The city of Limón will be modernized thanks to the approval by the Legislative Assembly for a proposal of a BID loan which will grant $80 million dollars.

The money will be allocated to various areas of the Caribbean province as well as towards improving the quality of life for its inhabitants.
The idea is to improve development directly within the city of Limón and, indirectly, within the Caribbean region, by means of economic synergy between the renovated city and the modern port, which will generate new services, employment, and investment.

In order to develop a joint project with the community, the Japan International Cooperation Agency trained a new group of park rangers for the Barra del Colorado National Wildlife Refuge in the northeast part of Costa Rica.

This refuge is the second largest protected area in the country, after La Amistad International Park. However, its 227,336 acres are not only known for their diverse flora and fauna covering every square foot, but also for their unique inhabitants.

According to the Population Census for the year 2000, there are 3,000 people living in the reserve, but the locals say there are 4,000.

For more than a year, the Japan International Cooperation Agency has been developing a joint project with the community. Last April, an interdisciplinary group comprised of a biologist, a forest engineer, a sociologist, an agricultural engineer, a cartographer, and a tourism specialist came together to work in the reserve.

During this training, the group became familiar with different strongholds, among them the territory itself.
The reserve’s inhabitants make a living through fishing, controlled logging, hunting, and collecting plants.

The largest manufacturing activity is dairy farming.

According to data gathered from tourism authorities, based on reports from the only company that flies from Spain, 25,000 more Europeans will visit Costa Rica this year.

Data from last year revealed that 190,000 people traveled from Europe to Costa Rica, an increase of 21% from 2007.

In 2009, that number will be exceeded with more than 215,000 travelers, 25,000 more than last year.

The climate, abundant food source, and rich forests, are optimal conditions that has made the country a special nesting place for hundreds of species of birds that many have come to admire for their beauty, exotic plumage, precious songs, and mesmerizing flights.

These very reasons contribute to the migration from Eastern North America to this area where they spend approximately six months feeding and taking advantage of the ideal conditions for their return flight to the north during their reproductive season.

For these reasons, the country enjoys a wealth of birdlife and, according to data from Julio Sánchez, president of Costa Rica’s Ornithologists Society, there are an estimated 900 species, 50 of which are indigenous to the country which makes them extremely valuable. Around 200 are migratory.

“We should be proud of the nature that surrounds us where such a spectacular variety of birds can be found in such a small area. Birdlife is very abundant, and what is even more important is that 50 of these species are indigenous to the country like the Fiery-throated hummingbird, the cusingo, and the goldfinch,” asserted Sánchez.

The Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, will welcome charter flights from Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and possibly Madrid during the second quarter of this year.

The Tourism Minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, said that the increase in charter flights to Liberia will help bolster the worldwide decrease in tourism.

In order to protect the land and sea ecosystems in the area, the Legislative Plenary opened debate on case 16 349 which would legally make Playa Iguanita a Wildlife Refuge. It is located in the Nacascola Peninsula and includes primary forests, dry tropical forests, mangroves, as well as a marine bay area.

The area has many tourist, educational and scientific attractions, and its proximity to Liberia and Carrillo make it a popular tourism development point for sustaining natural and cultural resources, in such a way that the refuge can be protected and, at the same time, maintain the local use of the beaches.

Studies have revealed 67 marine species (including those of commercial interests such as snapper, lobster, and the queen conch), 118 species of trees and plants, 110 species of birds, of which 27% are migratory, and 10 species of land mammals, including species that are decimated, threatened or at risk of extinction. Thus, recommendations have been made to increase long-term protection efforts in this area.

The State, through the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), ICT, and the municipalities of Liberia and Carrillo, have guaranteed keeping Playa Iguanita open for tourist and local use without creating obstacles for the Papagayo Gulf Tourism Project development.

They aim to guarantee the availability of Playa Iguanita for all Costa Ricans, especially those from Guanacaste that, for economic reasons, cannot afford trips to tourist areas.

Spirit Airlines opened its Reservation Center within the country. The opening of this new office is located in Ultrapark, in Heredia, and more than 75 agents and support personnel have been hired to begin operation.

The company has trained its new customer service personnel to take calls in Spanish, make reservations, and deal with travelers’ questions.

“Without a doubt, this news comes at the right time because it shows a level of trust and reflects not only the reputation that Costa Rica has as a destination spot, but also the excellent preparedness of Costa Ricans,” said María Amalia Revelo, Assistant Manager and Marketing Director of the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT).

Spirit Airlines is a low-cost airline and ranks among the largest in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Currently, it operates 150 daily flights to 39 destinations with the newest Airbus fleet in America. It is based out of Miramar, Florida and employs 2,300 professionals.

The Salvadoran business group, Agrisal, will invest close to $15 million in Costa Rica on the construction of its first hotel outside of its own country.

Eduardo Quiñónez, director of Agrisol’s hotel division, reported that the hotel will operate under the Holiday Inn chain and will be located in Escazú, “very close to the CIMA hospital.” He failed to give the exact
location.

“We undertook a thorough analysis and came to the conclusion that Costa Rica provided the best conditions for our first hotel outside of El Salvador. You have done an extraordinary job in positioning the country for tourism,” he stated.

He remarked that the first block will be laid in September, with the goal of opening its doors at the end of 2010. Its construction will generate up to 300 direct jobs and a little more than 150 permanent employees when it opens.

Agrisol’s arrival to the country did not happen alone. The Salvadoran group joined up with the InterContinental Hotels Group chain (IHG), which currently has four hotels in San José.
The agreement with IHG was signed in 2007, not only to open the Holiday Inn in Escazú, but also for another six hotels throughout Central America.

The international business school ranking of the Financial Times Executive Education placed Incae among the top 50 business schools in the world with respect to executive education.

The Costa Rican education center ranked 46 on the list. According to the study, only four Latin American schools were included in the list among the more than 6,000 schools that are in operation today throughout the world: Ipade (Mexico), Fundação Dom Cabral and Ibmec São Paul (Brazil).

The executive education study reflects the opinion of more than 5,600 high-profile clients and general participants that filled out the survey. The poll was released in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin.

Presently, Incae has schools in 10 countries with Executive Master Programs, along with research programs, extension programs, executive education, and think tanks within the countries where they are located.

The Panamanian bank, Banco General, opened its Costa Rican branch in La Torre Banco General in Trejos Montealegre, Escazú, just west of the capital.

Banco General was the first private Panamanian capital bank founded in 1955. At the close of 2008, its worth was about $1.004 million.

The bank has at least 2,900 employees and around 360,000 customers. The main bank is in Panama with 60 branches.

The financial publication, The Banker, published by the news agency The Financial Times, located in London, granted the bank the “Bank of the Year” award in Panama last year, an honor that the publication gives out every year to one bank in each country.

Some of their services include: personal accounts, corporate accounts, ATMs, teller services, training and saving products, debit and credit cards and personal and corporate credit services, among others.

Nature Air, the airline flying the Costa Rican flag, won the Tourism for Tomorrow 2009 award from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), thanks to its sustainable tourism efforts and its commitment to Costa Rica’s national heritage.

This recognition has been granted for many decades in order to stimulate efforts for environmental protection in the tourism industry.

The choice was made based on efforts by Nature Air in reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the 100% carbon neutral aviation program which gets passengers involved in the involuntary emission compensation plan thereby reducing fuel consumption in the air and on land.

Nature Air has developed a unique bio-fuel service station and created the non-profit NatureKids foundation, which teaches English and environmental topics to local communities.

“The environment is precious and we are grateful to receive this great recognition by the WTTC due to our conservation efforts,” stated Alex Khhajavi, founder and CEO of Nature Air.

“This award is an inspiration to us all at Nature Air and encourages us to continue seeking news ways to add positive value to social and environmental challenges that face us.”

The company has been involved in environmental issues since 2004, when it committed itself to establishing new standards for sustainable practices in the aviation industry, recovering 100% of its greenhouse emissions by means of rainforest conservation in the Osa peninsula.

The Tourism for Tomorrow award is a way that the WTTC stimulates sound practices within the industry. This council brings together business leaders from the tourism industry and works with governments and other participants in order to raise awareness about the importance of one of the greatest sources of wealth and employment in the world.

