Paradise in the Making: The Complexities of Tourism Development in Honduras

The following is an abridged copy of my undergraduate thesis about tourism development in Honduras. This version was published in the Journal of the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. Sorry, I couldn't use any pictures. But you can see some Honduras pictures in older posts on this blog!

If you came across this essay while researching for your own work, you are welcome to use it, but please properly cite the reference.

Proceedings of The National Conference

On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2007

Dominican University of California

San Rafael, California

April 12 – 14, 2007

Paradise in the Making: The Complexities of Tourism Development in

Honduras

Ian Montgomery

Department of Sociology and Anthropology,

University of North Carolina at Asheville

One University Heights

Asheville, NC 28804

Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Wood

Abstract

Honduras, like many other Latin American nations, is in a state of transition; it is caught between the troubled remnants of post-colonial dependency on American fruit companies, and the realization of an autonomous position within a globalizing world. As the country confronts the new millennium, it must battle widespread poverty, AIDS, class and racial struggles, and cultural as well as environmental degradation. Meanwhile, tourism is on the rise. For many Hondurans, this is an encouraging prospect, promising economic and social improvement. However, various forces and viewpoints exist, often conflicting with each other, on the subject of tourism development, each with serious implications for Honduras’ people, environment, and future. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and participant observation conducted in June and July of 2006, within ten locations in Honduras, this research investigates the problematic nature of tourism development for Honduras. In particular, it focus's on peoples’ motivations behind supporting large-scale, traditional tourism, microtourism, or ecotourism, and the particular implications each form of development has for local residents.
Keywords: Tourism, Sustainability, Dependency

On the global level…modernity has become experimental. We are all, willy-nilly, caught up in a grand experiment, which is at the one time our doing—as human agents—yet to an imponderable degree outside of our control… It is not an experiment in the laboratory sense… more like a dangerous adventure.
Anthony Giddens, British advisor to the Prime Minister, Economist, and Social Theorist¹

1. Introduction

Millions of twinkling stars filled the night sky as I sat in a traditional, palm-thatched, open-air, cabana talking with three Garifuna youth on the beach of Tornabé. A warm Caribbean breeze blew off of the sea and my companions spoke of the natural beauty of their beach and the relaxed, “tranquilo” nature of their culture and town.

The Garifuna, also known as “Black Caribes,” Inhabit the Caribbean coast of Central America, from Belize to Nicaragua. Great cultural pride stems from the fact that the Garifuna were never actually enslaved. In 1675, African captives aboard a slave ship escaped in the waters off of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These people became the Garifuna and their culture and language are mixtures of Carib Indian and various African regions with European influences. In my experience, the Garifuna were always warm and welcoming with playful spirits.

Indeed, the mood was quite “tranquilo” that evening so I didn’t want to ruin it by expressing the thoughts that were presently troubling my mind. I was thinking of the massive 1600 room Los Micos Beach and Golf Resort complex that is currently in the planning and initial development phase right next door to this sleepy Garifuna town, and what implications this development is probably going to have for the citizens of Tornabé and Miami, the traditional and isolated Garifuna village on the other side of the resort site. I thought of palm-thatched houses and towering coconut palms being replaced by resorts ten times their height and the hustle and bustle that will accompany the hundreds of daily cars and tourists that will pass through Tornabé to get to the resort complex.

I wondered, “Isn’t everything they are talking about going to change?” I kept quiet to keep from breaking the mood, but as we were leaving the beach I asked, “Homie, do you want the big hotels they are going to build? Do you want hotels like in Cancun?” Homie’s reply staggered me; he said, “Dáme Cancun, somos pobre y necesitamos el dinero” (give me Cancun, we are poor and we need the money).

It’s difficult to say exactly why Homie’s response surprised me so. I had been living in his town for three days at this point experiencing poverty unlike anything I, and likely many other Americans have ever seen before. Malnourished children, sporadic electricity, wild, starving dogs, poor sanitation, and drinking water laden with microscopic creatures. Yet I believed that the people of this town would naturally oppose the large-scale tourism development slated for their communal lands.

I thought preserving their natural environment and traditional ways of life would be their biggest priorities, however, many Hondurans are prepared to change their way of life to improve their quality of life; even if there may be environmental and cultural costs. I discovered my surprise at Homie’s answer was because of my (comparatively) privileged position based on a “protection” oriented perspective.

2. Methodology

Between June 8th and July 11th, 2006, I was in Honduras working with two environmental groups and traveling to various Honduran communities. I joined UNCA’s first International Service-Learning class, which went to Honduras to participate in service projects intended to foster ecotourism-oriented development. It was in the context of this class, and my own additional travel after the class ended, that my research was conducted. The methods utilized in this study included participant observation within the context of the service-learning course and the villages and towns that hosted us. As ecotourism oriented development is already underway in Honduras, UNCA’s service-learning experience provided a medium through which I was able to observe, and participate in, the groundlevel development efforts, the environmental groups’ interactions with local communities, and, the primary objective of the study, to observe the sentiments about tourism development held by community members.

We stayed in dormitory-style housing provided by the environmental groups, and assisted them with various projects on a daily basis. In the other communities I visited, I experienced widely varying stages and forms of tourism; from a palm-thatched loft in a Garifuna village of fifty, to a bustling Danish-owned hostel in Copán Ruinas, the tourist town that grew up around the famous Mayan ruins of the same name. In addition, I spoke with, and conducted interviews with people involved in two environmental organizations, the UNCA participants, and spent countless hours speaking and “hanging out” with community members and tourism entrepreneurs. Being in class with the UNCA participants for three weeks (prior to departure for Honduras) elicited extensive dialogue along the subjects of Honduran: history, poverty, foreign dependency, developmental concerns and obstacles, and about the role of ecotourism and environmental groups in Honduras today. While in Honduras, I spent 3 weeks participating in the Service-Learning course and working with two environmental groups on community service and ecotourism oriented development projects. These groups were the Fundacion para la Proteccion de Lancetilla, Punta Sal, y Texiguat (Prolansate), and the Fundacion Cuero y Salado (Fucsa).

In addition, I spent two weeks traveling to established and emerging tourism destinations. Particularly, I focused on learning the sentiments held by local people about tourism development in their areas. This field work dramatically supplemented my emerging understanding of Honduran development issues based on existing literature about tourism, sustainability, and Honduran history.

3. Economic Dependency 

Honduras became known as a “Banana Republic” because two U.S. companies, United Fruit (Chiquita), and Standard Fruit (Dole), invested heavily in Honduras, to produce bananas and other tropical fruit. Because Honduras lacked infrastructure to access significant quantities of other internationally-marketable commodities, the fruit companies came to dominate Honduras’ physical, economic, and political landscape. Since 1899, these two companies have been the backbone of Honduras’ economy, granting them incredible political power which was frequently used for their advantage². The result was a dependency on the fruit companies, leaving rural Hondurans few options to earn income. In Modern Latin America, Thomas Skidmore and Peter Smith outline the implications of dependant relationships between Latin American nations and members of the international market:

By its intrinsic character, “dependent development” generated inequities, allocating benefits to sectors participating in the world market and denying them to other groups. A typical case might involve a country whose economic growth relied on a single export crop, such as coffee or sugar. A national landowning elite, the planters, would collaborate with export-import merchants, often foreign, to sell the goods on an overseas market. Most profits would be restricted to those groups. The planters would use much of their money to import high-cost consumer goods from Europe or the United States, and the merchants (if foreign) would remit profits to their home countries. The export earnings would therefore provide precious little capital for diversifying the local economy, thus creating a situation that some observers have labeled “growth without development” (emphasis added)³

The effect of these dependent relationships is hindered development of self-sufficiency. With inhibited self-sufficiency, dependent countries cannot break free of their dependent relationships; it becomes a vicious cycle.

Alison Acker, author of Honduras: The Making of a Banana Republic, exemplifies United Fruit’s ambitions to dominate Honduras’ land, economy, and politics. She quotes an alleged letter, written in 1920, by United Fruit’s vice president, to the company’s lawyer. The letter outlines ten instructions designed to secure the company’s success in Honduras. Acker quotes:

1 So that our great sacrifices and enormous investments will not be made in vain, we must
acquire and control as much national and private land as we can afford and absorb…
4 We must obtain concessions, privileges, franchises, exemption from obligations which might restrict our profits and those of our associates. We must put ourselves in a privileged position in order to impose our commercial philosophy and defend our economic interests…
9 We must disrupt the growing economy of this country and increase its problems in order to favour our own aims. We must prolong its tragic, stormy life, plagued with revolution; the wind must blow only upon our sails and the waves wet only our keels²

Indeed, United Fruit seems to have been successful in carrying out these plans.

4. Tourism in Honduras

National interests in economic diversification, and international attention to the country's natural beauty have contributed to a dramatic rise in tourist numbers and revenue. Also, recognition of pristine forests and coastline have contributed to the interest in, and implementation of, environmental preservation measures. Since the late 1980’s, Honduras has declared millions of acres as national parks and refuges. Still a largely undeveloped industry, there are three primary forms of tourism development available to communities; all of which I encountered. These are largescale tourism, microtourism (or small-scale tourism development) and ecotourism, each with their own set of promises and problems for residents.

Though Honduras can no longer rely solely on bananas, tourism is proving to be a fruitful industry for many. In 2005, the total number of tourist arrivals to Honduras was 749,500, increasing by 138,900 since 2003. The annual revenues increased by US $58.1 million, for a total of US $431.3 million per year⁴. Costa Rica leads Central America in visiting tourists with 1,452,926 annually⁵.

Honduras’ previous president, Ricardo Maduro (term ended in early 2006), was so serious about tourism development as a vehicle for economic independence, he commissioned a 47 page “Investment Kit” outlining his vision for Honduras’ tourism development. This kit identifies dozens of key areas and projects that the government is promoting to foreign investors and describes, in detail, the project plans⁶. Maduro states: “Tourism has become one of the world’s largest industries, and the revenues it generates have grown increasingly important for the global economy. That is why my administration has made tourism a priority, believing that the industry will not only benefit the country by creating new jobs and bringing in foreign currency, but also by strengthening our national identity, increasing development and competitivity, and giving Hondurans a higher standard of living”⁶.

4.1 large-scale tourism

The Honduran Institute of Tourism claims about the Los Micos Beach and Golf Resort being developed next to that tranquilo beach previously mentioned:

Two primary benefits will be the creation of new jobs and access to training programs for local residents. The principal direct social benefits that will accompany the project have been estimated as follows: The creation of 1,350 directly related jobs and an additional 3,760 indirectly related jobs for the Tela Bay zone. Approximately $12 million in salaries for the zone, [and] Improved quality of life for the Tela Bay population in areas such as sanitation, health and education⁶.

The Honduran government is actively seeking foreign investors to fund this endeavor along with dozens of other tourism projects.

As promising as all this seems, large-scale tourism development historically poses environmental and social problems. According to Martin Mowforth and Ian Munt, authors of Tourism and Sustainability: Development and New Tourism in the Third World, “The phenomenon and growth of mass tourism has led to a range of problems, which have become increasingly evident and well publicized over recent years. They include environmental, social and cultural degradation, unequal distribution of financial benefits, the promotion of paternalistic attitudes, and even the spread of disease⁷”. In addition, much of the income from the Large-Scale resort comes back to the investor's country's economy. This is referred to as “leaking,” and it is estimated that in developing nations, over 50% of the income of foreign owned tourism projects is leaked⁷.

Unfortunately, this form of tourism development serves to alienate locals and create social divisions. The following story, taken directly from my field notes, highlights a case of alienation between foreign owned hotels, and the coastal community of Sambo Creek:

We arrived in Sambo Creek to find a boat to the Cayos Cochinos [archipelago]. As the bus drove through this Garifuna town, there were little or no signs of tourism. The end of the line for the bus was in front of the Hermanos Restaurante y Hotel, the only hotel we could find. The room was very small and grungy. It seemed like security may be an issue as the door didn’t lock. Our standards haven’t been very high on this trip, but these rooms were downright depressing. For the sake of security, we inquired if there was any other place to stay in town. The teenager that was showing us the room told us that we could walk up the beach a few minutes, and find two hotels owned by Canadians. So off we went. We walked across a little channel (luckily it was only thigh-deep) and past a group of Garifuna women and children playing and washing clothes in the brackish water flowing into the ocean. At this point, we acquired three young Garifuna boys. 

When we got to the side-by-side hotels, the first thing I noticed was the eight-foot tall, iron fences that surrounded them. After giving the boys ten lempira for showing us the way, we entered while the boys remained standing at the gate. It was apparent that they believed they should not enter. This is significant, it points out an inside/outside dynamic between the hotels, and the community in which they are situated. Only about a half kilometer from Sambo creek, the hotels, the “Canadien” and “Emily’s Place,” were a stark contrast to the town. I later learned that there is little interaction between the hotels and the community; limited to seafood transactions, and occasional arrangements for trips to the Cayos Cochinos. To me, the most noticeable difference was the coloring. Sambo Creek had an overall tan, brown, yellow theme, while both hotels were predominately white, interlaced with green foliage and blue pools. 

Another noticeable difference was the absence of trash on the hotel grounds, contrasting the trash littering the streets and beach of Sambo Creek. Regardless, the “Canadien” had one Garifuna employee, but it seemed like we were in a completely different culture inside that fence.

On the Honduran Bay Island of Roatan, adverse results of large-scale tourism development were studied by Stonich, Sorenson and Hundt. Mowforth and Munt summarize their findings and report the following adverse effects: “increased social differentiation as a result of tourism developments; the assignment of the majority of
Ladinos and islanders to low-status, low-paid, temporary jobs; reduced access for local people to the natural resources on which they depend for their livelihoods; escalating prices; land speculation; increased outside ownership of local resources; [and] deterioration of the biophysical environment”⁷.

Unchecked and rapid tourism growth on the Bay Island of Utila threatens an endemic Iguana species and the very reefs that are the island’s main tourist attraction. Only in the last four years, has Utila acquired 24-hour electricity, a fact made clear by the residual advertisements painted on hotel walls saying “we have 24-hour electricity.” The tourism industry is booming on this island, faster than the infrastructure can keep up. Waste management seems to be a major problem. I asked one resident what Utila did with its trash and she replied “I’m pretty sure they just collect it in a truck and then dump it in the mangroves.” Indeed, this seems to be the case. Taken directly from my field notes, the following describes my observations regarding trash management in Utila:

Walking in to the front of the motel, everything was clean. The buildings were white, the crushed coral driveway was white, most of the people were white, and there was no trash to be found. When we got to our room, I looked out of the window onto a marsh behind the hotel. I saw trash, tons of it, filling the edges of the marsh, extending into it from the back of every lot. The breeze coming in the window smelled putrid, like a landfill. Then I noticed the houses across the marsh. They were more like crumbling huts and I could see local islanders coming and going from them, probably off to work in a hotel, gift shop, or restaurant. It looked like complete squalor.

This condition exemplifies what can happen when tourism development outpaces economic improvements. Western tourists bring Western ideals, and cultural idiosyncrasies that find their way into local attitudes. These cultural exchanges, that are largely one-way, begin to change the local cultures as they adapt to cater to the tourists on the tourists’ terms, and to embrace the materialistic ideals of tourists with much more money and privilege. These issues have increased interest and support for so-called “sustainable” forms of tourism development.

4.2 microtourism

Microtourism, or small-scale tourism is a largely cultural experience. It involves travel to, and immersion in, relatively isolated places where goods and services are provided by local community residents. Money spent by “micro-tourists” directly benefits these communities while minimizing environmental impact. However, the fundamental problem is that of numbers. It is an inherently low-volume industry. Few tourists means limited income, leaving little hope for regional or national economic improvement, though it has the potential to  produce significant local income.

To give an example of microtourism, I'd like to take you to the islands. The Cayos Cochinos are an archipelago of 13 islands twenty five miles from the Honduran mainland. They are largely undeveloped with one resort, two Garifuna towns, a marine research station, and a scattering of houses. It was declared a national marine park in 1994 and since then, no development has taken place. Lobster fishing, the primary source of income for local Garifuna residents has faced dramatic regulations. My travels brought me to these islands, specifically to Chachahuate, a small Garifuna village of 15 families. There was one place to stay, the primitively elegant loft of Ammy’s palmthatched hut, with no electricity or running water. Ammy’s husband, Orelio takes visitors to find the endemic and elusive “Culebra Rosada” (Pink Boa) on the largest of the islands. I asked what he thought about tourism in the Cayos Cochinos. Orelio said that most people only come for a few hours and stay either at the resort, or somewhere on the mainland. I asked Orelio what he thought about the lobster regulations and whether tourism is making up for the loss in income. He stated: “when they made us reduce the number of lobsters we catch, our income dropped a lot. Since then, I still
catch lobsters but not as many, we try to make that money through tourists, but there are not enough. We’re lucky if they buy a necklace and a soda.”

4.3 ecotourism

Donald Reid, author of Tourism, Globalization and Development: Responsible Tourism Planning, says, “Ecotourism operations developed in a manner that protects the natural resources it takes advantage of, and educates visitors about their fragility, are seen by many environmental organizations as often the most appropriate use of the resources in question”⁸. As the name suggests, ecology and the environment are the primary attractors for conservation minded eco-tourists. The most prevalent form of ecotourism that I witnessed were eco-tours. These were arranged by city-based tour companies and consisted of day trips into national parks, whitewater rafting, or jungle, rainforest, or cloudforest treks. Since the eco-tours originate in cities, the towns nearest to the end destinations economically benefit little (perhaps a local guide is used now and then, or a lunch is made), while exposure to western ideals of affluence and material culture are regularly transmitted, without the means to acquire the objects of these ideals.

5. Factors Motivating Involvement in Tourism Development

Honduran residents situated the closest to tourism development stand to have the most to gain and to lose since they are much poorer than the forces of development and it is their local environments that are affected. As a result of this, one might expect their voices would be the loudest in support of, or opposition to, a particular form of tourism development. However, based on my research, this doesn’t seem to be the case. I discovered this phenomenon early in my study, prompting me to attempt to determine the factors that motivate residents’ various forms of participation, or non-participation with tourism development. Here are some of the reasons I found:

One of the two founders of Prolansate, Jeanette Kawas, was allegedly assassinated in 1995 by Guatemalan mercenaries representing Honduran land owners up in arms against appropriation of land for the park⁹. On June 22nd, 2006, days after leaving Tela Bay, Jessica Garcia, a community leader of San Juan Tela, had her life and her children’s lives threatened while being forced at gunpoint to sign over some communal lands to a real estate company¹⁰. About a month after my departure from the area, another form of aggression was enacted against an activist in San Juan Tela. Americas.org reports that, “19-year-old Mirna Isabel Santos Thomas, on 6 August [, 2006]… was reportedly taken from her house by a group of men who had their faces covered and were carrying AK-47 rifles. Her body was found by the side of a road outside the village. To date, nobody has been arrested for her kidnap and murder.”¹¹ She was a member of the Honduran Fraternal Black Organization (OFRANEH), dedicated to stopping the sale and development of Garifuna communally owned lands.

The list of acts of aggression against Tela Bay activists continues with arson, general intimidation and harassment, and bogus drug charges, putting one activist in jail for seven years. The Honduran government, with little prosecution, or even acknowledgement of these crimes, offers little hope in protecting the lives of Garifuna activists¹². Fear, resulting from such acts of aggression is likely to keep citizens from getting involved. I only learned about these acts of violence after my return to the states. Therefore I didn't have a chance to explore this fear, only the news bulletins.

In addition, alienation from the forces of tourism development stands to contribute to feelings of apathy and hopelessness to affect change. Jerry, of Tornabé, an ex-employee of United Fruit, described his reservations about getting involved in tourism development. I asked him what he thought about white people imposing their modes of development on his town: “I just let Americans do what they want, they only bring good things like electricity and water and money. They don’t want my help, so I just watch. They say the hotels are going to bring us money.” When I asked about ecotourism and the environmental group's role in his town, he offered: “They are nice, but all they have brought is the bunkhouse where we pay our water bills and groups of workers like you, They don’t bring tourists here. They also have brought palm trees. The trees are important because of the ‘muerte amarillo’.” Muerte Amarillo directly means ‘yellow death.’ In this case, it refers to an airborne blight affecting coconut palms, a significant source of nutrition for poor Hondurans.

6. Conclusion

Let us return to the concept of perspective. Those subject to conditions of poverty like the citizens of the five places I visited lacking electricity, running water, reasonable access to healthcare, or any structural form of waste management often desire large-scale tourism development because it promises the most tourists and their corresponding spending.

However, it’s usually these places that local and international environmentalists, activists, and NGOs , wish to “save” because they are the most “pristine.” Some environmentalists, like George Schaller, suggest that even ecotourism development will negatively affect the protected areas. In a National Geographic interview, he says: “There are certain natural treasures in each country that should be treated as treasure, and it is up to conservation organizations to fight on behalf of the special places. Too many of these organizations have lost sight of their purpose. Their purpose is not to alleviate poverty or help sustainable development. Their purpose must be to save natural treasures."¹³ Schaller’s reasoning is to preserve biodiversity and maintain a model of what the forest is supposed to look like so that forest rehabilitation will be an option. This is not intended to be a criticism against Mr. Schaller, nor to deny the importance of biodiversity; his position is as equally valid as the many other voices addressing environmental degradation, however there is a fundamental problem of perspective: most westerners do not rely on their protected areas for survival, while many Hondurans do.

There can be no singular model for tourism development in Honduras. All three forms I have highlighted will need to be developed further to produce the income that many Hondurans desire and protect Honduras’ environmental and cultural treasures. The true problem is deciding where each form of tourism is going to be implemented, and who gets to decide. These decisions will not be easy because they will have real and lasting effects on Honduran communities, its environment, and the country’s international self-sufficiency. Efforts to educate Honduras’ marginalized communities will empower them to make more informed and beneficial decisions. I believe there can be a “healthy mix” of tourism development in Honduras, but this will require the utmost cooperation, on a case-by-case basis, between citizens, investors, environmental advocates, and the Honduran government.

It is time we re-evaluate our perspectives on development in the “developing” world. Like most problems we face, answers are rarely black and white. The same is true for tourism development. The powers behind tourism development must increase their attempts to reconcile the desires of marginalized Hondurans, and the citizens must increase their attempts to be heard, for they have the most at stake.

7. Bibliography

1. Giddens, Anthony. 2002. Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives, 2nd edition. London: Profile Books.
2. Acker, Alison. 1988. Honduras: The Making of a Banana Republic. Boston, MA: South End Press
3. Skidmore, Thomas and Smith, Peter. 2005. Modern Latin America 6th ed. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
4. Honduras Institute of Tourism. 2005. Statistical Overview 2005. Tegucigalpa, Honduras Available at:
http://websonicos.com/losmicos/
5. Costa Rica Institute of Tourism. 2004. 2004 Yearbook. Accessed 7 Nov 2006.
http://www.visitcostarica.com/ict/paginas/estadistica.asp
6. Honduras Institute of Tourism. 2005. Investment Kit. Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Available at:
http://websonicos.com/losmicos/
7. Mowforth, Martin and Munt, Ian. 2003. Tourism and Sustainability: Development and New Tourism in the Third World. 2nd edition New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.
8. Reid, Donald. 2003. Tourism, Globalization, and Development: Responsible Tourism Planning. Sterling,
VA: Pluto Press.
9. Fundacion para la Proteccion de Lancetilla, Punta Sal y Texiguat (Prolansate) – Homepage. 3 June 2005.
Accessed 23 Mar. 2006. http://www.prolansate.org/
10. Amnesty International. 14 Aug 2006. Honduras: Fear For Safety. Accessed 17 Sep 2006. AI Index:
AMR 37/005/2006. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR370052006?open&of=ENG-346
11. Americas.org. 20 Aug. 2006. Garifuna Woman Murdered. Accessed 15 Sep. 2006.
http://www.americas.org/item_29040
12. RightsAction.org 24 Aug 2005. HONDURAS: Garifuna People Resisting On-Slaught of Global Tourism
Business. Accessed 10 Sep 2006. http://www.rightsaction.org/Reports/GarifunaHond805.htm
13. Schaller, George. 2006. Interview by John G. Mitchell. “Parks: Where the Spirit Soars.” In National
Geographic Magazine. October 2006 – Vol. 210 – No. 4. Pp. 32-43.