|
|
 |
About Us
Mission Statement
Key to Costa Rica Travel Services helps people plan adventurous,
enjoyable and educational trips to sustainable, safe and friendly
tourism businesses in Costa Rica, encouraging a harmonious relationship
between conservation, community development and ecotourism.
We do this by:
- Writing The New Key to Costa Rica guidebook, updated every two years
- Consulting with independent travelers to help them plan their vacations
- Working with ACTUAR, the travel agency specializing in community-based ecotourism, to customize itineraries that include new community-owned lodges as well as the ecolodges that have made Costa Rica famous.
Who we are
 Beatrice Blake, author of The New Key to Costa Rica since 1982.
- Graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in Social
Sciences and Spanish, 1969
- First traveled to Costa Rica in 1970, lived in there from 1973-76 and 1982-92.
- Travels there frequently, updating the New Key.
- Winner of the Friend of Costa Rica Award of the Association of Costa Rican Travel Professionals in 1993.
- Co-author of the Key to Costa Rica Sustainable Ecotourism Rating System 1990-1996. The New Key to Costa Rica was the first guidebook to rate lodgings on their commitment to conservation, to preserving local culture, and to fostering local economies. In 1998, the government of Costa Rica became the first government to adopt a similar system, the Certification of Sustainable Tourism.
- Green travel planning consultant for independent travelers to Costa Rican since 1996.
- North American representative of ACTUAR, the travel agency specializing in grassroots conservation organizations that have built and operate their own ecolodges and nature reserves.
- Invited by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science to speak at their colloquium, Ecotourism: Measuring the Impacts in 1996.Gave presentations about community-based ecotourism at the World Ecotourism Congress in Chicago in February 2003, at the Sustainable Resources Conference at the University of Colorado in September 2003 and at the College of the Atlantic in November 2005, as well as talks in numerous bookstores and libraries.
ACTUAR
The Association of Costa Rican Rural Tourism
ACTUAR members are grassroots community conservation organizations which have been funded by the Small Grants Program of the Global Environmental Facility to build and operate their own ecolodges. This means that finally campesinos (country people) are entering into the thriving ecotourism industry, using tourism to supplement rather than replace their farming incomes, and enabling them to protect their natural resources in order to make their farming activities sustainable.
When you travel to ACTUAR member destinations, you can expect:
- Warm, family-style hospitality
- Authentic interchanges with local people
- Unforgetable adventures
- Enriching experiences, with the opportunity to get involved in everyday
- Affordable prices
- Experienced local guides
- Experienced bilingual naturalist guide/drivers
- Contact with nature in pristine places
- A chance to get involved in nature conservation efforts
- That your vacation benefits rural comunities, offering them the opportunity to protect their natural resources, while generating complementary income in addition to their traditional agricultural and fishery activities.
Contact : beatrice@keytocostarica.com
|
Kyra Cruz,
ACTUAR Director
Elena Arias,
Logistics coordinator
|
|
|
