Costa Rican village becomes a laboratory

This spring, 21 students from Winona State University will travel with faculty members to the seaside village of Playa Dominical, Costa Rica, to gather data on its lifestyle and the potential impact of an impending tourism explosion.

"This research project provides a wonderful learning laboratory for our students," said Roger Riley, associate professor of physical education and recreation. The project brings together faculty and students primarily from the recreation and tourism program, and the marketing and geoscience departments. He said, "We are gathering research over a period of years so that we can assess the changes to the town as they occur."

Tourism offers interdisciplinary research possibilities, Riley said, because it comprises a mélange of industries and impacts - water availability and waste disposal, preservation of natural attractions vs. development for tourist accessibility and comfort, consumer behavior of tourists, accommodation and transportation needs, seasonality, political influences and many others. Land speculators already have bought property on the ridges above the sea, he said, and paving the gravel road to Dominical is expected to bring an influx of tourists in the next five years or so.

"During the first half of the trip, the students work from dawn to late collecting and analyzing data," Riley said. "During the second half, we move around Costa Rica experiencing the variety of tourist development initiatives - seacoast, cloud forests, rain forests, species preservation projects, volcanism, high adventure outdoor pursuits."

The project findings will be presented to Dominical residents, he said, with an offer to be of further assistance.

Last spring, the first group of 16 students began the data gathering. They stayed in little cabins at a wildlife refuge called Hacienda Baru, about five miles outside of Dominical. During the two-week trip they participated in readings and lectures and gathered data on how this community could support tourism.

A Winona State University team surveys the Costa Rica town of Dominical to create a digital map for studying tourism's impact on the region. From left, student Jennifer Foegen, geosciences associate professor Cathy Summa and student Joseph Overhaug.

In addition to student research experience, marketing professor Russ Smith said, "The trip also allows faculty to conduct research pertinent to their own discipline."

The data collection includes conducting interviews with local business people, surveying tourists, performing traffic counts and creating a descriptive analysis of the land, people and animals.

"It was enlightening to actually see how we collected our data," said Cassie Genz, a senior in marketing from Mendota Heights, Minn, who participated last spring. "In the classroom, we are given the data with no knowledge of where it comes from or who the people are. Being able to collect it ourselves was very interesting because we were able to see how the process worked."

Winona State University student Jenny Foegen writes her daily report during a research trip to Dominical, a Costa Rican village on the Pacific Ocean.

Genz said it's an experience she would recommend to anyone. "I learned so much that I can't even put it into words," she said. "I learned about the culture and how to apply what I've learned in the classroom, but most of all, I learned so much about myself."

The trip this year is May 15-30. The other faculty involved with the program include Lorene Olson from the physical education and recreation department and Toby Dogwiler and Cathy Summa from the geosciences department. Summa said the program is intended to continue for the next five to eight years.

"We're trying to give students a cross-disciplinary experience," Smith said. "It over-simplifies the world when you focus on only marketing, or only tourism or the environment."