NatureAir was created in 2000 and has grown staggeringly, going from 18,000 passengers annually to more than 140,000 in 2008.

It is the first carbon neutral airline in the world and the only twin-engine airline in Costa Rica with scheduled as well as charter flights offering 74 daily flights to 17 destinations in Costa Rica and Panama.

With respect to its energy conservation policy, it focuses on the use of bio-fuels (cooking oils), which operate all of its ground transportation.

The Intercontinental Hotels Group firm (IHG) is preparing its venture into the business of beach hotels in the country.

Jim Abrahamson, president of IHG in America, indicated that they plan to open two resort type hotels in Guanacaste and the Central Pacific.

Abrahamson did not say exactly when the openings will take place.
Currently, IHG has five hotels in the country, all in San José: Real InterContinental, Crowne Plaza Corobicí, Aurola Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Índigo, which was inaugurated in the beginning of May.

Índigo has 100 boutique-style rooms and is located around Forum Two, in Santa Ana, San José.

Abrahamson explained that they selected Santa Ana for its commercial development and strategic location.
Índigo is the first of its kind that IHG has opened in Latin America. The building itself belongs to the firm, Prime Holding.

Luis Hernández, president of Prime Holding, said that they invested $12 million in the project.

Costa Rica is the safest nation in Latin America for businesses and multinational companies, according to the latest Latin Security Index done by FTI Consulting Ibero America in the weekly publication Latin Business Chronicle.

The index includes a danger level rating for every country, calculated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a completely safe country and 5 the worst. Only three countries in Latin America received a 2: Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay. And, among those, Costa Rica rated as the safest, said Frank Holder, Senior General Manager of FTI forensic and litigation consulting, as well as a prominent Latin American security expert.

Costa Rica will be the location for a new NBC reality show with celebrities, which will air June 1st in the United States.

The new series will be composed of 10 personalities from different backgrounds. However, the list of stars coming to Costa Rica has yet to be revealed, although the journalist, Geraldo, and ex-governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, have been mentioned.

Although reservations have been made at various hotels in Sarapiquí, the network would not specify where in Costa Rica the reality show would be filmed, which will air in the evenings during June, from Monday to Thursday during the first three weeks, and Monday to Wednesday during the last week.

NBC described the show as a “Swiss Family Robinson.”

“It’s a type of competition where 10 celebrities are ‘abandoned’ in the heart of the jungle and confront fun and amusing challenges, designed to test their survival skills.”

The Chicago Tribune indicated that television viewers will decide the fate of the participants, particularly related to finding food, hygienic supplies, and other necessities. One will be crowned “King or Queen of the Jungle,” reported the publication.

The New York Times wrote yesterday that NBC said that besides the challenges that the participants have to overcome, they will also be trying to collect the most amount of money to be given to the charity of their choice.

The show is expected to be a success. “This is a concept that has worked very well throughout the world,” said Mitch Metcalf, Programming Director of Entertainment Weekly.

This won’t be the first time that Costa Rica has hosted an international reality show. In 2005, the country was one of the stages for the popular program The Amazing Race: Family Edition. The participants competed in places such as Manuel Antonio, Quepos, Jacó, Grecia, Poás volcano, and a coffee plantation in Alajuela.

Costa Rica is the fifth cleanest country in the world, according to a recent publication in the prestigious Forbes magazine, after an environmental study on 149 countries regarding air and water quality and natural vitality, among others, done by scientists from Colombia and Yale Universities.

The Environmental Performance Indicator (EPI) study corresponds to the year 2008.

According to Forbes, the Costa Rican economy is anchored by a robust ecotourism industry that has benefitted from governmental and private efforts made to protect the country’s biodiversity.

In addition, the publication highlighted that this index will continue to improve if it complies with its initiative to become the first carbon neutral, or C-neutral, nation by 2021.

The Forbes publication also stated that, contrary to what has happened in other Latin American countries, Costa Rica has been efficient in avoiding an increase in tree felling, and has also achieved a score of 97 or higher in forest, air pollution, and climate change categories.

This is due to efforts to re-forest part of the land by means of planting a specific tree species that will be used for commercial purposes.

Costa Rica is surpassed only by Switzerland (with a rating of 95.5), Sweden (93.1) and Norway (93.1) tied for second, and Finland (91.4).

The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) designated Costa Rica a world BioGem in honor of the efforts made to protect more than 500,000 species of flora and fauna found in Costa Rica.

BioGem is considered a place with a wealth of biodiversity that is, nonetheless, in danger.

There are 12 BioGems throughout the American continent, but this is the first time that an entire country, instead of a region, has received this recognition.

“Costa Rica’s naming as a BioGem reflects NRDC’s determination to support the commitment this country has to reach carbon neutrality and be a model for the rest of the world,” said Peter Lehner, executive director for the National Resource Defense council.

“Our goal is to find long-term environmental solutions to protect Costa Rica’s unique biodiversity and to reduce the present threat to these natural areas,” he added.
BioGems is a worldwide initiative supported by more than 400,000 activists who recognize the true reasons that countries have for conserving natural resources. For more information visit www.SaveBioGems.org

Costa Rica is the most competitive Latin American country in terms of tourism, holding the highest spot, 42, on the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index among 133 countries, according to a World Economic Forum report.

The Latin American countries that follow are Brazil (45), Mexico (51), Panama (55), Chile (57), Uruguay (63) and Argentina (65).

The most competitive country worldwide is Canada, which moved up four spots passing the United States.

All Latin American countries have excellent natural resources and many of them are included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), the oldest ecotourism organization in the world, selected Costa Rica as the “ecotourist destination” for the month of February, thanks to its program dedicated to reducing carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

Every month, TIES selects a destination site to display to the world, and in February it chose Costa Rica for its “Clean Travel” program, a tool that allows tourists to donate money to compensate for gas emissions generated by flights to the Central American country.

"Clean Travel" is a Costa Rican government initiative that encourages visitors to contribute to the conservation of forests, water systems, and biodiversity by means of environmental service donations.

The location of Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín, at the base of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano, close to Curubande and the famous Rincón de la Vieja National Park, in northern Guanacaste, has led to some interesting discoveries by archeologists from the University of Costa Rica.

This area of Costa Rica, once populated by local tribes, has revealed a variety of evidence of how these families used to live.

Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín’s extensive property contains unprecedented archeological treasures that they are just now starting to uncover.

The anthropologist and archeologist Priscilla Molina is visiting the hotel in order to gather evidence and information that could shed light on the customs and traditions of the region’s ancestors. She is accompanied by archeologists and students from the University of Costa Rica.

The North American airline company, Continental Airlines, released its plan to boost the number of flights to the Juan Santamaría international airport in Alajuela, as well as the Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, beginning in March.

The plan includes an increased frequency in flights on Saturdays from New York to San José; the company will thus offer three flights between the two cities.

The flight to Juan Santamaría will leave Newark at 11:55 a.m. and arrive at 3:15 p.m. The return flight will leave at 4:05 p.m. and will arrive at 11:15 p.m.

A third flight will also be included on Saturdays, however, between Houston and Liberia.

This third flight will leave Texas at 11:29 a.m. and arrive to Guanacaste at 1:50 p.m. The return flight from Liberia leaves at 2:40 p.m. and arrives at 7:13 p.m.

The announcement to increase the number of flights to the country was made possible “Thanks to strong Costa Rican advertising in international markets, which led to the need to increase the number of flights,” said Carlos Granados, Sales Manager at Continental Costa Rica.

La Católica Hotel Hospital has a new ally to encourage medical tourism in the country. There are new Colonial-style facilities in Goicoechea, Guadalupe, and San José.

The new structure was made to lodge patients, mainly foreigners, who require special medical care after undergoing surgery.

This property has recovery rooms within the hospital itself. There are 33 comfortable rooms designed for an improved recovery, including Internet service, cable television, spa, a physical therapy area, and a 24 hour a la carte restaurant.


Tourists that come to Costa Rica for medical reasons will save between 50-60% compared to rates charged in other countries like the United States.

