Costa Rica and Nicaragua vacation, tailor made

Planet

As a Costa Rica Experts we are carefully organize every vacation to ensure that our actions are ethical and that we actively helping to protect environment. Hotels that we are recommending in this tour are doing excellent job protecting environment. Our local offices and our guides are trained on environmental protection and sustainability. With their local knowledge we can deliver eco-friendly vacations without cutting standards.

We are working with many hotels that are focusing on sustainability. In this tour we would like to highlight few hotels that are focusing on environment:
* Tabacón is committed and deeply believes in sustainability. The hotel recognize the impact of their operations on the environment and surrounding communities. They are continuously review and evolve our policies to create memorable experiences to the guests and at the same time ensure the future of new generations. Tabacon is constantly seeking ways to improve the lives of our neighbors and all inhabitants of La Fortuna de San Carlos, providing employment and promoting environmental conservation.
Protection of the Environment & Sustainable Use of Resources at Tabacon Termal Resort:
-“Plant a Tree” Program for reforestation towards carbon neutrality and zero emissions.
- Efficient use of resources and water conservation.
- Supply of gardens with our internally developed non-commercial nursery and generation of organic fertilizer.
- Innovation and savings programs for energy management.
- Comprehensive management of recoverable and non-recoverable materials.
- Environmental Education Program.
- Natural heating of water for guests use by volcano, clean energy project with installation of solar panels, State of the Art Water Treatment facilities.

*Monteverde Country Lodge:
At Monteverde Country Lodge, they are 100% committed to the environment and its conservation.
They have started the Integrated System of Environmental Management and Sustainability under the acronym SIGAS, where they integrate elements of the Environmental Management System according to the INTE/ISO 14001:2004 standard in hotels and other tourist accommodations. Through this program, Monteverde Country Lodge aims to achieve a sustainable level of efficiency and to transcend positively in our strategic allies, communities, members of the work team, guests and clients. Monteverde Country Lodge is building a wastewater treatment plant or Biodigestor to decontaminate wastewater. After being treated the water is transferred to an irrigation system that takes it to our gardens, enabling it to return clean to nature and providing a safe and clean supply of nutrients for the plants. Since the reopening of the hotel they have started a program for selecting, processing and sending recyclable materials. Both guests and co-workers are encouraged to adopt these same actions in their homes. There has been a great deal of dedication and effort to provide hotel employees with valuable training and information in the field of environmental education. With the support of local organizations, friends and allies the hotel now have a small team of educators, who lead the environmental education process in a community school. The hotel try to work and buy as much as possible to local producers: safe vegetables, cheese, milk and others. All cleaning products are biodegradable. Dispensers are available in showers and toilets. Disposable trash bags are oxo-biodegradable. More than 75% of the plants in our gardens are endemic. Most of them have natural history labels in both Spanish and English. Since reopening, we have developed an energy management program, in coordination with the Department of Energy Conservation of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). They also work hard to be incorporated officially in the program of Certification of Tourism Sustainability, granted by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).

Omotepe Island:
Low-impact eco-tourism is very popular on Isla Ometepe which in 2010 was designed as a Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO. Various NGOs foster rural and communitarian tourism to the mutual benefit of local families and visitors interested in an authentic experience in one of Nicaragua's most intriguing travel destinations.

People

We recognise that tourism can have a big impact on local communities. As a tour operator specializing in tailor-made vacations we have the privilege to ensure we can design our vacations with great care to support local communities. In this tour we have focused on picking accommodations that are actively supporting locals. Moreover we are encouraging our clients to interact with locals and support their businesses with purchases of their products and services. It is important to ensure that we are not just visiting places, but we are also trying to connect locals with tourists. For example we promote visits to local handicraft markets to purchase some handmade crafts. Also if there is any cultural show we are recommending it to our guests. Hotels that we suggest for this tour helping local communities in many different ways:
* Tabacon Thermal Resort Community Outreach & Internal Development:
- Staff development program,
- Internship program.
- Accessible tourism
- Health and wellness programs for staff and nearby communities.
- Bike path project: “La Fortuna en Dos Ruedas”.
- Support of local producers and regional sourcing of ingredients.
- Social campaigns and collaboration to develop community infrastructure (schools, childcare facilities).
- Education and wellness experiences through The Spa and thermalism.
- Costa Rican gastronomic experience.
- Promotion of cultural activities in the area and support for local artists.
- Promotion of Costa Rican identity.

