ABSTRACT
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) cover over 30 coastal countries, with thousands of tourist beaches. Although the continent has at least nine beach certification schemes, Blue Flag (BF) has the highest number of awarded locations. The BF program started on the continent in 2004 in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. These two countries adopted the program easily because of their location on the Caribbean Sea, one of the most popular beach regions in the world. Later, BF turned south, and in 2022, the program was fully implemented in six other countries: Brazil, Virgin Islands, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, and Chile. Moreover, Argentina and Ecuador are in their pilot phase, with expectation of the first flags for the year 2023. Therefore, BF is nearly 20 years in LAC, with some common successes and many differences among each country, despite being a continent that shares several cultural and political aspects. This chapter seeks to briefly describe the history of BF in LAC, highlighting those experiences applicable to new countries interested in launching the program and those who already have flags and want to improve with the good practices of two decades of learning.
