Linking Culture and the Environment

186 Local Participation and Attaining Sustainable Tourism
Research Setting
Honduras, the second-largest country in Central America – with a population
of just over 7 million – is also the second poorest in the Western hemisphere.
Like most Central American countries, the population of Honduras
is primarily rural in character. Nearly 80% of the country is mountainous
with only narrow lowlands along its coasts. Most of the arable land is used
to produce export crops such as bananas and pineapple. Much of this land is
owned by large international agribusinesses (Keller et al., 1997).
Tourism in Honduras had been growing about 8.5% per year from 1992
to 2000 (IADB, 2005). In 2005, Honduras developed their National Sustainable
Tourism Program (NSTP) and received US$35 million to fund
infrastructure development, regional planning efforts, and research and
marketing (IADB, 2005). The NSTP identified the northern coastal region as
currently underutilized from a tourism development perspective and recommended
developing a tourism strategy based on the natural resources
of the area to ‘trigger regional development’. The thrust of this programme
is to encourage large-scale development in the region (e.g. airports, hotels,
etc.), but also the development of a network of small locally owned ‘support
services’ (IADB, 2005).
The Cuero y Salado and Guaimoreto Wildlife Reserves of northern
Honduras (Fig. 11.1) are located in the Caribbean coastal region and protect
Cuero y salado wildlife refuge
Guaimoreto lagoon wildlife refuge
Belize
Guatemala
Copan
Santa
barbara
Cortes
Ocotepeque
Lempira Intibuca
La Paz
Atlantida
Yoro
Comayagua
Francisco
morazan
El paraiso
Olancho
Colon
Nicaragua
Gracias
a dios
Caribbean sea
El salvador
Valle
Pacific ocean
Choluteca
Honduras
Fig. 11.1. Map of Honduras.