Identifying and assessing ecotourism visitor impacts at eight protected areas in Costa Rica and Belize

Protected area visitation is an important component of ecotourism, and as s uch, must be sustainable. However, protected area visitation may degrade na tural resources, particularly in areas of concentrated visitor activities l ike trails and recreation sites. This is an important concern in ecotourism destinations such as Belize and Costa Rica, because they actively promote ecotourism and emphasize the pristine qualities of their natural resources. Research on visitor impacts to protected areas has many potential applicat ions in protected area management, though it has not been widely applied in Central and South America. This study targeted this deficiency through man ager interviews and evaluations of alternative impact assessment procedures at eight protected areas in Belize and Costa Rica. Impact assessment proce dures included qualitative condition class systems, ratings systems, and me asurement-based systems applied to trails and recreation sites. The resulti ng data characterize manager perceptions of impact problems, document trail and recreation site impacts, and provide examples of inexpensive, efficien t and effective rapid impact assessment procedures. Interview subjects repo rted a variety of impacts affecting trails, recreation sites, wildlife, wat er, attraction features and other resources. Standardized assessment proced ures were developed and applied to record trail and recreation site impacts . Impacts affecting the study areas included trail proliferation, erosion a nd widening, muddiness on trails, vegetation cover loss, soil and root expo sure, and tree damage on recreation sites. The findings also illustrate the types of assessment data yielded by several alternative methods and demons trate their utility to protected area managers. The need for additional rap id assessment procedures for wildlife, water, attraction feature and other resource impacts was also identified.