In Coronado, right where the Inter American Agriculture Cooperation Institute (IICA) is headquartered near San Jose, Costa Rica, authorities will unveil a new farming tourism project in an effort to foster agricultural and agro-industrial activities in the area, as well as to put more offers in the hands of both foreign and local visitors.
According to the IICA Newsletter handed over today to China's Xinhua news agency, the so-called rural tourism is part of a much wider concept of agriculture whereby the promotion of local development, farming and non-agricultural activities and local traditions are buttressed with a view to bring more income money to countryside families.
With this enhanced concept in mind and as part of the efforts to back up the community hosting the IICA offices, a project entitled Farming Tourism: An Alternative To Cantonal Rural Development got underway in March.
In order to get this show on the road, the IICA headquarters in Costa Rica joined hands with Coronado's Tourism Chamber, the canton's municipal office and other such institutions as the National Bank of Costa Rica (BNCR), the Rural Development Program, the Ministry of Agriculture and Stock breeding, and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
Following a series of workshops and meetings with local leaders, a couple of German young girls with great expertise in farming tourism -Catarina Schott and Catarina Hagn- embarked on an extensive field work. The Catarinas -as nicknamed by the local dwellers- combed through Coronado conducting interviews, visiting a number of locations and marking both conveniences and improvements in potential tourists trails. The German specialists mapped out five trails divided according to weather patterns and the variety of locations they have to offer.
Thus, there are ecological, traditional, commercial, short and long trails that include the Braulio Carrillo and Irazu Volcano national parks, hot water springs, dairy farms, restaurants and cabins. Before crafting the trails, the two young experts polled forty people. Survey results laid bare the local citizenship's interest in rural tourism in the face of potential benefits like the creation of new jobs and the increase of farming and stock breeding throughput.
Estimates have it that the average number of foreign tourists coming to Costa Rica peaks one million people, with a yearly raise somewhere between 12 and 15 percent. These figures are eyed as a clear-cut opportunity for the development of Coronado. The intention behind this effort is to cash in on the canton's abundant resources, as well as on the farming and agro-industrial activities of a region hubbed at a stone's throw from the capital's downtown area, the IICA Newsletter concluded.
