-Lapa Rios helped to rebuild and promote a locally run turtle project at the Piro Beach
area. Guide-designed tri-weekly turtle tours fund the community’s effort and assist their involvement for the area’s conservation. The hotel encourages other local tourism projects to support the Piro Community
- William Gutiérrez, a Lapa Rios guide, takes the Carbonera School children on guided rain forest tours to encourage appreciation of nature.
- Lapa Rios works with the Corcovado Foundation and donated $8,200 for a forest guard’s salary June 2003-04. Lapa Rios promotes this idea within the Osa Peninsula and
Costa Rica, challenging other projects to assist the National Park’s better management goal with 5 extra forest guards.
- Lapa Rios promotes the "Save the Tapir” project, an ongoing project at Corcovado National Park.
Guests are encouraged to leave donations for this project.
- The Lapa Rios staff is looked upon as models in the Osa community, as they are employees of a successful business that teaches and promotes solid environmental practices. For this reason they must be stewards to local environment practices. Without exception employees participate and choose environmentally correct products, support local recycling programs and give support to the Lapa Rios program.
Their environmental training is continuously upgraded.
- In 2001 the Lapa Rios office in Pto. Jiménez created an office-style recycling program, demonstrating to local businesses how to improve their use of products and minimize waste.
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M.O.P.T. (Ministry of Transportation) and Lapa Rios have designed a "no-cut canopy roadway” in the Matapalo area. This movement was begun by Lapa Rios in 1993 and now has numerous neighbors helping preserve the forest canopy through controlled ‘low branch-only’ trimming.
- Lapa Rios cleans pubic road litter found along the 5-km. road passing through the area. Lapa Rios beach area waste is collected and recycled weekly. Signs located along the road inform tourists and neighbors about this intent.
- In 2001 Lapa Rios assisted the teacher at the Carbonera School to create and complete a school-sponsered recycling program. Every year Lapa Rios helps teach new skills with and for the teacher and students.
- To support ongoing local recycling Lapa Rios collects the separated trash collected and sorted at the Carbonera School every Monday morning.
- With funds collected by Lapa Rios-sponsered La Asociación de Educacion an solar panel system was installed at the Rio Oro school.
- Lapa Rios funds the Asociación de Educación de la Escuela Carbonera, thereby promoting and supporting basic and environmental education for local children and families.
Our gift shop is small intentionally; we encourage guests to support the village entrepreneurs.
- All postcards sold at Lapa Rios are purchased retail from The Neotropical Foundation, a World Wildlife Fund project educating local landowners in alternative uses of old growth forests, encouraging farmers to avoid deforestation with alternative indigenous planting/harvesting activities.
- Lapa Rios is member of The International Ecotourism Society and supports it on a yearly basis.
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Lapa Rios seeks cooperation and guidance in environmental issues from The Cecropia Foundation. This foundation is financially assisted by Lapa Rios with weekly donations of recyclable glass.
- Almost 100% of the conservation-minded tourists coming to Lapa Rios have or will visit other natural areas in
Costa Rica
. The protection of the environment is the part of the Lapa Rios guests’ profile.
The Lapa Rios Ecolodge and Reserve protects an area of more than 400 hectares of lowland Pacific rain forest. The private reserve is only accessible to registered guests. Guests generally take 3 reserve hikes during their visit to Lapa Rio; a part of each tour cost maintains the reserve.
- There are numerous guidebooks to assist guests with other choices while in
Costa Rica.
Staff guides, management and receptionists offer tour suggestions. Because the Ecolodge is intentionally small most guests talk among themselves, sharing relevant information.
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The hotel uses less than 1% of the property titled to Lapa Rios. All activities within the reserve use a small portion of the land available.
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Few trails have been cut into the huge reserve. The remaining land is dedicated to wilderness protection, never to be used in perpetuity.
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Only a limited number of people are permitted daily on the trails. Each tour has a maximum of 6-8 people: some tours are daily, others use trails on alternating days. Maximum number of guests hiking the 1,000-acre reserve is less than 30 per day.
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Neither non-registered guests nor outside guides are permitted to use the reserve without management agreement. This plan promotes conservation by limiting the number of trails and hikers, insures ongoing payment for maintenance and controls/protects the number of hikers potentially lost.
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CEDARENA, with The Nature Conservancy, designed a conservation easement to protect the reserve in perpetuity. Future land use will be limited to registered Lapa Rios guests. The Reserve will be monitored 4-times yearly by CEDARENA for environmental and ecotourism practices.
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Management continuously is training staff on the unique opportunity Lapa Rios has to teach and demonstrate sustainability.
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Our employees recognize their job centers around sustainability: their job is guaranteed with performance and cooperation to those principles.
- Proquimia Company did a departmental training regarding the importance of biodegradable products and their proper use.
- Monthly departmental meetings increase awareness of social, environmental and job issues.
- Semi-monthly specific staff trainings are offered by the managing director of Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality.
- In June 2003, Alexander Benavides, San José CPA gave a session on personal finances and personal budgeting to all employees.
- In 2001 both the kitchen staff and the cleaning staff received certification from INA all kitchen personnel are now certified chef’s helpers and the cleaning staff received certificates for camarero de hotel.
- Guides have received courses from INBio in San José and the top guides of INBIO came to Costa Rica for on site training of our guides.
- Representatives from each Lapa Rios team have received complimentary training and multiple overnight visits at leading Costa Rican hotels, to focus on service quality and that hotel’s approach to sustainability in tourism. This once a year experience teaches staff about other options in Costa Rican tourism.
