US$41,687 Into Costa Rica’s National Parks: Horizontes Publishes Its First GRI Sustainability Report
San Jose, Costa Rica – Aug. 21, 2026 – The CST Elite-certified Costa Rica vacation experts also discloses a 34% cut in office electricity use, 78% of operational waste diverted from landfill — and four negative impacts of its own operations.
Horizontes Nature Experiences, the Costa Rican inbound tour operator founded in 1984, has published its first sustainability report prepared against the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards – the most widely used sustainability reporting framework internationally, and one that requires an organisation to disclose its negative impacts alongside its positive ones.
The report covers the calendar year 2025 and sets out, for the first time in a standardised framework, what the company’s sustainability commitments actually produced.
Among the results disclosed:
l US$41,687 contributed to Costa Rica’s National Parks during 2025 through park entrance ticket purchases made on behalf of travellers.
l A 34% reduction in office electricity consumption year on year, alongside a 3.7% reduction in water use per employee.
l 78% of operational waste diverted from landfill through a separation and recycling programme the company has run since 2006.
l 100% single-use plastic-free itineraries delivered for one of the company’s principal international partners, across travellers’ entire stay in Costa Rica.
l 72% of the workforce is female, in a company founded by two women, Margarita Forero Cabezas and Tamara Budowski Palma.
The report also names four negative or potential impacts of the company’s own operations: gentrification in heavily visited areas, CO2e emissions from travel to experiences, operational waste, and the risk of biodiversity loss where sustainable practice is not applied. Emissions from staff flights, fuel and electricity are quantified and offset through the National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO).
The same mechanism is offered to travellers through El Buen Viajero (The Good Traveller), a programme run by the company’s non-profit arm, Fundación Horizontes, allowing guests to offset the carbon footprint of their itinerary by purchasing FONAFIFO carbon credits that fund verified forest protection and restoration.
“Sustainability is not a department within the company; it is the very design of our business,” said Ana Saborío, CEO, Horizontes Nature Experiences. “Publishing against the GRI Standards means putting our impacts — including the difficult ones — on the record where anyone can examine them. That is a harder standard than a marketing claim, and it is the standard our partners and travellers are entitled to expect.”
The report follows the company’s award of CST Elite Level in 2025 — the highest tier of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute’s Certification for Sustainable Tourism, and the seventh time Horizontes has been certified under the scheme. 2025 was also the year the company completed its rebrand from Horizontes Nature Tours to Horizontes Nature Experiences, took its Barefoot Luxury proposition to five new trade shows across New York, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom and France, and retained 100% of its key clients.
The full 2025 Sustainability Report is available here.
About Horizontes Nature Experiences:
Horizontes Nature Experiences is a Costa Rica-based travel company that has been designing tailor-made journeys since 1984. The company specializes in personalized vacations for independent travelers, families, couples, and small groups, with experiences centered on nature, culture, adventure, and responsible tourism.
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Company Name: Horizontes
Contact Person: James Frazer
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Phone: +1-888-505-8716
Address:Padre Turcios
City: Pitahaya
State: San José 10102
Country: Costa Rica
Website: https://horizontes.com
