- Government redoubles efforts to guarantee the protection of the National Park and improve the quality of visits
- The Protected Forest Area received 525,000 visits in 2018, making it the country’s most popular
The Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) and the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), with collaboration from the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), are taking measures to strengthen the management of Manuel Antonio National Park, the country’s most popular national park.
These measures include the following decisions:
- Presenting a draft law to reform the distribution of the resources of the trust for the Manuel Antonio National Park (Law no. 8133) so that funds will be made available for the integrated management of the Protected Forest Area and its buffer zone, while still supporting the land purchase arrangements inside the National Park.
- Regulating visits inside the National Park, capping the maximum number of visitors allowed at the same time at 600 from Tuesday to Friday and 800 over the weekend, with a maximum daily number of visitors set at 1,700. These changes have been made to avoid putting the safety measures at risk. This regulation will remain in force during the months of March and April 2019.
- Extracting solids and liquids from the improved septic tanks from the septic system on a regular basis over the next four months. This will be done in partnership with Coopealianza R.L., with a contribution from the company of three million colones, as well as a contribution of 300,000 colones each from Hotel Costa Verde and Hotel San Bada and 250,000 from the Association of the Friends of Manuel Antonio National Park.
- The immediate installation of portable sanitary systems as a temporary and preventive measure in advance of the installation of a new wastewater treatment plant.
- Designing and constructing a wastewater treatment plant in one of the septic systems of the National Park beginning in March 2019. This will be made possible by the public-private partnership that exists between SINAC and the Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre.
- Beginning the contracting process for the design and construction of the remaining wastewater treatment systems for the National Park’s sanitation system. The new systems will be built in August 2019.
- Beginning the contracting process for the preparation of an online reservation system to reserve admission for Manuel Antonio National Park. This ticket reservation system is set to begin operating in the second half of 2019.
- Setting out a sustainable tourism plan for Quepos Canton, which includes the design and promotion of tourism circuits in the region to promote the distribution of visits throughout the region.
- Undertaking partnerships with environmental organizations such as Asociación Proparques to promote volunteer programs to support maintenance and environmental education work.
“We are committed to improving the conditions of our Protected Forest Areas to protect biodiversity, the country’s economy, our employees and the thousands of tourists who decide to visit us each and every day”, said Pamela Castillo Barahona, Vice-Minister of Natural Resources.
“We are already taking measures to address the challenges of managing Manuel Antonio National Park in a strategic, long-term manner. In the short term, we will meet the demand of the two most popular months, forming partnerships to guarantee the cleanliness of the park’s wastewater management system, to carry out Ministry of Health inspections and to tender the construction of the three new wastewater treatment systems that the park needs. In addition, as a preventive measure, we have decided that, in collaboration with the ICT, we will install portable sanitary facilities while the improvements to the park’s sanitary system are ongoing. These measures are a response to the President’s call to be a government that finds solutions, not problems”, added Vice-Minister Castillo.
The Minister of Tourism, Maria Amalia Revelo, said “As a promoter of sustainable tourism development, ICT will cooperate with MINAE and SINAC in implementing the necessary decisions to improve the management of Manuel Antonio National Park”.
“As we have done in the past, acting within our mandate, we will also offer our assistance to seek out joint solutions to preserve this treasure and ensuring that it can be enjoyed by Costa Ricans and visitors in balance with nature”, Revelo concluded.
MINAE, SINAC and ICT agree that sustainable tourism management in Manuel Antonio National Park involves many actors, which is why they thank the private sector organizations that are collaborating at this stage and call on more organizations to join in this effort to ensure the well-being of the Protected Forest Area and the Central Pacific region.