* Hotel TreeCasa: Fundación A. Jean Brugger is a non-profit organization devoted to assisting promising Nicaraguan youth through education. Our mission is to create and promote programs in education and community development in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Our commitment to this has resulted in the graduation of over 80 local students from university, the current sponsorship of 45 college students who participate in community service projects as part of their scholarship, community programs such as Youth
at Risk and aid to families during crises, assistance to rural schools through donations of school supplies, annual baseball camps for boys and girls, and bi-annual luncheons for senior citizens.

* Monteverde Country Lodge supports various reforestation programs sponsored by local organisations or initiatives at the national level: guests, co-workers, children and families have planted native trees for reforestation in our facilities, yards, farms along rivers, streams and Springs. As part of our Environmental Education program, children at the Lindora school have planted trees around their classrooms while they learned about the importance of protecting forests.

The Escuela Creativa is a leading educational facility in Monteverde, Monteverde Country Lodge supports its artistic and recreational programs, and currently works with collecting of used cooking oil for its experimental biodiesel station.

Costa Rica is working vigorously against any kind of child exploitation. The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) has promoted a Code of Conduct with which we are committed and we respond. A zero-tolerance policy is implemented in favour of children and their rights.
Policies at the hotel are focused on maintaining high quality standards, within which local products are prioritized and native ingredients are incorporated into menu. Through these actions we help create a better and more homogeneous distribution of wealth and a greater number of families are directly benefited by the tourism industry.

* Ananda Guest House: We are also encourage our clients to stay in small accommodations and home stays to directly support local communities and also to experience life with local communities.

*Hotel Plaza Colón sponsors an environmental education program in a local public school with nearly 1,000 students; our guests can also buy our pre-made backpacks equipped with school supplies for donation to this school. We sell souvenirs made by local cooperatives, artisans and a school for children with disabilities. We strive to cultivate a positive working environment for our employees, and we organize activities such as outings, birthday celebrations and anniversaries. We also provide continual training on customer service, sustainability and environmental issues. We have developed water and energy conservation plans, which we monitor regularly. We also raise our guests’ awareness about our sustainable practices and how they can join our efforts.

We are actively involved with the work of the LATA Foundation, a charity set up by the Latin America Travel Association to support social and environmental projects throughout the region. These projects are helping to transform lives, providing clean water, dental or medical support and practical training to provide people with new skills in Mexico, Central and South America.

- In Nicaragua the LATA Foundation is run entirely by volunteers, most of whom have a background in the travel industry. As LATA covers bank fees and administration charges, pays for any printing and publicity materials, it means that all donations go directly to projects and are not swallowed up by overheads. Projects themselves are carefully vetted, assessed and closely monitored to ensure that funds go where they are needed most.
- In the Guanacaste area of Costa Rica state education amounts to just 3 hours of tuition on 85 days each year, a paltry total of just 255 hours. The LATA Foundation is supporting a dedicated Youth Development programme in conjunction with Abriendo Mentes which is delivering basic education, English classes and computer skills to 290 children in two villages.

Abriendo Mentes has developed long lasting partnerships with six local hotels and local tour operators in Potrero and Brasilito who provide support, funding, donations of resources, volunteers and tutors. Hopefully this will also lead to jobs for some of the current youth program participants. They are actively seeking more partners for this program.

We encourage our clients who are traveling to Playa Potrero or Playa Brasilito in Guanacaste, Abriendo Mentes that it would be grateful for donations of school and art supplies such as pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks, lined paper, pens, rulers and composition-size notebooks.