Around 70 people, mainly German, shot part of a new film that will soon be aired on channel ZDF, which has Germany’s second most important television viewing audience.

The production was specifically shot at the Tamarindo Diría Hotel, on Tamarindo Beach in the Guanacaste province.

The name of the movie, the plot, or the air date have yet to be revealed.

The arrival of tourists to the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, grew some 14,000 people from 2007 to 2008, according to the airlines.

The numbers show that some 420,000 tourists came in 2008, which represents an increase of 3.5% with respect to 2007 when just 405,000 foreigners passed through the terminal to visit Guanacaste.

A rainforest aerial tram company (Teleféricos del Bosque Lluvioso) won the award for the “Best tour of the 2007-2008 season” from the Princess Cruises cruise line. The award was presented on the Coral Princess Hamilton ship while docked in Puntarenas.

Teleféricos del Bosque Lluvioso won thanks to its best-selling tour of the past tourism season, “Costa Rica Favorites.” It includes a nature experience along the canopy of the Pacific rainforests (Jacó) and a visit to the Tárcoles river, a very typical experience of the country.

“Experiencing the canopy through aerial trams at three different heights, as well as guided walks along the paths and learning about the flora and the fauna of the Tárcoles river, allows the tourist to experience the essence of Costa Rica,” said Douglas Jiménez, marketing manager of Teleféricos del Bosque Lluvioso.

The North American actor Steven Segal is interested in opening a business so that cinematographers can film in various natural settings within the country.

“Costa Rica is a country that has everything, rainforests, oceans,” said Seagal.

“I’ve had detailed conversations with my team and with experts in Hollywood about how to set up in Costa Rica and create incentives and outlets for people to come film here. My team and other experts are ready to get things going in Costa Rica,” stated Seagal. He said that he will begin to work on the project because he already has the necessary permits.

Steven Seagal was born 57 years ago in Michigan. He has starred in movies such as Hard to Kill, 1990, and Half Past Dead, 2002, and was also the guitarist in his band, Steven Seagal and the Thunderbox.

The Marriott International Corporation opened the J.W. Marriott hotel, allured by the huge annual influx of tourists to the Guanacaste area, the surrounding natural beauty, and the professional proficiency of the local population.

The complex is located within the Hacienda Pinilla property and seeks to attract visitors from Central and South America, as well as Europe.

The hotel holds 310 rooms.

“Mariner of the Seas,” one of the largest ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, recently docked in the country.

Its length reaches some 1,020 feet (310.9 meters), weighs 138,000 tons, and can hold 3,114 passengers.

It is part of the Voyager cruise fleet, which has the highest head clearance for passengers in the entire cruise ship industry. This extraordinary ship was designed with better cabins, more cuisine options, and excellent recreational installations such as rock climbing, an ice-skating rink, and a basketball court.

Costa Rica was recently selected to host and organize the World Surfing Games, Open Category, from July 31 to August 9, 2009, according to the International Surf Association (ISA).

The country beat out countries like Brazil and South Africa, two renowned surf destinations.

The tournament will take place in Hermosa Beach, in Jacó; it was named Billabong World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009, whose main sponsor will work with a budget of $2 million to handle the logistics of an event of such scope.

Hermosa Beach was chosen by the ISA because of its consistent surf and proximity to downtown Jacó, a city which has the adequate infrastructure to host so many people.

José Ureña, the president of the Costa Rica Surf Federation, explains the magnitude of this tournament for Costa Rican business.

“Hosting the World Open is the best thing that can happen to a country for surf and for tourist promotion because of the millions of people that will attend the competition,” said the national wave expert.

His words ring true: the ISA estimates that for every event at least 80 million people follow the event live via Internet, which is something that will boost Costa Rica’s surfing image.

The role that Costa Rican surfers have overseas, also helped the country to bring the event to Costa Rica.

The new Hotel Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport, in Guanacaste, is the first to operate under this chain in Central America.

This is the fourth member of the Hilton Hotel Corporation to open its doors in Costa Rica this year, which shows the commitment of the company to continue growth in Central America.

“The strategic location of our Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport is geared toward business and leisure travelers that are looking for high-quality accommodations,” said Adrian Kurre, Senior vice-president of brand management.

The hotel is only two minutes from the airport and 10 minutes from downtown Liberia. Likewise, it is located only 20 minutes from beautiful beaches and the famous Papagayo Gulf.

El Hotel Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport offers 169 rooms, including eight suites.

308 acres of national forest are presently being reforested with native species thanks to a contribution plan by “clean flights.”

This program is voluntary and allows a tourist or local traveling by plane to compensate for the green house gases emitted by this type of transportation.

This program has been in place since 2007 and is headed by the National Forest Financing Foundation (Fonafifo).

It is put together through a special web site at www.fonafifo.com where the quantity of CO2s released by air travel are calculated and how much should be paid to reduce them.

According to Alberto García Arguedas, manager of Fonafifo resources, this mechanism has seen 615 “clean flights” and reduced 2,165 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) since November 11th of this year.

Of the participants in this program, 213 are Costa Rican and 402 are foreigners. García assures that, in monetary terms, the amount that has been taken in by this program has reached $10,825, or ¢6,062,000.

“These resources are being invested in eight projects under the guise of reforestation of native, as well as commercial species”, said the expert.

There is a reforestation project in Guanacaste, four in Alajuela, one in Heredia, another in Limón, yet another in San José, stated García.

Colinás del Poás received an award for Excellence in Tourism by the Chamber of Business, Industry, Tourism, and Agriculture of Alajuela.

It was awarded for skill, innovation, projection, and job quality in 2008.

“This acknowledgement is invariably due to the commitment of its staff and our associates with the highest values. We come together to protect the environment, look out for the community, enrich the culture and national artists, offering safe and unique high-quality services and for personally attending to the needs of the visitors,” said Isabel Vargas, manager of Colinás del Poás.

The Wyndham Jacó Beach Resort and Condominium, developed in Jacó by the Costa Rican group Rica Costa, won the International Project of the Year award.

The contest was organized by the Developers & Builders Alliance (DBA), an organization that brings together the world real estate sector and has the magnate Donald Trump as one of its founders.

The annual award is given to the most noteworthy projects in the world in various categories.

Fuad Farach, president of the group, said that the significance of the award stems from the prestige of the organization and the highly qualified panel of judges.

Among them was the architect Zaha Hadid, one of the best in the world, and Francesco Valletta, an FIABCI representative (International Real Estate Federation abbreviated in English).

The design of the project was headed by the national architect Javier Ángel Müller, who has collaborated on other company projects: “for me, as an architect, the award is very important, but for Costa Rica it is an award that places it at the top of international architectural design” he commented.

Wyndham Jaco Beach is the country’s first project that has been acknowledged by the DBA.

The Cima hospital will start construction of a new medical complex in Guanacaste and is expected to be ready by early 2011.

The hospital will be located at the entrance to Pacific Plaza, a business and health complex that will include recovery homes for medical tourists (that have been operated on or received treatment at Cima).

In addition there will be a medical consultant ward and a convenience commercial center.

The hospital will be located in Carrillo.

Recently Cima received the accreditation from the Joint Commission Internacional, a non-governmental organization in the United States that outfitted the services provided by this medical complex.

Cima belongs to the International Hospital Corporation (IHC) with hospitals in Brazil and Mexico.

An intensive reforestation plan designed by the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) will reduce the predominance of exotic species like Eucalyptus and Cypress trees in the metropolitan park.

More than 5,000 indigenous trees will be planted in its place whose fruit will serve as food for birds and insects in the Central Valley.

The idea is, when the trees develop, the La Sabana ecosystem will be as biologically diverse as the country itself in the long term.

“Within 15 years we will be able to enjoy an urban forest in La Sabana,” said Alfio Piva, executive director of INBio.

For every tree cut, two will be planted in its place. Over time it is hoped that some 5,000 will exist in the park.

Some of the trees will be fruit trees, and other will be timber-yielding, and many others will be species considered under the threat of extinction. Of which, all will be indigenous to Costa Rica.

The biological richness of the park is guaranteed: “Currently, there are 79 different types of trees (indigenous and exotic) in La Sabana. However, we are planning to plant 134 species, all indigenous,” said biologist Tobías García.

