Week 8 - Katrina Shi

8. What is the most valuable component/product of the land/people/group in your research? What slogan would best brand this idea/concept/product?

In the readings, we see that Costa Rica’s ecotourism industry’s success is due to a combined effort of its government and the growth of the industry as private and public sectors collaborated and worked together to establish the country as an ecofriendly nation. However, the flourish of the industry is not without its setbacks. While Costa Rica strives to establish its image as green, environmental nation, the lack of a clear definition of what “ecotourism” is ended up tainting the nation’s image with that of hypocrisy, as the businesses involved with the industry lacked a genuine interest in preserving biodiversity or habitat.

With our startup in Bhutan, it is important for us to keep in mind the interests of the Bhutanese people rather than exploiting them for our own profit. Cultural tourism often can degrade a foreign culture into stereotypes and expectations of the tourists, and in order to truly help the Bhutanese we must ensure that we represent the people’s interests above everything else. The most valuable component of our product is Bhutan’s culture, which is highly unique and heavily focused on environmentalism as well as spirituality; when we develop plans and strategies for our startup, we need to keep in mind the stark differences between Western culture and Bhutanese culture and try to do things more from their perspective instead of simply doing what we think might work. In order to emphasis the spirituality central to Bhutanese culture, our slogan would be Spirited in Bhutan, as a word play on both "Spirited Away" and "Made in the USA."

Question: Is there a way for Costa Rica to maintain its image of ecofriendliness without compromising the environment while maintaining its current success in ecotourism? 

Sources: 

Jones, Geoffrey, and Andrew Spadafora. "Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica." (n.d.): n. pag. 

Polidoro Beth, and Matthew Morra "An ecological risk assessment of pesticides and fish kills in the Sixaola watershed, Costa Rica ." (n.d.): 1-9. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelbe, 2 Feb. 2016.

"Travel, Real Estate, Relocation & Business." Costa Rica. Costarica.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.