I have several different jobs. I own a hotel, run a tour company and lead a cooperative of eighteen hotel owners. During the quieter tourism months, I also teach English so I can maintain an income.
This is normal in Bahía. Tourism is highly seasonal, so almost everybody working in the sector has another activity to fall back on. Very few local people depend on tourism alone.
Overall, I am glad tourism developed here. It creates employment, but the benefit is not only economic. Meeting visitors from different places has made people in Bahía more open-minded.
The town also looks better. Public green spaces receive more attention, houses are painted and rubbish is collected more regularly.
Bahía has a great natural setting. We have mountains, rainforest and an unusual variety of birds. Dolphins and whales pass through the sea. These are the things visitors come to experience, and that gives us a clear reason to protect them.
We sell experiences of nature, so we must protect that nature or we will destroy our own market.
The municipality has tried to build an environmental policy around this idea. In 1999, Bahía declared itself an “ecotown.” Limited funds meant the results were more modest than the declaration suggested, but we did gain a privately operated waste-collection and recycling service.
I also try to follow these principles in my own businesses. My hotel buys only organically grown vegetables from my farm. We separate our waste, and my tour company, Dolphintours, uses recycled paper.
Dolphintours helps with a project run by the government and PMRC on a small mangrove island in the Chone River delta. Local fishermen take visitors on excursions, while my company provides marketing and some of the organisation.
The fishermen bring knowledge of the water, wildlife and local life. We help connect that knowledge to visitors. It is a partnership that can give fishermen a direct role in tourism instead of leaving them only as suppliers of fish to hotels and restaurants.
Tourists also influence the local economy through very ordinary choices. Imported or international products may be easy to recognise, but buying them does not necessarily support many people in Bahía.
A bottle of Coke leaves very little money in local hands. A fruit juice made here supports the people who grow, prepare and sell it.
I would like visitors to think about the chain behind everything they buy. The difference between two drinks can also be the difference between money leaving the community and circulating within it.
Tourism works best when protecting nature and strengthening the local economy become the same goal. If visitors choose local products and responsible businesses, they help us care for the very landscape that brought them to Bahía.