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If the tourism growth predicted materialized as tourism for Costa Rica protected areas would see major increases. A study conducted in Volcan Poas National Park and Volcan Turrialba National Park two of Costa Rica leading volcanic crater parks was undertaken to make available to national parks and protected areas managers, a procedure, that could be use: to measure using an adapted form of the expectations disconfirmation theory the satisfaction of visitors to Costa Rica national parks, and to evaluate if the results could be used for establishing the areas of the park infrastructure, services and recreational options that needed improvement and management decisions to enhance visitor's satisfaction. The sample included 1414 surveys The findings indicates that the procedure adapted base on the expectations-disconfirmation model was proven helpful in: a) getting the information to help “zero in”, the man-agement decisions in the short and medium term and for the development of the Tourist Management Plans that is to say being developed in the 2 sites, b) guiding park managers in the resource allocation process, under the conditions of scarcity that are so common in developing countries, c) facilitating regular monitoring of the conditions, with a simple and quick methodology that can be used for “day to day” decisions and more sophisticated statistical analysis d) identifying the areas in the management of protected areas that need further analysis and in that way is contributing to the development of the long term socio-economic research programs in national parks, e) the “real” importance of the information and education activities in national parks, combination of activities that seems to be critical to enhance “consumer satisfaction” among the visitors to national parks everywhere and particularly as a means of understanding whether visitors needs and expectations are met, whether they receive what they should and as a context for analysis of human use on the country national parks.

The rapid growth forecasted of new visitors arriving to Central America national parks will make essential for park managers to consider visitor satisfaction in its planning process. A total of 915 surveys, 312 to local and 603 to foreign visitors were conducted in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, to determine using a gap form of the expectations-disconfirmation model the satisfaction of local and foreign visitors with the infrastructure, services and recreational options. The study found that there were important differences and similarities between local and foreign visitors in socio demographics and in the satisfaction rating awarded to key infrastructure, services and recreational options. Standardized regression model identified using stepwise procedure single out the variables that influence the overall gap in satisfaction with the visit. The material permitted improved resource allocation and management decisions by the parks administrator in terms of the elements they needed to consider in their site main-tenance and investment planning in order to increase the visitor’s satisfaction with the visit.