So, by the year 2023, when the forest has matured, those that visit La Sabana will see some 2,500 exotic trees and 5,000 indigenous ones, which will be categorized by name and characteristics.

The painful and inspiring story of Anne Frank, the German-Jewish girl that suffered along with her family under Nazi persecution during the Second World War and detailed it in her diary, is now represented in San José.

The representation is a bronze statue of the child created by the Dutch artist Joep Coppens, and is located south of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

The piece is a donation from the Benelux embassy, and on it is a plaque that reads “My dream is liberty,” taken from Ana Frank’s famous diary, which became well known after she died in a concentration camp.

The sculpture is close to six feet in height.

Nine districts in Alajuela are joining forces to attract more tourists to the region to the western part of the Central Valley, including natural, cultural, and historic attractions.

The regional tourist boards as well as the municipalities met with the Costa Rica Tourism Institute (ICT), to market this area of the country.

The districts involved are Alajuela, Grecia, Atenas, Palmares, San Ramón, Naranjo, Poás, Valverde Vega and Alfaro Ruiz.

The Tourism Minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, reminded everyone that there are particular attractions in each district, like the volcano in Poás, guided tours through the coffee plantations in Naranjo, the historic areas of Alajuela, the park in Alfaro Ruiz, and the festivals in Palmares.

Marco Vinicio Rodríguez, president of the Western Municipalities Federation of Alajuela, emphasized the ecological, rural and health tourism of both conventional and adventurous natures.

The Costa Rica Tourism Institute (ICT) would like to wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous 2009 filled with blessings.
Due to seasonal festivities, our offices will be closed as of December 22.

We will re-open to serve you on January 5, 2009.

The Costa Rican artist Rosella Matamoros traveled to Mexico to participate in the Biennial Contemporary Art in Chapingo, and returned with the first prize in painting.

Matamoros and three others, Mario
Maffioli, Fabio Herrera, and Rocío Con, represented their country in their respective events, which took place from November 7th to 19th.

The Biennial Chapingo was a gathering of artists, which brought together 255 artists from 35 countries displaying 870 works, among them paintings, drawings, installations, videos, sculptures, and photos.

Matamoros creation titled, Adentro-Afuera, was selected as the winner among 675 participants.

The work was in acrylic and collage on cloth and wood. According to the artist, it deals with the introspective reflection concerning the immenseness of the universe and man’s role within it.

Creations by the jewel designer and anthropologist, Emilia Rodríguez, will be part of an exhibition that was recently opened at the Strathmore convention center, in Maryland, US.

She was the only female Costa Rican to be invited to the Museum Shop Around.

This event will display and sell pieces at the most widely known museum gift shop of those museums belonging to the Smithsonian Institute.

The creations of this ethnic jewel designer were on display thanks to the invitation from the Bead Museum Board (Glendale, California), which houses the history of jewels from different cultures.

Emilia Rodríguez has been designing jewels for 20 years, which has made her a pioneer in this field within Costa Rica.

The creator came up with the designs by combining her anthropological experiences with elements she has come across during her daily experiences.

“I want my efforts to be a means of discovering and sharing history, culture, and the mysteries of the towns that inspired them,” said the designer on her web page www.ticaexotica.com.

The artist works with semiprecious mineral stones, like crystals, quartz, and lapis lazuli, vegetable and animal gems (among them pearls, horn, and coral) as well as gold and silver.

In April of 2004, the Las Palmas University in the Canaries, Spain, awarded her the 2003 International Identity prize.

Grupo Rica Costa started construction on the first five-star Condo-Hotel in Costa Rica called the Wyndham Jaco Beach Resort & Condominiums.

Construction is just underway, but the development will have rooms facing the beach, room service, an international restaurant, and a variety of amenities.

Faud Farach, president of the development group, said yesterday that the project was created to meet the needs of a specific market in Costa Rica and beyond its borders.

Three Costa Ricans recently performed during a mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican, as part of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.

According to Gabriel Goñi, orchestra coordinator for Central America and the Caribbean, the Costa Ricans that participated in this important event were the flutist, María Pía Rodríguez, the trombonist Adrián Nájera, and Francés Jorge Mejía on the French horn.

During their performance in the Vatican, the orchestra was accompanied by the Immaculate Conception Basilica Choir and three vocalists.

The three Costa Ricans that performed have vast experience traveling abroad. For example, Rodríguez is a student of Michel Bellavance of the La chaux de Fonds Conservatory in Switzerland and has played in the Youth World Orchestra.

Likewsie, Juan Nájera is currently studying at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois in the United States.

Jorge Mejía is “one of the veterans” of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In addition, this artist is now the first French horn player in Colombia’s Symphony Orchestra.

The US low-cost airline JetBlue, will begin flights to the country on March 26. It will offer daily direct flights to Orlando, Florida from the Juan Santamaría airport.

Robin Hayes, vice-president of the company, said that the company expects a warm welcome by US as well as Costa Rican citizens that wish to travel to either destination.

The arrival of JetBlue will increase the annual amount of passengers visiting the country, which is presently around 2,750,000.

With the addition of JetBlue, there are 13 commercial airlines that operate flights to the country.

The Punta Islita Hotel, located in Guanacaste, was listed by Travel+Leisure Magazine within the 100 best destination places in the world, making it the only hotel in Central America within this important group.

Within the regional list Hotel Punta Islita and the Four Seasons Papagayo stood out among the top 25 in Latin America, 9th and 21st respectively, which is an example not only of their competitiveness, but also their ability to surpass the most famous luxury hotel chains in the world.

Travel+Leisure is one of the most respected travel and tourism publications, in print and electronically. It is read by thousands of experienced travelers, who demand a high level of service, comfort, authenticity, as well as originality, social and environmental sustainability.

The National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) inaugurated a biological station open to the public, in the Villa Blanca Hotel, located in El Silencio de Los Ángeles, San Ramón, Alajuela.

This is the first scientific laboratory within a hotel in the country. It will allow one to study the region’s biodiversity and, at the same time, be part of the tourist promotion offered by Villa Blanca to guests.

The station is small. It measures about 328 square feet (approximately 100 square meters) and is used by six researchers. It is two blocks from the hotel, on the way to the walking paths.

According to Alfio Piva, Executive director of INBio, this initiative is the first effort by the Costa Rican tourist industry to participate in research projects and support the bio-awareness of local and foreign tourists.

“This is about teaching communities about the natural wealth that surrounds them. If we don’t concern ourselves with nature now, it will disappear. The Villa Blanca Hotel is taking a step in this direction”, said Piva.

The action will heat up in Costa Rica during the month of February, albeit fictionally, because the actor Sylvester Stallone selected the country as one of its locations in the upcoming movie “The Expendables”.

On film, the actor will not only act, but will also direct this drama which will also stars Jet Li, as well as Jason Statham, considered two of the biggest stars in this genre.

The news was released on the Internet, on the magazine web site The Hollywood Reporter where Stallone revealed his scene locations, which will also include Louisiana. Forest Whitaker, an Oscar winner, is also expected to be among the cast members.

The film is about a group of mercenaries that seek to overthrow a South American dictator and will be rated PG-13.

Details are few; however, because of the experience of the “Rocky” character, as an actor as well as a director and as a star in movies like “Rambo,” it is expected to be an action-packed movie.

Inventions by two young Costa Ricans won first and third prize in their respective categories during the 2008 Mostratec International Science and Technology Fair, in Río Grande do Sul, Brazil.

First prize in the Technology Project category was awarded to Alberto Paniagua, Carlos Delgado, and Max Rodríguez, from San Carlos for a specialized software that improves the process of vegetable harvesting in vitro.

“What we were after was a technological tool to offer scientists to help them know the measurements of carrot stems”, said Rodríguez.

“Knowing the size of the stem helps to figure out how many ‘sprouts’ can be produced from it”, he added.

Third place in the engineering category went to a walking cane for blind people with ultrasonic sensors created by Natalia Rodríguez and Pedro Sanabria.

