Responsible Tourism

OUR COMMITMENT TO
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

If you are browsing through our website, it means you have decided to come to Costa Rica or perhaps you have already visited Costa Rica and you loved it so much that you want to come back.

Costa Rica’s green and peaceful reputation probably brought you to our website and influenced your decision to visit this country or at least to investigate about it. Let us tell you something, you have not been fooled! Costa Rica is an absolute paradise for nature, beach and adventure lovers and we want it to stay like that. That is why our company is committed to promote sustainable tourism practices.

Zero impact travel does not exist. In fact, there is an impact in every action one decides to take, either a positive or a negative impact. That’s just the way it is. What we strive hard to do is to offer responsible tourism options to people like us, who are conscious of the ecological, social and cultural imprint of travel and who believe that small actions can make a big difference. We take our mission to make you discover our country very seriously and we always take in consideration the social and environmental impact of the activities we line up for you.

CST

Certification for Sustainable Tourism in Costa Rica

The prestigious Certificate for Sustainable Tourism is a program created by the Costa Rican Tourism Board to categorize and differentiate tourism companies according to the degree to which their operations approach a model of sustainability in the management of natural, cultural and social resources. For more information on this certificate, you can visit the official website www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr

The program awards business with one to five leaves.

GWA has been awarded with 4 leaves and we are working hard to get our fifth leave, the highest certification of the program.

WE ARE ALSO VERY PROUD TO SUPPORT VARIOUS PROJECTS AND NGOS SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING ONES:

PROGRAMA ALIADOS CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO (ACC)

Which can be translated as United Against Climate Change. We work in collaboration with this company whose aim is to offset traveller’s carbon emissions by planting trees in their name. We are happy and proud to plant a tree for each of our private client.

MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST BIOLOGICAL RESERVE

We are pleased to support this amazing biodiversity reserve and their science center whose objective is to study and to help preserving the incredible and very diverse biodiversity of the Costa Rican cloud forest.

VACACIONES CON FAMILIAS CAMPESINAS

We support this local project that aims to help families living from farming and agriculture by giving them another source of income generated by rural tourism activities.

Local Organizations

We also support various local organizations in the area of Cartago by supervising the arrival and integration of international volunteers that come to help run different projects and bring new ideas. We have been welcoming international volunteers for 4 years now and it has been a really rewarding experience for both the volunteers and for our team. The organizations we support in the Cartago area are the followings:

ASCATE

This association supports Cartago’s elderly by offering them a day care center in which they can participate in occupational workshops (dance, cooking, gardening etc.).

HOGARES CREA

We support this international organisation which is present in various Latin American countries. Their main goal is to offer a treatment and a rehabilitation program to people who suffer from addiction; mostly drug or alcohol addictions. In Cartago, the association receives teenagers from 8 to 18 years old.

HOGAR DE NIÑOS Y NIÑAS BAIK

This association receives children from 0 to 12 years old. The children who live there are orphans or have been taken from their families because they suffered from violence in their home. This association is there to make sure that these children have the opportunity to study and to live a happy childhood despite their difficult family background.

PUEBLITO

This NGO provides homes to children who lack one. The place has several houses where children from 2 to 18 years old live with substitute mothers. We collaborate with donations, but our greatest contribution is the placement of international volunteers who support the institution by giving English and sports classes and who help children with homework and school assignments. The goal is to help the integral formation of children so when they have to leave Pueblito, they have the bases to face the real world by themselves.

FUNIPAR

This organisation promotes the education and the personal development of young adults who suffer from mental retardation. Their objective is to encourage their social integration within the society by making them participate in various occupational workshops (cooking classes, sports, arts etc.) and helping them find what they are good at.

COMEDOR INFANTIL DE CARTAGO

This association has been helping children in needs since 1974. From Monday to Saturday they prepare and distribute healthy and complete meals to children whose families struggle to make ends meet and to provide them with the nutritious meals they need to grow up healthy.

How can I be a responsible traveller?

If you are preoccupied with your social and ecological imprint on the places you visit, you should try to follow these simple steps to travel more “responsibly”.

Use water sparingly. Keep your showers short!

Save energy. Do not leave your room AC / fan on while you are not there.

Always travel with a reusable water bottle. In Costa Rica, the water is drinkable everywhere. -Say no to straws!

Try to use local public transport or shared transport to travel from one place to another.

Don’t litter. Try to reuse and recycle. Most hotels, restaurant and public beaches offer the opportunity to recycle.

Try to buy locally made souvenirs and not cheap “Costa Rican” key rings shipped from China.

If you bargain, do it wisely and respectfully.

Don’t pick up and take home natural resources such as stones, shells, plants etc.

Try to choose eco-friendly restaurants and hotels.

Respect the local culture and try to understand it. Be open and don’t judge.

Eat locally grown and processed food.

When hiking, stay on the trails in order not to interfere too much with the nature around you.

Don’t feed wild animals.

Take your own reusable bag when you go grocery shopping.

Don’t buy anything made from endangered plants or animals.

Try to learn a few words and sentences in Spanish.

When snorkelling, don’t touch marine wildlife.

Spread the word between other travellers.