Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, the most biologically intense place on Earth faces tourism development that threatens to destroy it, and only its local communities can save it.
This film explores the potential consequences of a planned international airport in the Osa Peninsula rainforest, exposes tourism impacts on previously untouched places in Costa Rica, and highlights a new model of rural community tourism where local families provide travel experiences that shape and protect their communities and natural resources.
The film follows a single mother who mines gold for a living, and an ex-hunter who now leads wildlife treks on his rainforest property as they launch their rural community tourism projects. This new tourism model provides an answer to the current lack of economic options facing Osa’s rural communities, incentivizes local land owner retention, and attracts environmentally and socially conscious travelers. It is, in the words of many Costa Rican experts a great strategy for tourism development and conservation.
To better understand the impacts of rapid tourism development the film goes to Guanacaste, the Northern province, home to Costa Rica’s second international airport. The construction of the airport, built 20 years ago, has fueled massive growth in foreign investment and real estate development in Guanacaste.
The film raises awareness about the negative impacts of big tourism, promotes greater cross-cultural engagement, and inspires conscious travel.