The cane measures 5 feet long (1.5 meters) and is made of PVC plastic and fiber glass. The device has two ultrasonic sensors (one at the bottom and one in the middle). The sensors emit a vibrating alarm in the handle of the cane when an object or person is within 50 centimeters of the user.

The cane is called “Elwast” and warns of coming objects that have a small base, but large in size, and of objects not planted in the ground, at eye level of the blind person.

This project was invited to participate in the International Science Fair in Asunción, Paraguay, in 2009.

The November edition of National Geographic Adventure magazine ranks the Lapa Ríos hotel in its “Top 50 Eco-lodges (eco-hotels) in the World”.

The hotel was chosen among the best Eco-lodges in Latin America, fourth overall.

Lapa Ríos is an eco-tourist complex built on the tip of the Osa Peninsula, in the southern part of the country, a short distance from the Panamanian border.

Hans Pfister, president of Cayuga, a company that manages lodging accommodations, attributes its success to the way that “it has integrated itself without damaging the environment and contributed to the development of the local community.”

For the fourth consecutive year, Hotel Parador Boutique Resort & Spa, located in Manuel Antonio, Quepos, was recently honored with the World Travel Awards 2008 in 4 different categories:

** Central America’s Leading Boutique Hotel
** Central America’s Leading Hotel
** Central America’s Leading Resort
** Costa Rica’s Leading Spa Resort

It has 108 rooms and suites, fauna, tropical gardens, infinity panoramic pools, extensive views, gourmet food, relaxing massages, tours, and much more.

Delta Air Lines announced its merger with Northwest Airlines, making it the first global airlines with a strong presence in the majority of the most important tourist markets in the world.

This makes Northwest Airlines a 100% subsidized property of Delta.

They agreed to jointly provide access to more world destinations than anywhere in the world, employing around 75 thousand people world wide.

Although the integration process is already in progress, it will take between 12-24 months to complete. Meanwhile, from the clients’ point of view, everything will carry on as normal.

Passengers will continue interacting with the airline that operates the flight. If you are traveling with Delta, you must check in with Delta. If you are flying with Northwest, you must check in with Northwest.

In addition, during the integration process of its web sites, Delta will continue operating the two individual web sites for both airlines, www.delta.com and www.nwa.com, as well as the reservation systems and loyalty programs of both airlines.

A team from the Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center (CIBCM) from the University of Costa Rica discovered a unique species of an organism that was given the name Euglena pailasensis in the natural pools of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano, Guanacaste. It was named such specifically because of the place in which it lives.

The Euglena pailasensis developed in the highly acidic mud that reached temperatures between 40 º-98 º Celsius (104 º-208.4 º Fahrenheit) that would cause serious damage to the human skin.

This organism belongs to the protozoan kingdom, unicellular beings that create photosynthesis, like plants, to get energy.

Their chloroplasts (balls that contain chlorophyll, an ingredient that allows for photosynthesis) disappear when they are cultivated in the dark and re-appear when they are cultivated in the light.

At this point, some 30 species of euglena have been identified. The most well-known live in fresh water and have flagellum, which moves like a whip and allows them to move.

However, it is highly likely that Euglena pailasensis lost this flagellum and replaced it with a serpentine movement in order to adapt to the thick mud of the Rincón de la Vieja pools.

Besides having never been seen anywhere else on the planet, CIBCM scientists have found others, like bacteria, living in the hot water pits of Rincón de la Vieja.

Lorena Uribe, member of the CIBCM environmental biology area and who headed the research on the Euglena pailasensis along with Marielos Mora and Ana Sittenfeld, explained that the discovery of this organism is as important for industry as it is for science.

“Many industrial processes are done at high temperatures and organisms such as euglena secrete substances and enzymes exactly at temperatures similar to those that are needed in these productive processes” she stated.

With more research, it is believed that they will be used to improve production processes.

In spite of the world crisis, the following year will see 872,141 tourists.

The aforementioned represents an increase of 26,985 in relation to the previous high season (November to March), during which there were 846,146 tourists.

Shark hunting in Costa Rica is very different from what it was years ago, as seen in the movie Sharkwater.

Nowadays, strict measures are taken against this illegal practice and those that do not respect the laws. In addition, the national law on shark finning is the most advanced in the region, so much that it has been adopted by other countries in the area.

In April, President Oscar Arias dedicated himself, through the “Peace for Nature” initiative, to make key efforts to completely eradicate this practice.

Presently, Costa Rica refuses licenses to any fleet dedicated to shark fishing. Any capture is considered incidental fishing.

Costa Rica, in the years 2004, 2005, and 2006, saw a reduction of more than a thousand tons, and continue falling, no doubt due to the corrective actions and legal measures that have been implemented. This year, the average number of shark boats in relation to the world average is around .88%.

The Marina Papagayo company announced the inauguration of its first stage in January of next year. It will be the second yacht harbor in the country. Right now, only Los Sueños, in Herradura, offers this service.

Papagayo will be made up of 108 acres that will initially hold 180 piers in the water and 200 on land.

The size capacity of those vessels that arrive to this harbor can range from 40 to 285 feet (12 to 87 meters).

Boats that harbor here will also have immigration services, fuel, high-speed Internet, electricity, phone service, minor repair services for vessels, and waste water disposal.

Initial investment will be $15 million, said Roberto Kopper, director of Marina Papagayo.

Papagayo will be the second marina constructed in the country under the law in effect since 1998. Los Sueños has been open since 2001.

Three prestigious international travel publications included two Costa Rican hotels, El Silencio and Arenas del Mar, in their list of must-see places in 2008.

The Condé Nast Traveler, Andrew Harper and Travel + Leisure announced their lists weeks before.

The publication’s editors explained on their website that they sent a contingent of undercover journalists “all over the world” to evaluate the quality of establishments and their services, as well as tourist activities such as tours from an endless number of hotels throughout the five continents.

With respect to Condé, 130 hotels have been selected from their annual search since 2005. This is the second consecutive year that Costa Rican hotels have appeared on the exclusive list. In 2007, Gaia Hotel y Reserva (in Manuel Antonio) and Xandari (in Esterillos) were chosen.

Everyday, more and more Howler and White-faced monkeys are taking refuge in the Santa Rosa National park, located in Guanacaste.

Studies done by the researcher Linda Fedigan, from the University of Calgary (Canada), show that according to the last few years, there are more examples of this primate species living in the forests in this Guanacaste area.

While, in 1972, there were 85 Howler monkeys and 300 White-faced monkeys, these numbers have gradually increased to the point that, last year, there were 620 Howlers and 740 White-faced monkeys.

For Fedigan, the increase is a direct consequence of the protected zone.

There are three monkey species that live in the Santa Rosa National Park: the Howlers (also known as Congos in Spanish), White-faced (or Capuchinos) and Spider (or Colorados in Spanish).

Fedigan’s census has focused on Howler and White-faced, even though Spider monkeys live there also. The rapid spread through the forests makes it difficult to count them using traditional methods, which involves finding a group, then counting them.

The U.S company, DayStar Properties, considered one of the main condo-hotel developers in the Central Pacific, is planning four more projects in Jacó.

These three complexes are in addition to the three that recently opened in the area: Bahía Azul, La Paloma Blanca, and Bahía Encantada.

All these projects are all ocean-front properties made possible by Pat Hundley, founder and president of the group, who bought the properties five years ago. Presently, around 100 people from the local area are working in these locations.

National Geographic biographer and researcher, Rally Horn, will study the impact of human activity and climate change on the Costa Rican rainforests.

Horn is a US citizen and graduate from the University of Tennessee (United States).

The scientists said that she chose Costa Rica because “it is known worldwide for its biological diversity.”

Her studies have focused primarily in the highlands of the Talamanca range, San Vito and Buenos Aires in Puntarenas and Guanacaste.

Horn came to the country for the first time in 1982 to study. She then did her thesis on Costa Rica. “More than 30 students and professors have come to help me (to Costa Rica) on research expeditions or to do their own studies of the impact of humans on the country and climate change,” said Horn.

More than 250 of Costa Rica’s archeological pieces, like vases, metates, and animal sculptures, will be on display at the Pointe-à-Callière museum in Montreal, Canada, from November 4, 2008 to April 19, 2009.

