Its hard to believe we are starting our last week here in Minca! Time is running short and we are working hard to synthesize all of the information we collected to present back to the community and work together to come up with some strategies for how to further develop tourism here. Some major observations we have derived from our interviews:

• 100% of the residents we surveyed enjoy having tourists in their community, many of which also believe tourism is one of the best avenues for economic development for Minca
• We asked residents and tourism interest groups (businesses, hotels, tour operators etc) what they saw as some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism in the area and found:
  • Positive impacts: increased income, cultural exchange, increased knowledge and learning of nature
  • Negative impacts: increased pollution/trash, congestion, potential for increased crime
• Obstacles Minca faces in developing sustainable tourism practices are:
  • Infrastructure: roads and paths can be difficult to navigate
  • Services: water systems and public services are in need of development
  • Controls: Minca lacks leadership and control systems for standardizing any sustainable initiatives

Today we are finishing up our presentation that includes what we have found from the community and some suggestions we have for a potential action plan. The purpose of the meeting will be to work together with the community to come up with what they believe is the best strategy for sustainable development of tourism as well as what next steps need to be done in order to achieve their goals. It will be important for us to not impart on what we think is best but allow the community to prioritize and strategize with our insight.

number crunching in paradise

signs for the meeting painted by the lovely Nayibe