Tourismus und nachhaltige Entwicklung ländlicher Regionen in systemischer Perspektive. Beispiele aus Costa Rica

Abstract

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate that the contribution of tourism to sustainable development can only be assessed in a holistic framework of analyzing social change. A systemic concept for analyzing societal change and the relationship between change on the local, national and global level is proposed. The main part of the article analyses the changes of a Costa Rican region brought about by tourism development in the context of post-fordist globalization. The impact of tourism on the local relations between economy and the environment, on socio-economic development in general and on local politics is analyzed and the conditions for stimulating a virtuous circle towards sustainable regional development are pointed out. It is shown that „sustainable development through tourism“ is not identical with „ecotourist“ development. The final chapters deal with political strategies to support sustainability on the local, national and global level taking into account the strong interdependencies between politics and the conditions for sustainable development on all three levels of global society.