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Cruise Tourism and Community Economics in Central America and the Caribbean: The Case of Costa Rica

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664Cruise Tourism and Community Economics in Central America and the Caribbean: The Case of Costa Rica - Andy Seidl,
- Fiorella Giuliano,
- Lawrence Pratt
- Rene Castro,
- Ana María Majano
Cruise tourism is of small, but increasing, importance in Central America and the Caribbean, is of substantial importance in particular port locations, and is being touted as a desirable local economic development opportunity within the region. Tourism, like all engines of economic development, has desirable and undesirable features. Little objective research about cruise tourism economics and community economic development exists (e.g., Klein, 2003ab; Gabe, 2003; McKee and Mamoosadeh, 1994; Mamoozadeh and McKee, 1994; Dwyer et al., 2004). The results that are available appear to be rather site specific, in part due to strong differences between terminal main (dis-)embarkation ports and semi-terminal (primarily for tourist visitation) ports (McKee and Mamoozadeh, 1994). Johnson (2002), citing conflicting reports on purchasing patterns among cruise tourists (Hall and Braithwaite, 1990; Henthorne, 2000), argues that the specifics of the community economic impact of cruise tourism constitute an important hole in the literature base on the industry. Most recently, the Barbados Minister of Tourism strongly affirmed the need for an independent environmental economic assessment of the industry on and in the Caribbean region (CTO, 2004) and no studies exist focusing on the cruise industry in Costa Rica. A thorough understanding of the industry facilitates recognition of the potentials and pitfalls of a chosen driver of economic development. Economic issues surrounding the cruise ship industry include direct and potential impacts on the port authorities and port communities, hidden environmental impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems, development alternatives to cruise ships for port communities, distributional impacts and cultural implications of cruise tourism development and socio-economic impacts of disembarking crew members, in addition to the typically tracked tourist expenditures. This paper illustrates an economic approach to understanding the cruise tourism industry as a driver of economic development through a preliminary analysis of the industry in Costa Rica . The objective of this approach is to describe the role and activities of the cruise ship industry in Costa Rica and identify sources of economic benefit and cost such that more informed local policy decisions about the cruise ship tourism might be made and a more comprehensive inquiry into this important question might be initiated in the near future. This approach should be applicable to communities wherever cruise tourism currently exists or is under consideration to be included in the portfolio of community economic activities.
Setiembre, 2005     29 Pág.
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