Case Name :      The Road to Tortuguero

Authors :           Cheri A. Young, Terry G. Nicholas, David L. Corsun, Daryl Loth

Source :             North American Case Research Association (NACRA)

Case ID :            NA0313

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    20 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

The case presents a decision facing a tour guide organization in Tortuguero, Costa Rica regarding environmental sustainability and social equity. Tortuguero was situated on a spit of land, isolated from the rest of the country due to the ocean, rivers, and a protected national park. It was inaccessible by road. Tortuguero was home to the most prolific nesting beach for giant sea turtles in the Atlantic. Turtle-based tourism was the basis of the tiny village’s economy. Daryl Loth, President of the Tortuguero Tour Guide Association (TGA), had to oversee a meeting of the TGA, a self-organized group of local tour guides in the village. The TGA had collected a fee of about 40 US cents from each tourist taking a turtle tour and was going to choose one of three proposals for spending its $30K of revenues from the past two years. Community members were permitted to comment at TGA meetings, and some had argued that spending money on a road to Tortuguero would launch an increase in tourists; accessibility to health care, higher education, and lower priced goods and services; and hence, an increase in prosperity and their constitutional right to social equity. Some TGA members believed that an increase in tourists would lead to more business for them and the village businesses, plus greater awareness for the plight of the endangered green sea turtles. Others believed the lack of convenient access to the village was one reason they had been able to protect the turtles and attract new and repeat tourists. This case stimulates discussion of the following questions: What effects would the decision have on the community, the turtles, and the sustainability of ecotourism in Tortuguero in the short and longer term? Should environmental sustainability take precedence over social equity and ready access to medical care, university education, and lower prices for staple goods? What is the ethical choice?