also important. I consider them both results of the success of CBT, and part of the PROCESS of developing a new model of tourism "development" that includes the residents of pristine natural areas in determining how tourism can meet their needs for conservation, education, supplemental income and cultural preservation.
It is useful that Goodwin notes that there is "no agreement about the meaning of CBT and that whenever the words are used the meaning needs to be made clear." I think that community OWNERSHIP and foreign ownership should be distinguished from each other. That is again where the PROCESS comes in.
Clearly there is a learning curve for campesino communities that are learning how to own and manage successful tourism projects. Community owned ANYTHING involves a learning curve in our present societies, as anyone who has participated in the running of a community food coop will recognize. But food coops in the US have learned and grown, often as a result of the very specialized help that cooperative development organizations have provided to coop boards and communities.
Organizations that are very familiar with the pitfalls of food coop development have assisted local food coops in overcoming these pitfalls. In a similar way, ACTUAR, acting as an umbrella group for various community owned tourism projects throughout Costa Rica, tries to provide the training in organizational development, business management, tour guide training, marketing, customer service, quality control, navigating liability insurance, interfacing with the national tourism board, etc. required for community owned tourism projects to be successful.
Using the characteristics of CBT defined by Goodwin, I can say that the successful community owned projects that are members of ACTUAR provide, to varying degrees
• benefits going to individuals or households in the community
• collective benefits – creation of assets which are used by the community as a whole, roads, schools, clinics etc
• community benefits where there is a distribution of benefit to all households in the community
• conservation initiatives with community and collective benefits
• community owned and managed enterprises
• private sector enterprises with community benefits
• product networks developed for marketing tourism in a local area.
• community enterprise within a broader co-operative
The one criteria that is slightly different from the Yachana model is "joint ventures with community and/or collective benefits, including an anticipated transfer of management." In various ACTUAR projects, community members who have university degrees have become the focalizers of community tourism projects. Their objective is to initiate programs that will benefit both conservation and their communities as a whole. They often become the managers of community tourism projects because of their commitment and vision, and often they receive a salary from the community organization that they have helped to found. But often these people lack tourism and business experience, unlike the entrepreneurs who have founded successful tourism projects that benefit communities, like Yachana.
In the latest edition of my book, The New Key to Costa Rica, i decided to include tourism projects that were owned by foreigners who have years of experience and residency in Costa Rica, like Finca Luna Nueva in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas, and Rancho Margot near El Castilo, on the west side of Arenal Volcano, because the dynamic foreign born entrepreneur/owners started these projects with the same impulse to benefit their local communities as the university educated Costa Ricans who start projects that are members of ACTUAR. And often the foreign-owned projects are more successful economically at this point than many ACTUAR projects, because of the connections, marketing, and internet savvy of the owners.
I want to point out that some ACTUAR communities are lead by campesinos, some by university trained people, but they all work together to make ACTUAR what it is. ACTUAR grew very rapidly with Bernarda Morales, an indigenous leader with not much formal education, but with tremendous vision and spirit, as the president of the board of directors. You can see an example of the project she leads in her BriBri community of Yorkín, with a few moments of her talking about the way the project benefits the community here: http://www.parrotcreek.com/costarica/
Now the president is a university professor. The director of ACTUAR's travel agency, Kyra Cruz, has years of experience as a professional in the travel industry. They all work together within the progressive values that characterize Costa Rican history and society. That is why i talk about the way that Costa Rican history and social movements have created a CLIMATE in which community owned projects have a chance of success.
The biodiversity of the Costa Rican rainforest developed in response to the needs of plants, animals, insects and birds to find the niche that would guarantee their survival. I see the process of communities working together to learn how to SURVIVE in the harsh climate of "tourism development" as a similar process. ACTUAR is trying to provide the tools needed by these communities. In further posts I will talk about the conditions within the successful communities that lead to success in tourism.
I am interested in knowing if the distinctions I have made up til now are useful as a jumping off point for further discussion of Goodein's article, which I find helpful in clarifying a little-known field, rather than depressing.
Please let me know if what I have said is useful so far.
- Beatrice Blake
- Traveler
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 12:24 pm
- Location: Vermont
Web 2.0 Tools
by planeta » Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:50 am
Let me bring up these points at next month's Responsible Tourism Conference -- http://planeta.wikispaces.com/belizertc
Some of the questions I have about community-based tourism around the world go to one of Harold's criticisms -- that most operations don't answer email. Is this really the case? Are community-based operations interested in improving their Web presence or is this too much to be expected?
Personally, I'm fairly cynical about the email angle as most government offices as well don't answer messages. That said, I'd like to see more web-savvy behavior, such as examples of YouTube and Flickr as these tools in particular offer options that were unavailable just a few years ago. Plus, this is a way that the visitors themselves can assist the operations they visit simply by showing off what they did. Interviews with community leaders would be an added plus.
Question - are you familiar with any good community operations in Costa Rica using Flickr or YouTube?
