Costa Rica

While this country has long been known for ecotourism and medical tourism, there are tons of things to experience.  This volcano is longer considered active, but Arenal is still pretty neat to see.

I was fortunate enough to see it erupt back on New Years eve 1999 - 2000 from Tabacon Springs but on subsequent visits I just saw some steam.

Costa Rica continues to draw tourist who are loving it to death, but that seems to be the case of most fringe destinations, with 1.2 million visitors from the states, up from 0.75 million just ten years earlier. It is becoming less an ecotourism destination and more like just any other tropically one. 
Too bad.

Sustainability and Eco-health tourism

This chapter highlighted some of the consequences facing health tourism today.  While not comprehensive in all the positive and negative impacts of the industry, an attempt has been made to highlight two of the more pressing issues: health care equity and bio-hazards. 

Bristow, R. (2013) Sustainability and Eco-health tourism. In Sustainability in Tourism. Chapter 4 in Jenkins, I., and Schroder, R., eds. Gabler, Wiesbaden, Germany, pp. 67-82.

Available from Amazon or Springer Gabler.

Sustainability and Eco-health tourism

Sustainability and Eco-health tourism

Robert S. Bristow

Introduction
Over the millennia, travel to foreign lands to soak in mineral waters has been popular for the privileged (Bookman and Bookman, 2007; Connell, 2011; Mitman, 2003; Reisman, 2010; Towner, 1996; TRAM, 2006). Long sought for their medicinal values, mineral springs have attracted visitors for thousands of years. And access to these resources has been possible through advances in transportation and a growing middle class that fuelled further interest in the experience of the holiday to escape the urban environment (Gilbert, 1949). The travel continues today as evidenced by the popularity of the historic mineral waters found at Saratoga Springs in the USA, Bath, England and Baden-Baden, Germany.

Yet today these tourists are seeking not only a bath and massage, but may also want cosmetic surgery or a knee replacement (Goodrich and Goodrich, 1987; Goodrich, 1993a; Hall, 1992; Hall, 2003). Fed by the interest to improve oneself, be pampered, or address some health concern, health travel is likely to continue in the future. Lunt and others (n.d.) found four consequences for the emergence of the international health market: large numbers of people travelling for treatment, the shift of tourists from more developed nations to less developed ones, the rise of information via the Internet, and public and private infrastructure development to promote tourism.

Health Tourism is the umbrella term for all tourist aspects of health, wellness and medical care (Smith and Puczkó, 2009). For example, Hall (1992) notes that health tourism may be appropriately viewed on a continuum from a sun and fun vacation to the need to seek a major medical operation. Progressing along this continuum the number of tourists decreases (Hall, 2003).

introduction of paper to be published in 

Sustainability in Tourism: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Ian Jenkins & Roland Schröder, Springer Gabler July 2013.