- In 2002 we began a cross training program whereby staff members of the kitchen, restaurant, cleaning staff and reception move into other departments for 2 or more days. This cross training has given individual staff members a better understanding to what challenges other teams encounter in terms of sustainability issues. In the low season of 2003 staff crosstraining was implemented again.
- Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, the hotel’s management company, brings an operation expert every 6–8 weeks to train one different department. Some of those classes focus on sustainibility issues, such as hygiene and efficiency in the kitchen as well as increasing knowledge to organic products and the reasons behind their uses.
- In 2001 and 2002 more than 5 people changed departments within the project (as part of promotions). All changes were an advancement due to individual self motivation, the employees particularly interested to work closer with the guests, to learn new skills and speak more English.
- English classes are taught during low season. More than 10 staff members attended classes in 2002 and again in 2003.
- In 2002 guide leader Danilo Alvarez combined a turtle research project based and funded in the Rio Piro, Osa, with Lapa Rios guests. His tour idea helps support this community’s project with an admission fee and by guests assisting with egg collection of recently-hatched turtles. Tourism protects not only this local community financially but by eliminating their need to sell eggs for profit furthers the turtle population for the future.
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Over 95% of the employees and management are from the Osa.
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Only Costa Ricans are hired.
- Ticos occupy the general manager, administrative manager and assistant manager positions. Assistant manager positions are filled by people from the Osa Peninsula. .
- Administration of Lapa Rios is done only from the Osa Peninsula; it has no support offices elsewhere.
- The local high school relies on Lapa Rios as a training location for several of their students each year.
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Lapa Rios hire services from the local community such as: prepared foods (tamales, tortillas, etc.), taxi transfers and technical maintenance.
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Lapa Rios buys great amounts of supplies in Pto. Jiménez, therefore helping the local community in terms of retail sales.
- Lapa Rios has hosted and helped educate tourism university level students some for periods of up to 6 months.
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Almost 10 area guides (non-staff members) offer high quality services for guests. These tours are not rain forest related but enhance the nature experience for the guests. Among these options: the turtle tour, kayaking, horse back riding, numerous boating and fishing options, etc.
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Lapa Rios pays the university tuition for Maikel Cedeño to become a CPA, with a specialty in tourism.
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Lapa Rios is dedicated to hire and train only community members. This mission to hire locally is known in the region, and we try to raise service standards by training contracted, outside operators and suppliers to our guests’ level of expectations.
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Due to high unemployment in the Peninsula Lapa Rios creates jobs for the unskilled community lacking many options. Community members seek employment regardless if immediate jobs are open.
- Lapa Rios is looked upon as an environmental leader and is considered an economic benefit to the Osa Peninsula
community. The ecolodge is one of the largest employers and purchasers in the region.
- Lapa Rios developed the La Asociación de Educación, a non-profit foundation responsible to build and maintain the Carbonera School
. Local fund raising events are sponsored on the guest tour board.
- A section of the tour board includes a section to promote cultural events being held at the Carbonera School
or in Pto. Jiménez. Sign up space is provided for guest participation/transfer service.
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Lapa Rios and the foundation is responsible for the building and ongoing maintenance of other educational projects in the Osa peninsula.
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Lapa Rios funded the hiring of 1 park guard for Corcovado National Park, 2003-04 and encourages guests during hikes and with written information about their opportunity to personally assist this project.
- Lapa Rios donated money to create a locally based Traditional Dance group that performs weekly at the Friday dinner, and on special occasions such as Christmas. Lapa Rios paid for costumes and continues to pay this group for every performance, including their roundtrip Pto.
Jiménez weekly transfers.
- Lapa Rios with the guest-supported La Asociación donates money on an ongoing basis to the Pto. Jiménez High School to purchase musical instruments, sports equipment, etc. Money is also donated to several rural Peninsula
schools for ongoing school maintenance and building programs.
- Lapa Rios with the guest-supported La Asociación donated the tables, chairs and bookshelves for the Pto.
Jiménez Children’s Library.
- The hotel sponsers and supports its employee futbol team
- Very little food is grown in the Osa Peninsula due to heavy rains and insect pressures. Almost all food eaten by residents in the Osa comes from the Central Valley by truck. Lapa Rios was the biggest supporter in 1999 to begin a local street produce market each Saturday, a project begun by the Ministry of Agriculture.
(Sadly it only lasted 3 months.)
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To create a menu satisfactory to the Lapa Rios guests it became impossible to rely only on produce delivered to Pto. Jiménez, particularly after trucks had frequently stopped en route through the Southern Zone, badly bruising the produce or spoiling it beyond use. The staff cooks are all local farmers who have been trained to the Lapa Rios variety-based menu. Without a constant supply of products to support the menu and staff cooking abilities a solution has been to purchase most of the fresh produce and bulk commodities in San José once a week.
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2 different local fresh produce suppliers supplement the weekly orders directly in Pto. Jiménez.
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Fish is purchased locally when available (local fisherman still do not fish commercially).
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Pork is purchased from the Pto. Jiménez slaughterhouse.
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Staff members donate and/or sell locally collected fresh fruit from their own gardens.
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Due to our moist forest climate very few fine art commodities keep well at Lapa Rios. The solution came from Pto. Jiménez: because many hotel guess go to town for tours an agreement exists with a locally owned souvenir shop that our registered guests (often not carrying money when going on town-based tours) can assign their gift shop purchases directly to their rooms. And/or, upon departure guests are encouraged to shop at this gift shop that supports our local Costa Rican art community.
Quelle: CST Final Report 2003 für "Lapa Rios"
Bereitgestellt von Andrea Bonilla (Management "Lapa Rios”) |
