WASHINGTON, D.C.—Provocative and informative, The Goose with the Golden Eggs examines the impacts of different models of coastal tourism in Costa Rica, from small-scale eco-lodges and a sustainable mid-sized resort to large-scale resorts, vacation homes, and cruise ships along the northern Pacific Coast. The film features interviews with Margarita Penon, Costa Rica’s former First Lady and member of Congress, as well as with other government officials, tourism experts, and residents of coastal communities who are affected by Costa Rica’s tourism boom.
“The travel industry has become so powerful it can make or break a village or a country,” says Elizabeth Becker, author of OVERBOOKED: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism. “‘The Goose With Golden Eggs’ reveals how even Costa Rica, the capital of ecotourism, is vulnerable to large resort hotels that can decimate coastlines and local communities. This film portrays the differences between high volume industrial scale resort and cruise tourism and high value nature-based tourism.”
Produced and directed by award-winning filmmakers Charlene Music and Peter Jordan, this documentary was commissioned by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), a global nonprofit institute specializing in sustainable tourism. CREST conducted a two year study of the impacts of tourism along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
The film premiered at the World Bank in October 2013, and was recently screened to a packed house at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. It has been circulated among policy makers in Costa Rica, and is being used by Fundacion Corcovado as an educational tool among Costa Rican communities affected by tourism-related development.
“It is our hope that this film and the CREST study will stimulate a much-needed public discussion of what types of tourism are most appropriate and beneficial in Costa Rica,” says Margarita Penon. “If properly managed, tourism can bring benefits to communities and to conservation, and Costa Rica can choose now to turn the tourism industry into a green and sustainable industry. It can choose not to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. We hope you will give us a hand in this endeavor.”
Go to the Center for Responsible Travel.
