La capacidad de carga turistica como herramienta de planificación en una iniciativa de turismos rural comunitario: caso de La Posada Rural La Amistad, Isla de Chira, Golfo de Nicoya Costa Rica [DOI: 10.19246/DOCUGEO2281-7549/201702_07]

Abstract

Tourism Load Capacity as a Planning Tool in an Initiative of Rural Community Tourism. The Case of La Posada Rural La Amistad, Isla De Chira, Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. – In Costa Rica, tourism is one of the first economic activities. At national level many tourism initiatives have emerged and specifically rural community tourism. As a way to strengthen the tourism offer, these initiatives must adopt several planning measures to control the effects derived from visitation, such as studies of tourism load capacity (CCT). La Posada Rural la Amistad, located on Isla de Chira in the Gulf of Nicoya, is one of those initiatives, managed by the community organization “Las Damas de Chira”. It offers accommodation, food and a protected area with a variety of attractions with tourism potential. To take advantage of this potential and in accordance with the Tourism Sustainability Standard of the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism (ICT), the organization, with the support of academics from the Tourism Studies Program of the National University, has applied different planning tools, including CCT studies, which refer to the maximum number of people who can visit a space at the same time, without physical and socioeconomic impacts. For this purpose it was necessary to take into account the basic tools to assess and control the effects derived from visitation to the protected area of the inn and strengthen tourism activity in terms of quality and sustainability. This article presents the methodology, results and analysis of the implementation of the CCT study in this protected area, applying the methodology proposed by Dr. Miguel Cifuentes in 1999.