The Citigroup Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Citigroup, has extended a helping hand to small and medium-sized tourism businesses in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ecuador through a donation to support the Rainforest Alliance in its mission to promote sustainable development in Latin America.

The Foundation’s donation of $150,000 dollars will help support our work with small business entrepreneurs in tourism and forestry, helping them adopt sound sustainable activities and assuring that they increase their competitiveness in the international market. We will provide small community based-forestry operations in Panama and Guatemala with training on sustainable forestry practices to help them market their sustainably harvested products. We will channel the tourism funds into the training and technical assistance program we offer to small and medium sized businesses owners. Participants learn to improve their management tactics and the competitiveness of their businesses.

"With the new funds, we will be able to hold more training seminars and workshops for owners or representatives of hotels and lodges," explains Ronald Sanabria, director of sustainable tourism at the Rainforest Alliance. "Those who want to learn better management practices and seek tourism certification can count on receiving additional technical and marketing assistance from us so that they can take advantage of new commercial opportunities."

Citigroup will complement this donation by encouraging its staff to volunteer in Latin America to train tourism enterprises in administration, finance, marketing and human resources, and perhaps even develop future training modules for the Rainforest Alliance’s program.

"This contribution is part of Citigroup’s commitment to community development in the countries in which it operates," affirms Jorge Mora, Citibank general manager and representative of Citigroup in Costa Rica. "We allocate our resources not only to our clients but to the community as well. We would like to be perceived as a private enterprise immersed in confronting the challenges of today’s world."

Representatives of eleven certified hotels in Costa Rica, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, the Rainforest Alliance and the domestic airline Nature Air recently held a special event called, "Celebrating Sustainability."

The event boasted an excellent turnout, impressing the new Costa Rican minister of tourism Carlos Benavides. In his presentation, he promised to back sustainable tourism certification throughout Costa Rica. "Here you can clearly see how certification motivates," he said. "I am very happy to see this and I plan to strongly support the certification program."

Andrea Holbrook, owner of the certified Selva Verde Lodge and one of the event organizers, explained that the purpose of the celebration was to highlight the potential sustainable tourism certification and draw specific attention to the Certification in Sustainable Tourism (CST) program and Costa Rica’s sustainable tourism certification seal.

"CST-certified hotels have demonstrated their commitment to conserving natural resources and the well-being of Costa Rican communities," noted Ronald Sanabria of the Rainforest Alliance. "Their leadership has been a fountain of inspiration for conservation organizations like ours that believe in the potential of certified sustainable tourism."

It wouldn’t be fair to encourage tourism businesses to invest money in becoming ecologically and socially sustainable and then simply wish them luck in the highly competitive international market. They need ongoing support.

The Rainforest Alliance provides that support. In June we organized a familiarization (FAM) trip for representatives from six tour operators from Germany and Holland to introduce them to Costa Rican businesses committed to sustainable tourism.

For Henko Wenthold, from the Dutch tour operator Baobab, it was a wonderful first introduction to Costa Rica. "I would definitely recommend it to my clients," he said. "I learned that it really is possible to travel responsibly at a competitive price. But what most impressed me were the Costa Rican people whom I had the chance to meet." Wentholt and his travel companions were in the land of "Pura vida" for one week, where they had the opportunity to visit hotels in the city, mountains and beach, experience rural community tourism, meet with business owners and learn about the work of local tour operators.

By the time they said their goodbyes to the tour operators, the local business owners and administrators were enthusiastic about the possibilities their new contacts represent. Joxan Obando, who works for hotel Villa Blanca in the country’s central valley, was no exception. "I really appreciate the effort that the Rainforest Alliance has made in bringing these tour operators to visit us from so far away," he said.

This trip was part of the Rainforest Alliance’s promotion and marketing plan, which includes partnerships with 18 Latin American, four North American and several European tour operators that have committed to integrating sustainable hotels in the packages they offer to their clients.

When a country has spectacular natural and cultural wealth coupled with forward thinking decision makers, the sky’s the limit for success in sustainable tourism. Ecuador is one such country.

Recently, the Ministry of Tourism, the National Federation of Tourism Chambers and the Rainforest Alliance signed an inter-institutional cooperation agreement for the joint development of sustainable tourism programs and projects. The result will be greater support for small and medium-sized Ecuadorian companies.

The three institutions have committed to jointly marketing Ecuador’s numerous opportunities for sustainable tourism at tourist fairs and conferences. Ecuadorian business owners will also receive technical assistance and training in best practices and sustainable tourism certification.

Since 2004, the Rainforest Alliance has been transforming the tourism industry in Ecuador by helping travel businesses reach new and more lucrative markets while conserving the area’s culture and biodiversity. Thus far, 650 Ecuadorians involved in tourism have participated in seminars and another 370 representatives from 100 small tourism businesses have been trained. Both achievements have been supported by the Ecuadorian Ecotourism Association, the Ecuadorian organization Conservation and Development and its certification program SmartVoyager, and Conservation International in Ecuador.

The Chaa Creek Lodge, a hotel, adventure center, rainforest reserve and spa in Cayo, Belize took a first step toward certification when it recently achieved Green Globe Benchmarked status. This is the step prior to obtaining the Green Globe 21 certification seal, which is a worldwide benchmarking and certification program for the travel and tourism industry.

This achievement is the laudable result of significant time invested in monitoring water and energy consumption, managing waste disposal and developing a social and environmental policy. Chaa Creek reduced its use of non-renewable resources and lowered operation costs, paving the road to future success in environmental and social sustainability.

Hotel manager Mike Green says he is sure this first triumph will have future benefits. With the certification seal in reach, they will work hard to continue making improvements and reviewing procedures to achieve greater sustainability.

Cathy Parsons, representative of Green Globe, declared Chaa Creek an inspiration to those committed to sustainable tourism since it is a model of how a business and its employees can make huge strides in diminishing their environmental impact.

Fifty tourism businesses in Guatemala are eligible to apply for economic support to increase their sustainability, the Rainforest Alliance and Asociación Alianza Verde from Guatemala recently announced. The two NGOs launched the "co-financing for best management practices and certification support technical assistance fund" at a June event attended by Guatemalan authorities and other tourism industry representatives.

The beneficiaries will be small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that participate in the best practices program and work to conserve natural and cultural treasures. The fund is also available to businesses in Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador.

To be eligible for funding, available through November 2006, businesses need to sign an agreement with the Rainforest Alliance and undergo an evaluation to target areas in need of improvement.

Each company that achieves those improvements can obtain matching funds of up to $2,500 to hire a technical advisor to provide recommendations and training on how to incorporate best management practices into their business’ operation. Advisors must be accredited by the Rainforest Alliance.

The fund may also finance businesses's tourism certification after the companies have proven that they have adopted good management practices that have yielded tangible results.

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The Rainforest Alliance’s work in sustainable tourism in Latin America is supported by: The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Ford Foundation, the Overbrook Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, the Global Environment Facility/United Nations Environment Programme, Mitsubishi and others.

© 2006 Rainforest Alliance