Ron
PS) An administrative note - this topic has now been viewed more than 1,000 times
Some of the questions I have about community-based tourism around the world go to one of Harold's criticisms -- that most operations don't answer email. Is this really the case? Are community-based operations interested in improving their Web presence or is this too much to be expected?
Personally, I'm fairly cynical about the email angle as most government offices as well don't answer messages. That said, I'd like to see more web-savvy behavior, such as examples of YouTube and Flickr as these tools in particular offer options that were unavailable just a few years ago. Plus, this is a way that the visitors themselves can assist the operations they visit simply by showing off what they did. Interviews with community leaders would be an added plus.
Question - are you familiar with any good community operations in Costa Rica using Flickr or YouTube?
Ron
PS) An administrative note - this topic has now been viewed more than 1,000 times
- planeta
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by Beatrice Blake » Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:59 pm
Dear Ron,
About answering e-mails. There are three ways that travelers can connect with ACTUAR destinations. One is by doing a Google search on "ecotours Costa Rica" and finding my website, http://www.keytocostarica.com. I am pretty much on top of client e-mails. Once they write to me, I usually schedule telephone consultations with clients that last an hour to an hour and a half. I listen to what they want to experience on their vacation and plan a trip that meets their needs. I introduce them to community based ecotourism and try to incorporate at least one or two ACTUAR destinations in their itinerary, if they are open to it. Usually the travelers also want to include some of the more famous destinations in CR, like Arenal, Monteverde, or Tortuguero, plus some days at a beach.
I explain the transportation situation involved in getting to each ACTUAR site, and encourage them to take advantage of the wonderful bilingual naturalist guide/drivers who make travel to ACTUAR destinations fun and hassle free for people of all ages. I work out a personalized itinerary with the travelers, and send it to ACTUAR to be priced. Once the itinerary and price are agreed upon, ACTUAR sets up all the logisitics: guides, transportation, lodging, tours, etc.
So that is very complete service. For that I earn a 10% commission.
If people find ACTUAR's website first, http://www.actuarcostarica.com, and they call the 800 number, I answer the phone. If they write to ACTUAR directly, sometimes I hear that their e-mails have not been answered, because the clients call me on the 800 number. But generally I think they respond pretty well. I really don't know because I don't see the e-mails that go directly to ACTUAR.
ACTUAR's purpose is to be an interface between the clients and the rural communities. ACTUAR the travel agency was created by its members to answer e-mails, have a website, train guides, make sure that member organizations are up to date with all legalities, arrange trainings in marketing, management, quality control, cooking, sustainabilty, etc. and do outreach with the Tourism institute, the media, travel agencies, NGOs, etc. etc. etc.
They have quite a good website, and are constantly working on all the above aspects. That is what sets ACTUAR apart as a model for successful community-based ecotourism.
ACTUAR's website is set up to receive credit card payments. I just confirmed today with Citibank, that Visa and Mastercard have instituted a 3% surcharge on credit card transactions done with ANY COMPANY OUTSIDE THE USA. It used to be that that credit card companies would charge 3% on transactions involving currency conversion. But now, even if it is a dollars to dollars transaction, the 3% is charged. This means that tours will cost more if clients pay through ACTUAR's website. I have credit card capabilities, so I might have to start receiving payments for them.
The board of directors of ACTUAR is made up of representatives of the community organizations that have their own ecolodges. This board governs the policies of ACTUAR the travel agency.
If people try to contact the ACTUAR member destinations directly, they might not get a response, because many of the ACTUAR destinations do not have offices that are set up to handle e-mails. Most of them don't speak English. Some of them do have their own websites, but get much more of their business through ACTUAR and CONSERVacations (my customized tours) because we are the entities that are set up to do that.
In answer to your questions about YouTube:
Last year an excellent documentary filmmaker made some great videos of 4 ACTUAR destinations, Isla de Chira, Cerro Escondido, Los Campesinos and Yorkín. I have worked with him to make 6-minute videos of Cerro Escondido and Yorkin. I have links to the videos in the tour descriptions at my website, but have not put them on YouTube. Thanks for reminding me. But I might not get around to it soon because it would be a learning curve for me. I need a young geek to help out.
In the 10 hours of footage we have, there are some excellent interviews with the founders of ACTUAR projects. Maybe YouTube would be the best place to put those interviews.
About answering e-mails. There are three ways that travelers can connect with ACTUAR destinations. One is by doing a Google search on "ecotours Costa Rica" and finding my website, http://www.keytocostarica.com. I am pretty much on top of client e-mails. Once they write to me, I usually schedule telephone consultations with clients that last an hour to an hour and a half. I listen to what they want to experience on their vacation and plan a trip that meets their needs. I introduce them to community based ecotourism and try to incorporate at least one or two ACTUAR destinations in their itinerary, if they are open to it. Usually the travelers also want to include some of the more famous destinations in CR, like Arenal, Monteverde, or Tortuguero, plus some days at a beach.
