In April 2024, the administration of the Amistad Pacífico Conservation Area and Chirripó National Park announced that the reception of reservations in the park would be suspended indefinitely starting on October 12. This week, El Colectivo 506 interviewed Enzo Vargas Salazar, who has been the administrator of Chirripó National Park for six months, to ask why the decision was made and what this means for visitors—as well as for the surrounding communities, which depend on tourism to the park.
The short answer: tourists can keep on visiting the park that’s home to Costa Rica’s highest peak. However, the future of some of the services tourists receive is less certain.
“Tourists will continue to enter the park. What we do not have an exact date for is the hiring of non-essential services,” Enzo explained.
In other words, the services offered through the granting of non-essential services cannot be offered until the new concession is defined; these include lodging, equipment rental and food at the Los Crestones hostel, transportation along the main trail, and the sale of souvenirs. However, the services that have a valid Use Permit—tourists’ entrance through San Jerónimo, through Herradura, and through the main path—will continue without interruption.
Enzo explained that at this time, the process of receiving proposals to award the concession is open. Unlike the two previous processes that have been opened this year, they have not received any appeals. If no appeal is received by August 29, the administration will be able to proceed with the award fairly quickly—Enzo said that in two to three days they could have an answer. If an appeal is received, however, that could delay the time when the new concessionaire begins providing services.
Enzo was very emphatic in pointing out that entry to the national park is not restricted, and that tourists will be able to continue making their reservations. Service delivery, however, will be on a different timeline. This means that for tourists to stay overnight at the Base Crestones shelter, run through a concession, after the October 12 deadline, a plan is needed while the future of the concession is being determined.
“We have to do something different so that people can go up,” Enzo explained. “Between now and the 30th of this month [August 2024], this plan must be developed and approved by the management so that the communities are not affected as much by the closure.”
Chirripó National Park “continues to be the laboratory”
This is the third time that the process to award the Concession of Non-Essential Services within the Chirripó National Park has been opened, and it has become a new opportunity for learning about how the park is managed.
Enzo explained that this time around, the request for proposals, or the cartel, was published late because of a change in administration and workload issues. This delay has harmed the process. He also said that the appeal processes in this case are not unusual for public contracts in Costa Rica.
However, these appeals have had a direct impact on the eventual implementation of this concession.
Until now, the terms of reference of the concession have included, as the responsibility of the concessionaire, the maintenance of the trails and of the Base Crestones facilities, as well as the intermediate point in Llano Bonito. In addition, it includes the transportation of the operational cargo of the National Park to and from Base Crestones and the administrative offices.
Enzo explained that, after appeals, the Comptroller General of the Republic has indicated to the national park that they do not have the legal authority to include these responsibilities within the cartel, and that these should be part of the park’s Management Plan. Although these responsibilities have been included in previous concessions—and although he concessionaire profits from the facilities (paths and buildings), so that, Enzo said, “logic” indicates that their maintenance should be the responsibility of the concessionaire—it can not be included in the cartel without that legal authority.
Enzo said that the park administration is working so that within four years, in the next award process, the park can include these responsibilities. However, for the moment, it will have to devise other ways to cover the cost of these operations—for example, volunteer programs—and include other contracts in the Conservation Area budget.
El Colectivo 506 asked if the payment of the concession fee could cover these costs, but Enzo explained that this money is not only used for expenses of the Chirripó National Park, but also for the entire conservation area. He also explained that this is an exception, and that in concessions in other protected areas, the money enters the state’s sole treasury.
Therefore, for Enzo, the experience of Chirripó National Park continues to be a space for learning and experimentation.
