Is Playas de Nosara an expat residential community or a tourism destination? Why do I ask?
The Nosara Civic Association (NCA) is neither a purely environmental organization nor is it a destination management organization. For reasons of its history and circumstances, it has served as a quasi-local government without any of the benefits or powers of taxation or law enforcement. Without adequate services from our municipality in Nicoya, many vital issues in the protection of our natural assets and investments have fallen through the cracks.
While NCA has been working for four decades to maintain the character and quality of life in Playas de Nosara, most of the rest of the world has been developing criteria that defines a sustainable destination, including adequate planning, environmental law enforcement, water and waste management, local participation and jobs creation and the other myriad criteria established for certification.
Both the Costa Rican Tourism Board and the United Nations have established similar but different criteria for designation as a Certified Sustainable Tourism Destination. Is this a desirable goal?
In essence, do we want to be known as a tourism destination? The NCA membership includes businesses, virtually all relate to the tourism industry either directly or indirectly. But most of our members are homeowners, although many also rent to tourists.
In the coming year NCA will seek to gain a better understanding of the desire to better manage tourism at Playas de Nosara, including certification. If you have an opinion, please let me know ([email protected]). You may also wish to review certification requirements at http://www.gstcouncil.org and http://www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr/en.
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