DDP 686. J.R. DeShazo and Luis Monestel Vega. "Costa Rica: Caracterizatión de los Visitantes y sus Opiniones para las Principales Áreas Protegidas, Públicas y Privadas." (Costa Rica: Characterization of Visitors and their Opinions for the Main Public and Private Protected Areas) March 1999. 28 pp. Central America Project Series

Adequate management of private and public protected areas must have true information. This document presents information about the opinions of tourists to 16 protected areas in Costa Rica. The intention is to collaborate in the general decision-making process en the public and private protected areas, including both those areas included here and all others that need to improve the service to their visitors.

The information presented in this study is meant to provide assistance decision makers in the public and private sectors, related to the direct management of the protected areas. The example of these 16 protected areas and the airport were chosen to take the pulse of the most common places visited by both domestic and foreign visitors. The information in this study should be complemented by the two previous studies and one following study, which together provide an idea of the opinions, preferences and trip composition of foreign and domestic tourists.

In this study, information was collected and compiled for the following protected areas in Costa Rica: Poás Volcano National Park, Irazú Volcano National Park, Guayabo National Monument, Tapantí National park, Cahuita National Park, Manuel Antonio National Park, Corcovado National Park, Arenal Volcano National Park, Rincón de la Vieja National Park, Santa Rosa National Park, Absoluta Cabo Blanco National Reserve, Jacó Beach, Hermosa Beach (Guanacaste), Flamingo Beach, Monteverde Cloud Forest and the Rainforest Aerial Tram.

J.R. DeShazo is affiliated with the Harvard Institute for International Development and School of Public Policy, University of California at Los Angeles. e-mail: deshazo@ucla.edu.

Luis Monestel Vega comes from the Harvard Institute for International Development.