I explain the transportation situation involved in getting to each ACTUAR site, and encourage them to take advantage of the wonderful bilingual naturalist guide/drivers who make travel to ACTUAR destinations fun and hassle free for people of all ages. I work out a personalized itinerary with the travelers, and send it to ACTUAR to be priced. Once the itinerary and price are agreed upon, ACTUAR sets up all the logisitics: guides, transportation, lodging, tours, etc.
So that is very complete service. For that I earn a 10% commission.
If people find ACTUAR's website first, http://www.actuarcostarica.com, and they call the 800 number, I answer the phone. If they write to ACTUAR directly, sometimes I hear that their e-mails have not been answered, because the clients call me on the 800 number. But generally I think they respond pretty well. I really don't know because I don't see the e-mails that go directly to ACTUAR.
ACTUAR's purpose is to be an interface between the clients and the rural communities. ACTUAR the travel agency was created by its members to answer e-mails, have a website, train guides, make sure that member organizations are up to date with all legalities, arrange trainings in marketing, management, quality control, cooking, sustainabilty, etc. and do outreach with the Tourism institute, the media, travel agencies, NGOs, etc. etc. etc.
They have quite a good website, and are constantly working on all the above aspects. That is what sets ACTUAR apart as a model for successful community-based ecotourism.
ACTUAR's website is set up to receive credit card payments. I just confirmed today with Citibank, that Visa and Mastercard have instituted a 3% surcharge on credit card transactions done with ANY COMPANY OUTSIDE THE USA. It used to be that that credit card companies would charge 3% on transactions involving currency conversion. But now, even if it is a dollars to dollars transaction, the 3% is charged. This means that tours will cost more if clients pay through ACTUAR's website. I have credit card capabilities, so I might have to start receiving payments for them.
The board of directors of ACTUAR is made up of representatives of the community organizations that have their own ecolodges. This board governs the policies of ACTUAR the travel agency.
If people try to contact the ACTUAR member destinations directly, they might not get a response, because many of the ACTUAR destinations do not have offices that are set up to handle e-mails. Most of them don't speak English. Some of them do have their own websites, but get much more of their business through ACTUAR and CONSERVacations (my customized tours) because we are the entities that are set up to do that.
In answer to your questions about YouTube:
Last year an excellent documentary filmmaker made some great videos of 4 ACTUAR destinations, Isla de Chira, Cerro Escondido, Los Campesinos and Yorkín. I have worked with him to make 6-minute videos of Cerro Escondido and Yorkin. I have links to the videos in the tour descriptions at my website, but have not put them on YouTube. Thanks for reminding me. But I might not get around to it soon because it would be a learning curve for me. I need a young geek to help out.
In the 10 hours of footage we have, there are some excellent interviews with the founders of ACTUAR projects. Maybe YouTube would be the best place to put those interviews.
- Beatrice Blake
- Traveler
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 12:24 pm
- Location: Vermont
YouTube Example
by planeta » Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:12 am
YouTube is a widely-watched channel and I would encourage you to post a few segments online.
Much of social media and Web 2.0 works best with continuity, so you'll need to develop a communication strategy to focus your attention. What impresses me about my YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/ronmader - are the comments - many in Spanish - from the friends and family of the people shown in the videos.
I'm convinced that today's traveler expects to be educated before, during and after a trip. Video plays a tremendous role and it would be great to see the work of ACTUAR.
Also, the Responsible Tourism Conference -- http://planeta.wikispaces.com/belizertc -- was delayed and is scheduled for October.
Much of social media and Web 2.0 works best with continuity, so you'll need to develop a communication strategy to focus your attention. What impresses me about my YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/ronmader - are the comments - many in Spanish - from the friends and family of the people shown in the videos.
I'm convinced that today's traveler expects to be educated before, during and after a trip. Video plays a tremendous role and it would be great to see the work of ACTUAR.
Also, the Responsible Tourism Conference -- http://planeta.wikispaces.com/belizertc -- was delayed and is scheduled for October.
- planeta
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6832
- Joined: Wed May 14, 2003 8:03 am
- Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
by Beatrice Blake » Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:57 am
I haven't heard from the organizers of the Belize Responsible Tourism Conference. Perhaps they have contacted Kyra Cruz, director of ACTUAR?
- Beatrice Blake
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future of books
by planeta » Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:04 am
I was listening to an outstanding conversation about the future of the book -- http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stori ... 669556.htm -- which prompts this question. Will your publisher make your book available in digital format, something I can take to Costa Rica on my iPod?
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Ulysses Press?
by planeta » Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:45 am
Beatrice, I heard that Ulysses Press might not be publishing the New
Key anymore. Is this true?
Key anymore. Is this true?
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Re: Costa Rica: Conversation with Beatrice Blake
by planeta » Thu May 20, 2010 12:44 pm
Greetings, Beatrice
Any news to add to our conversation?
Any news to add to our conversation?
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