The museum will kick off the temporary exhibit “Costa Rica: Land of Marvels”, which will take one on a chronological journey of the history of Costa Rica from 500 B.C. up to the arrival of the Spaniards.

The exhibition was born from the archeological efforts done by the National Museum, owner of the artifacts, along with the University of Montreal in 2005. The exhibition was made a reality when the director of the Canadian museum, Francine Lelière, visited the country.

The collection contains pieces made of ceramic, stone, gold, and jade, of various sizes. The majority of them, around 184, have never been exhibited before. The artifacts are categorized as “dynamic” since they reflect the evolution of a variety of societies, as well as the environment in the national territory.

“(The exhibit) is amazing because the artifacts, in aesthetical terms, are of high quality and very pure”, said Michel Lambert, a guest Canadian curator.

“Costa Rica is internationally renowned for the mystery and beauty of its stone pieces; but this exhibit will reveal a much wider cultural heritage than the country is known for”, the expert added.

The Hilton Hotel Corporation announced an important expansion plan to include, in the next 5 years, 150 new hotels to their portfolio in Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes investments in Costa Rica.

The president of Global Development and Real Estate for the Hilton Hotel Corporation, Steve Goldman, explained that expanding on a global level is a strategic priority for Hilton.

The Hilton Hotel Corporation presently has 42 properties approved and under development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and has identified various strategic markets in cities and resort areas to further the growth of the Hilton Hotel chain.

The Hilton Hotel Corporation recently began operations in the region with three hotels and resorts in Costa Rica, inaugurated in January, 2008: the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa, the Doubletree Resort by Hilton Costa Rica, in Puntarenas, and the Doubletree Cariari by Hilton in San José.

Tabacón Grand Spa and Thermal Resort, located in la Fortuna, San Carlos, is among the 10 best eco-spas in the World, according to an article from the prestigious travel web page Concierge.com and released by MSNBC, the US 24- hour news channel with the third largest audience in the US.

Last July, the Grand Spa, of the Hotel Tabacón Grand Spa Termal Resort, acheived the highest rating of 7 stars, granted by the international organization Seven Stars and Stripes to hotel establishments that stand out for their lavish installations and solid customer service.

In spite of the world economic crisis, the tourist sector could grow by as much as 8 to 9% by the end of 2008.

Gonzalo Vargas, president of the National Tourist Board (Canatur), thinks that these are good statistics “taking into account the financial crisis that the world is in.”

Vargas further explained that this year’s growth does not equal that of 2007 (11%).

He added that world tourism is growing by two percent a year on average, which is why Costa Rica celebrated the fact that it will achieve a rate “three or four times that of the world average.”

The kick off of the cruise season began and, with it, the arrival of thousands of tourists to the Caribbean coast in Costa Rica. Artisans and transportation services will begin to show up at the “German” port to set up their stands with many types of products native to the country.

Cruise ship tourists, mainly from the
US, come to Costa Rica because of its tranquility, nature, and variety of cultures.

Tourists will be drawn to the coco bean, pineapple, and banana plantations, bird and butterfly watching tours, as well as the beautiful Caribbean beaches.

Punta Islita hotel (Nandayure), authentically Costa Rican, is ranked among the top 100 destinations in the world.

The acknowledgement was made by Travel +Leisure, a travel magazine, in its last month’s edition.

The hotel is the only one in Central America that made the list presented by the magazine.

Among the best hotels in the world, according to Travel +Leisure, Punta Islita ranks 94th on the list. However, among the top twenty-five hotels in Mexico, Central and South America, the Costa Rican hotel ranks 9th.

The magazine also acknowledged the Four Seasons Resort, on the Papagayo peninsula in Guanacaste.

The Four Seasons ranks 21st in the top 100, according to the publication.

Travel +Leisure is one of the most recognized travel and leisure publications in the world.

Hotel Presidente, located on Central Avenue in San José, was certified as Carbon Neutral, making it the first hotel in the capital to join the governmental initiative to make Costa Rica the first carbon neutral country by the year 2021.

The initiative is headed by Carbonfund.org, a United States NGO that is spearheading the fight against climate change by neutralizing carbon footprints.

El Silencio Lodge & Spa was selected by the prestigious travel web site http://www.globorati.com as one of the top green hotels worldwide.

Some of the sound practices of this eco-sanctuary are: carbon compensation, organic garbage composting, filtering natural water sources for consumption, light conservation, and reforestation programs. The fruits of their labor are evident in the beautiful landscape that its guests enjoy.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Hill will open its fifth hotel in the country in Santa Ana, San José. Álvaro Diago, the president of IHG, said they will invest $12 million in the development’s opening, whose inauguration is anticipated in the first quarter of the coming year.

IHG has four hotels in the country: Real Intercontinental Hotel & Club Tower (in Escazú), Holiday Inn Express (close to the airport in Alajuela), and the Crowne Plaza Corobicí and Holiday Inn, located in the capital.

The new hotel under construction will be called Indigo Forum Costa Rica and will be located close to Forum II business district, in Santa Ana. It will be comprised of three floors and a total of one hundred rooms.

Indigo will operate as a boutique hotel and will be the first of its kind that the Group has opened in Central America.

The Hotel Group expects the new hotel to receive a warm welcome by tourists and business travelers alike.

The country is being talked about once again among various international communication mediums through a series of articles published in the TravelAge West magazine on the web site about.com.

The articles come from press done in the United States by the Public Relations agency of the Costa Rica Tourism Institute (ICT), located in Costa Rica.

For example, the focus of the TravelAge West publication, which is geared toward travel agents on the West Coast and a subscription base of almost 26,010 industries, was on sustainable tourism in the north zone (Arenal). Its advertising value is approximately $15,030. On the other hand, the article in about.com focused on everything one would need to know when traveling to Costa Rica.

To read the complete articles, visit:

http://www.travelagewest.com/sthcenamer/destinations.aspx y

http://honeymoons.about.com/od/exoticcostarica/a/costaricatravel.htm

The hills of Carpintera, located in the Cartago province, have more biological resources than first thought: 1,100 plant species, 187 bird species , 31 types of mammals, and 174 types of butterflies.

This inventory, just recently completed, was taken by the Natural History department of the National Museum over a four year period.

“The Carpintera still contains patches of forest with original vegetation that dates back some 500 years”, said Joaquín Sánchez, a biologist at the National Museum and coordinator of the study.

The study found a wide variety of canopies, which give structure to the forest. It also revealed a wide variety of epiphytes.

Likewise, there exists a plant called Peperomia carpinterana that is only found in the Carpintera and its surroundings. This forest is possibly the only place in the world where this species survives.

The Marriott Hotel Residence Inn, developed by Caribe Hospitality, will be ready by this December, and will open in February, 2009.

With an initial investment of $10 million, the hotel will be located within the Avenida Escazú project being completed on the east side of CIMA hospital, San José, with a construction site of some 28,000 square feet (8,700 square meters).

The head manager of Caribe Hospitality, Daniel Campos, talked about its location in Escazú as a very dynamic area with a lot of potential for business.

“The strategic Avenida location allows national and foreign visitors to stay in an international style hotel, run by a world class operator (Marriott International), said Campos. The Residence Inn is made up of 109 rooms, designed for “long-term stays,” of which, 53 are s suites, 46 are one bedroom suites, and 10 are two bedroom suites. “What is unique about these rooms is that they are 50% bigger than those of a traditional hotel,” said Campos.

“The hotel offers a gym, swimming pool, a laundry room for guests, Wireless Internet, a restaurant, and conference rooms,” he added. Likewise, the rooms will have a spacious work area, and will be equipped with a kitchen, Internet and telephone access, among other amenities.

More than 530,000 tourists will pass through the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste in 2010, according to projections made by the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism (CATURGA), based on statistics gathered from the General Civil Aviation Administration records.

The arrival of tourists through this airport has maintained consistent growth since 2001. From 2001 to 2007 the number of tourists rose 574% going from 70,615 to 405,450.

For the 2008 season, according to estimates from Caturgua, growth will be around 9.5% compared to 2007, which means an increase in some 38,509 tourists.

