Does Tourism Eco-Certification Pay? Costa Rica's Blue Flag Program

Blackman, Allen; Naranjo, María A.; Robalino, Juan; Alpízar, Francisco; Rivera, Jorge

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2188931

Cited by 21 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This literature suggests that business‐level green certification may generate enhanced financial benefits. Similarly, a few recent studies indicate that community‐level green certification may produce economic benefits (Blackman, Naranjo, Robalino, Alpízar, & Rivera, ). However, there has been scant research examining how the combination of community‐ and firm‐level green certifications generates financial benefits for firms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Price‐premium effects of business and community green certifications: The case of the Costa Rican hotel industry

Rivera

Roeschmann

2018

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This study examines whether community-level green certification strengthens or weakens firm-level environmental certification performance's effect on Costa Rican hotel room prices. Identifying how different types of environmental (green) certifications complement or substitute one another in their influence on economic benefits is essential for understanding how self-regulations programs can promote win-win green business strategies that contribute to sustainable development. Relying on a propensity score-matching approach, we analyze participation in two voluntary environmental certification programs for the entire population of Costa Rican hotels and beach communities between 2001 and 2008. Our findings suggest that for hotels with low to medium environmental certification performance, community-level green certification acts as a substitute weakening the positive effect of hotel environmental certification performance on price premiums. Alternatively, for hotels with superior environmental certification performance, green community certification acts as a complement strengthening the positive effect of hotel environmental certification performance on price premiums.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Price‐premium effects of business and community green certifications: The case of the Costa Rican hotel industry

Rivera

Roeschmann

2018

Bus Strat Dev

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“…The Costa Rican version of the BFP (named the Ecological Blue Flag Program) was independently developed and launched in 1996 by the Government's Water and Sewer Agency (known as “AyA” for its Spanish name initials) (Blackman, Naranjo, Robalino, Alpízar, & Rivera, ; Programa Bandera Azul Ecológica [PBAE], 2008). It is managed and directed by a multisector National Blue Flag Commission with members from AyA, other government agencies, and Costa Rica's Tourism Business Chamber.…”

Section: The Costa Rican Tourism Industry and The Bfpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is managed and directed by a multisector National Blue Flag Commission with members from AyA, other government agencies, and Costa Rica's Tourism Business Chamber. Like the European version, the Costa Rica's BFP certifies the environmental quality of individual beaches (Blackman et al, ; Lucrezi & van der Merwe, ; McKenna et al, ) . Since the BFP launched in 1996, participation in the program has been open to all 281 Costa Rican beaches identified by the Official Atlas of Costa Rica.…”

Section: The Costa Rican Tourism Industry and The Bfpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, our study does not assess the potential benefits received by Costa Rican beach communities garnering a shared green reputation. Future research needs to build on recent publications beginning to examine whether BFP communities generate higher levels of environmental protection, attract more tourists, and hotel investment than nonparticipant localities (Blackman et al, ; Creo & Fraboni, ; Lucrezi & van der Merwe, ; McKenna et al, ). Fourth, although our panel data and use of lagged measures help to ameliorate endogeneity in our analysis, we cannot discard reverse causality.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local Community Characteristics and Cooperation for Shared Green Reputation

Rivera¹,

Naranjo²,

Robalino³

et al. 2016

Policy Studies Journal

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This article examines how basic socioeconomic and political factors are associated with higher levels of cooperation to garner a local community's shared green reputation. We analyze panel data on participation efforts in a collective voluntary environmental program, the Ecological Blue Flag Program, by the entire population of beach communities in Costa Rica between 2001 and 2009. Collective voluntary environmental programs are relatively new and aim to improve environmental performance and shared "green" reputation through joint participation and certification of multisector groups comprising businesses, governmental institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. Our results indicate that higher levels of within-community cooperation for shared green reputation are more likely in seashore localities with lower income inequality and/or a higher number of businesses. These findings run counter to research suggesting these same characteristics are associated with lower levels of cooperation in the management of common pool natural resources such as fisheries and forests. We also find that within-community cooperation is positively correlated with a greater proportion of expatriates from industrialized countries and/or with higher levels of democratic political participation.

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“…But whether sustainability standards and certification are a substitute or a complement to rights-based governance interventions continues to be a matter of discussion (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012;Blackman et al 2014;Buscher, 2013;Cauley et al, 2001;Damania and Hatch, 2005;Gulbrandsen, 2004). Their criteria and indicators may be as or more important for helping to establish new policy as for the additional numbers of certified farmers they create.…”

Section: Voluntary Standards and Certificationmentioning

confidence: 99%