In Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park is a victim of its own popularity. It is a popular tourist spot both international and Costa Rican tourist who come to see its beautiful beaches and natural scenery. It is also the home of one of the last surviving populations of spider monkeys in the country. The popularity of the park has led developers to build hotels in the area. This excessive building in the area combined with high visitation in the park has threatened the monkey population as well as other wildlife. While half of the park has been closed to tourists, it is necessary to severely restrict visitors to the rest of the park, and even to enlarge it, if a viable ecosystem is to be maintained. However, there is opposition to any further restriction to local land use and access to the park by the local tourist industry. Costa Rica is one of the few countries that has a national policy to promote ecotourism as a non-consumptive use of their rich forests. Costa Rica has the difficult task of trying to foster its tourist industry while limiting the number of visitors to sensitive environments. However, the enormous success of the industry has overwhelmed the forest and prompted a call for a comprehensive study into methods to manage and limit tourist impact on the the forest.

Now, identify the aspects of ecotourism in Costa Rica:

• Benefits
• Problems
• Both a benefit and a problem
• Neutral in effect