As for the outlook for 2009 and 2010, the board projects an annual growth of 10%, totaling more than half a million tourists that will come through Daniel Oduber Airport as a gateway to the country.

The Grand Spa, of the Tabacón Hotel in La Fortuna earned the highest rating of seven stars for its quality of service and luxurious installations from the international organization, Seven Stars and Stripes.

The organization also gave the hotel a rating of six stars, one of its highest ratings, as well as five stars to the Los Tucanes restaurant.

The Grand Spa-Thermal Resort’s hotel, Los Tucanes restaurant and spa are the first to achieve this international distinction in Latin America.

The hotel’s manager, Uwe Wagne, explained that Seven Stars is a renowned organization with great prestige throughout Asia and Europe; therefore, achieving a high mark from this organization opens possibilities to attract tourists to the area, which benefits not only Tabacón, but also the entire region throughout La Fortuna and the country as a whole.

The Seven Stars & Stripes is the most prestigious award worldwide that is given to first-class hotels. Among those hotels from the five continents that have earned this acknowledgment are; the Emirates Palace, in Abu Dhabi; The Ritz Carton, in Philadelphia; the Adlon, in Berlín, and The Grand, in Amsterdam among another 200 renowned projects throughout the world.

An article published in the prestigious international financial magazine, Forbes, mentioned Tamarindo as “the most popular beach in Costa Rica,” according to the travel writer, Pierre Lehu.

In the article, Lehu states that beaches stand out because, among other advantages, they offer great conditions to play sports, like surfing and, as well, communication facilities.

The fact that Tamarindo has been mentioned as the most popular beach in Costa Rica means that we are playing in the “big league” markets”, said Giancarlo Pucci, member of the Tamarindo Beach Tourism Commission.

The CATURGUA executive director, Mauricio Céspedes, noted that in the last few years, the Tamarindo beach area has attracted a large amount of investors and businesses that have opened offices in this region where the availability of goods and services has improved immensely.

Jay Dickman, a United States photographer from the prestigious National Geographic and Pulitzer Prize winner in 1983, was recently in Costa Rica on a photo shoot with 12 students from the Trópico Húmedo School (EARTH), in Guácimo, and six young people from Limón.

After asking him about what he thought of the country, he replied, “I love Costa Rica.”

“I’ve been here five or six times, the first being in 1994 or ‘95. I brought my family here about nine years ago.”

Dickman started taking photos in high school and his first assignment for National Geographic, a magazine he has loved since he was young, was in 1979. He is 59 years old, has four children, and lives in Colorado, in the U.S.

The National Museum has a new and more beautiful face in various parts of the museum.

Those in charge are restoring the building, a process that will be divided into 5 stages and will be completed at the end of 2011.

Due to construction, some rooms will be temporarily closed. However, in order to make up for it, some rooms that have been closed for the last few years will be opened.

The well-known Costa Rican trio, Éditus, will begin its two and a half month tour on the Asian continent, the longest tour that the group has ever undertaken up to this point.

The group will perform 39 concerts in different cities and theaters throughout Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Éditus will not be alone. The singer, Marta Fonseca, and bassist, Mario Álvarez, were also invited to participate in the tour.

The trio has put together a show of their most popular hits, focusing on Costa Rican and Latina music. The Asian crowds will enjoy hits like Pampa, Madera, and some songs from the CD Éditus 360, although its primary objective is to promote the national culture.

Among the frogs, hundreds of butterflies, snakes, insects and a 2,460 foot (570 meters) long zipline, the first eco-tourist adventure and research park was recently inaugurated in the middle of the tropical rainforest in Limón.

The site, called Veragua Rainforest Research and Adventure Park, measures 3,212 acres, of which, only 13,123 sq. feet (4,000 square meters) are under construction.

It is located 25 miles (40 km) from the city of Limón, some two and a half hours from San José. This area is ideal for viewing thousands of rainforest flora and fauna species, with the
Caribbean ocean in the background.

The new park is bordered by the La Amistad Internacional Park, a world heritage site, which is part of the Mesoamerica Biological Corridor.

Those that come to Veragua will find a natural adventure. All guides, who are Costa Rican, will take people on a long path just short of a mile, of which 80% is wheel chair accessible.

Along the path, a snake sanctuary (with fer-de-lance and boa snakes), a butterfly garden (with morpho and owl butterflies), an open-air garden with hummingbirds, a couple of waterfalls, and a zipline over the canopy heighten the ecological experience.

The Veragua project will offer not only fun things, but also generations of knowledge to guests. That’s why a fundamental aspect of this site is a scientific station right in the middle of the forest and attractions.

The research center is open to the public. In fact, the laboratory is surrounded by see-though glass so that the tourists can observe how the research is done. In addition, the microscopes have video cameras installed, which transmits the picture “live” on plasma screens, exactly what the scientists are viewing.

Last April 1st, Wal-Mart of Central America in Costa Rica initiated the “Pegáte a la Isla” (Give it to the Island) campaign to raise funds for Isla del Coco.

Because of this successful proposal, the company will donate over $97,000 (¢52 million colones) to the Friends of Coco Island Foundation (FAICO).

Customers of Wal-mart Costa Rica pitched in with a total of $83,000, with the purchase of 8 types of stickers at 25¢ (100 colones) each, and a collector’s album for $1 with images of marine life that inhabit the island and its surroundings.

For its part, the company contributed $14,000 to fulfill its commitment for the conservation of the island.

The funds will be channeled through FAICO and will go to support protection programs on the island that develop the foundation.

Costa Rica saw a 12.5% growth in tourism visits in the first quarter compared to the same period during 2007.

The Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) said that in the first six months of 2008 more than a million tourists entered the country by air, almost 90,000 more than last year.

According to this year’s first semester picture, Costa Rica remains one of the most ideal vacation spots for tourists.

Specifically, the largest increase was reported in the country’s main airport, Juan Santamaría, near the capital, where some 674,000 tourists passed through for a growth of 13.1%. Meanwhile, the Daniel Oduber terminal, located in Liberia, Guanacaste, saw an increase of 9.7%.

The election of José Carlos Morales, a Brunka native, as the representative of the new Team of Experts on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights of the Latin American region, was supported by state members, indigenous organizations, non-indigenous NGO’s, academic institutions, and civil societies, after being put forward by the president of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

After a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, five indigenous experts, one for each region of the world, were named as part of this team, which was created on December 14, 2007, by a unanimous vote of the member States of the UN’s Human Rights Council, resolution L.46/Rev.1.

This selection is an acknowledgement of the work done by José Carlos throughout his life. He was the first indigenous Costa Rican to complete his university studies and dedicate himself to the cause of local people, making him the indigenous movement’s leader in Costa Rica.

Afterwards, he held a series of positions as the president of the Regional Council of Indigenous People, CORPI, as well as being the first indigenous Latin American to occupy the presidency of the World Council of Indigenous People, and also the only indigenous person to hold a position in the Focal Point of the Decade for Indigenous People in the United Nations.

José Carlos actively participated in the negotiation process of the United Nations Declaration on the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, where he presided over the world enclave of Indigenous People for three years, until his successful and historical nomination during the United Nations General Assembly, on September 13, 2007.

The Quetzales National Park was recently opened in the country with an area of over 9,884 acres in the Talamanca hills in order to preserve its oak tree forests, cloud forests, highlands, valuable water sources, as well as the area’s wildlife habitats and quetzal repopulation.

The Quetzal National Park will entail some thirty national parks, biological reserves, wildlife reserves, monuments and recreational areas, public as well as private, which in whole cover more than 25% of Costa Rica.

It is specifically located in the Talamanca hills, at the head of the Savegre River between Providencia and San Gerardo de Dota, some 49.7 miles (80 km) from San José.

It resembles Garajonay National Park, on the Canary Islands in Spain, by offering similar waterway properties.

The land in the Quetzal area has three distinct forests, 14 ecosystems, and especially rich flora and fauna.

Its 7 different altitudes explain its biological diversity. There are some 25 different local species, 116 types of mammals and wetlands such as seasonal lagoons from the glacial era.

