If you think of ecotourism in Central America, Costa Rica immediately comes to mind. Honduras is also a species-rich place with large protected areas. Tourism development is important for this small country in order to create jobs for the population and to promote a more compatible use of the land with the extraction of palm oil.
The number of tourist attractions that are particularly biodiversity-friendly is slowly but steadily growing. GNF President Marion Hammerl was able to convince herself of this during her trip to the Atlántida region in August 2019. The EuropeAid-funded project "Turismo y Biodiversidad", jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Global Nature Fund and local partners, has helped to make this possible. In addition to the Dominican Republic, activities have been carried out in Honduras, in particular the Biodiversity Check for hotels and tour operators. 13 hotels, tour operators and a provider of excursions, are implementing individual action plans to improve the protection of biological diversity. Destino Atlántida has integrated biodiversity checks into the destination's quality label and is coordinating them along with other awareness raising activities for tourism companies.
Eight small hotels along the Cangrejal River have agreed on joint activities to improve the protection of this unique river. However, it is not easy for the committed tourism companies: lack of waste management and wastewater treatment by the communities, increasing ecosystems pollution or illegal deforestation. The challenges are great and for some time now, travel warnings have been added for lack of safety. Marion Hammerl felt safe during her journey from Omoa via Tela to La Ceiba. The GNF will inform tour operators in Europe about the tourist offers that attach great importance to the protection of biodiversity. The exemplary companies need success - that would be the best argument for others to also work for the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity.