TUI Care Foundation Scales Up Wildlife Tourism Project in Costa Rica

TUI Care Foundation is advancing its sustainable tourism agenda in Central America by expanding its TUI Wildlife Costa Rica project, a conservation-focused initiative that links rainforest protection with nature-based visitor experiences and support for rural communities.

Conservation-Led Tourism in a Biodiversity Hotspot

The expanded TUI Wildlife Costa Rica project is centered on the Barbilla National Park region in eastern Costa Rica, an area recognized for its rich biodiversity and remaining tracts of lowland rainforest. Publicly available information indicates that the initiative, developed with local conservation group Work with Nature under the Adopt Rainforest umbrella, is designed to reinforce existing protection measures while using tourism as a source of long-term funding.

The project focuses on habitat restoration for endangered species such as the Great Green Macaw and the Lemur Leaf Frog, both of which depend on intact rainforest and specific tree species for their survival. Project details show that thousands of Almendro trees, a key food and nesting resource for the macaws, are being planted alongside the installation of artificial nesting boxes to strengthen breeding success.

According to published coverage, the TUI Care Foundation’s model in Costa Rica builds on the country’s broader sustainable tourism trajectory, in which protected areas and biological corridors have become core economic assets. The foundation’s work in the Barbilla area is framed as part of this national context, aiming to secure resilient forest ecosystems while accommodating carefully managed visitor numbers.

By aligning conservation spending with tourism demand, the initiative seeks to demonstrate that biodiversity protection in a high-value destination can be scaled up when local communities receive tangible benefits and visitors are offered structured, low-impact experiences.

New Experiences for Visitors With a Low Footprint

The Costa Rica project is being integrated into the TUI Wildlife portfolio, which promotes guided nature experiences as a way to finance habitat protection. Information published by the foundation describes plans to offer small-group excursions focused on birdwatching, amphibian and reptile monitoring, and forest interpretation, with strict limits on group size and routes designed to avoid sensitive breeding areas.

These activities are intended to complement, rather than replace, existing ecotourism offerings in Costa Rica. The foundation’s materials indicate that the expanded phase will prioritize interpretive walks, observation points and research-style excursions, instead of infrastructure-heavy attractions, in order to maintain a light footprint in primary and secondary forests.

Visitor spending tied to these experiences is expected to support ongoing research and long-term management costs, including camera-trap monitoring, population surveys and restoration of degraded plots. Reports on the project suggest that revenue will be used to maintain forest protection patrols and to secure additional parcels of rainforest where possible.

By directing tourists toward structured wildlife experiences, the initiative also aims to reduce pressure on more fragile or crowded sites elsewhere in the country. Project documentation describes this as a strategy to disperse visitor flows and demonstrate higher-value, lower-volume tourism models.

Partnerships With Local Communities and Conservation Groups

Publicly available information on TUI Care Foundation outlines a broader strategy of working with local partners to connect tourism income with community development. In Costa Rica, that approach is reflected in cooperation with Work with Nature and other grassroots actors active in the Barbilla National Park buffer zone.

Reports on the initiative indicate that residents from nearby villages will be engaged as guides, rangers and hospitality providers, with a focus on training young people for careers in conservation-linked tourism. The project design emphasizes jobs that keep value in the region, such as field assistants for biodiversity monitoring, maintenance of trails and observation platforms, and services for visiting groups.

Published material from the foundation highlights that many of its global projects place particular attention on women’s economic participation. While the Costa Rica expansion is still in its early stages, the foundation’s wider track record suggests that local women are expected to play a visible role in guiding, community-based accommodation and small-scale food services associated with the wildlife excursions.

By pairing environmental goals with livelihood opportunities, the project is positioned as an example of how international tourism funding can support both forest protection and social resilience in rural areas that have historically had limited economic options beyond agriculture or resource extraction.

Scaling Up Within a Global Sustainable Tourism Portfolio

The TUI Wildlife Costa Rica initiative is part of a larger portfolio overseen by TUI Care Foundation, which reports more than 60 projects across around 30 countries. These include forest restoration efforts, waste reduction schemes in tourism hubs and entrepreneurship programs that help small businesses adopt more sustainable practices.

Recent communications from the foundation show an increasing emphasis on integrated sustainability programs that combine climate, nature and community objectives. Global frameworks such as TUI Forests, which surpassed a multi-million tree planting target, and new destination-focused waste management initiatives indicate a shift toward multi-country, scalable models into which national projects like Costa Rica’s wildlife program can be embedded.

In this context, the expansion of the Costa Rica project is positioned as a step toward deeper engagement in key long-haul destinations where visitor numbers are significant and ecosystems are under pressure. Costa Rica’s reputation as a frontrunner in sustainable tourism, with its own certification schemes and long-standing national parks network, makes it a test case for tourism-backed conservation that the foundation can potentially replicate elsewhere.

As global tour operators, travelers and destination authorities face calls to align tourism growth with climate and biodiversity goals, developments in Barbilla National Park will be closely watched by industry observers seeking practical examples of what a more regenerative tourism model could look like in practice.