But undoubtedly, the park’s greatest attraction is the Quetzal, with its green and red plumage, which makes it one of the most beautiful birds of the Central American rainforests.

In addition, you can see pumas, coyotes, tapirs, jaguars, agootis and cacomitxles, among other species of animals.

The non-lethal use of whales for tourism is a growing activity throughout the countries in Central America, and particularly Costa Rica.

The activity, known as whale watching, has grown 74% in the last 10 years, a considerable increase if you compare it with that of other countries like Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Argentina, where tourism of this type grew between 15% and 19%.

This activity directly benefits 91 communities from 18 countries and has quadrupled its potential at a regional level in the last 15 years, generating around $280 million just in Latin America, according to data from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Global Ocean, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

There are eight main communities that benefit from whale watching on the Pacific coast and one on the Atlantic coast in Costa Rica. There are some 52 whale watching operators in these areas at these locations that, in 2007, took in around 100,000 tourists, with the majority (85%) being foreigners.

The Humpback whale is the most widely viewed cetacean on the Costa Rican coasts because it is very migratory. It spends the summers in the cold waters at high latitudes and reproduces in tropical or subtropical climates. This species has been protected since 1967. Today there are less than 10,000 of this species worldwide.

Presently, Costa Rica surpassed three times the world average in tourism growth, according to a June index released by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

The index’s data says the largest growth in tourism was in regions like the Middle East, Central and South America. Meanwhile, China, Japan, the United States, Costa Rica, Chile and Peru, stood out for showing double digit growth.

The WTO index says that international activity saw a growth of 5% in the first four months of the year and one additional percentage point more than forecasted at the beginning of 2008.

According to the WTO, behavior of the summer season that just started in the Northern hemisphere will be key to end-of-the-year results.

The Tourism Minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, said that he is pleased that Costa Rica has held pace within the most dynamic growing group of countries with respect to the arrival of tourists.

The tropical jungles, rivers, and country’s beautiful white beaches were reason enough for the National Geographic Channel to rate Costa Rica as the closest thing to heaven on earth.

According to the National Geographic channel, the country stands out from the rest of the world because of its huge diversity of life forms that find refuge in this small section of Costa Rica.

Because of the beautiful diversity of wildlife like crocodiles, quetzals, and species of monkeys, a television program will be taped and aired on National Geographic on June 25th.

The program will reveal the seven wonders of Latin America, one of the regions with the largest diversity.

Costa Rica, referred to by National Geographic as “The Living Earth,” stands out among other countries for its bountiful vegetation and variety of forests.

The television program also highlights Costa Rica as a place where one can witness the large number of recently born sea turtles emerge from the sand and scurry toward the ocean.

An audiovisual production will present the beautiful beaches of the Guanacaste province, such as Tamarindo, Avellanas, Witch’s Rock, and Playa Grande to some 10 million Italians this November.

Three cameramen and four actors from Italian Radio Television (RAI) were in Costa Rica this past June to tape scenes for the program “The Perfect Waves” with national surfer Federico Pilurza, who is representing Costa Rica in the World Circuit Professional Surfers’ Association competitions.

“This is a great opportunity to show the world the quality of waves that exist in Costa Rica and the surfing scene, in general, of the country.¨ said Pilurzu.

The recent glowing molten material that came out of the north end of the Arenal volcano, in the northern part of the country, has only one possible explanation: the volcano is still growing and will continue doing so, periodically, in the years to come.

So says the volcanologist, Eliécer Duarte, of the Volcanic and Seismologic Watch Group of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) at the Universidad Nacional (UNA).

According to this expert, the Arenal volcano, located next to the Arenal hill, is barely forty years old.

Because Arenal is a young volcano, it is going through a stage of “making room” for itself, meaning, it is growing vertically and outward. The crater is not growing, however.

This is being done by means of elongating volcanic rocks, that is, by a type of rock tentacles that, when cooled, become part of the structure or body of the volcano.

“To understand this growth, you must think of Arenal like a tube of toothpaste which is squeezed until a little bit of toothpaste comes out and spills over,” he explained.

Obviously in this case, what shifts within the Arenal volcano is a very thick grey mass, made up of volcanic rock, the majority of which is composed of iron, magnesium, and silicon.

“Just to be clear, Arenal is not erupting. There is no flowing lava, but rather an avalanche of rocks that spills over the side. We want to reiterate that there is no need to release a warning regarding the situation right now. The volcano is growing and the activity is in the northwest, far from the tourists,” said Duarte.

Alaska Airlines began operations in the country through the company, Karika International.

The company opened offices to make it easier for the local market and travel agencies to access new destinations.

Services in Costa Rica will focus on ticket sales, fare information, itineraries, and travel assistance.

“We are the Sales Agent and we link airlines that operate in Costa Rica with Alaska Airlines at the primary connecting points like Mexico, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and San Francisco,” said Rodrigo Troyo, General Manager of Karika International.

The opening of the offices here is expected to open new markets from the United States to Costa Rica, and vice versa.

Although the airline still doesn’t fly to the country, it offers options for connecting to the west coast and the northern United States as well as Canada.

Alaska Airlines is the ninth largest airline in the United States. Its 114 Boeing aircrafts carry more than 17 million passengers, annually.

The Costa Rican flag continues to rank among the leaders in the voting for the most beautiful flag in the world, according to the website of the Spanish newspaper “20 Minutos.”

As of the end of the day on June 19th, the national symbol was in fourth place with 104,558 points.

Presently, only 40 countries remain. When only 30 countries remain, they will start from scratch in order to level the playing field among the participating nations.

It is noteworthy that the first five places are held by Latin American national banners.

Of the 40 countries competing, half come from the Americas, followed by Europe with 11, followed by those with lesser votes coming from Asia, and Africa, and lastly, the Oceanic region.

Currently, Mexico is in first place with Peru in second, followed by Guatemala, Costa Rica and Uruguay, respectively.

The last leg will only be comprised of 10 finalists. The winner will be announced on July 7th.

If you want to participate and vote for our national flag, go to www.20minutos.es and go to the link “zona 20” at the top of the page.

Then go to the bottom of the page to vote.

The list of insignias was created on May 20th by a young Spaniard, known only as Karlosh.

Costa Rica ranked seventh in attracting investment among Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2007, according to a study done by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL).

The amount of $1.889 million brought in by Costa Rica last year, was only surpassed by Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, according to the report.

With respect to CEPAL’s investment measurements, the country surpassed all the Isthmus countries, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia, among other South American and Caribbean countries.

Mónica Araya, president of the Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (Cadexco), reiterated the excellent image that the country has on an international scale.

Their efforts to help small farmers in rural areas of Brazil earned Paola Segura and her husband Cid Simões the acknowledgement from National Geographic magazine.

The magazine named them the “New Explorers” of 2008 for their work with exotic fruit seeding and reforestation.

National Geographic grants this award every year to young people who promote sustainable development throughout the world.

Segura, 27, and Simões, a 32-year-old Brazilian, are agro-engineer graduates from EARTH University, located in Guácimo in the province of Limón.

The project is two years old and consists of planting exotic fruits, like Rambután, in small production areas in relatively poor soil.

With respect to the topic of conservation, the couple convinced farmers to stop cutting down trees for their pastures or crops and reforest the areas with fruit trees. The idea is to avoid giving way to deforestation.

Segura explained that the fruit seeds that they plant are of Asiatic origin and that the project seeks to provide these fruits to the Japanese population that lives in Sao Paulo. It also provided revenues for farmers.

The couple received an economic grant from National Geographic for their creation of the project.

Our country won first place in the “Tourism for All” contest for its innovation in tourism and the hotel industry, which was put into effect by its Sustainable Tourism Certification program (CST).

The acknowledgement was bestowed in the meeting of the III Virtual Congress of Latin American Competitiveness Enterprise and Tourism, in which 707 countries participated.

For the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, this award is even more incentive to continue the efforts of the CST program and its increasing strength within the sustainable tourism development policies that the country is putting into effect.

More information available in the November and Article section: Press Release

Thanks to its popularity among tourists that visit Costa Rica, San Carlos, in the country’s northern zone, has become an attractive destination for many companies, especially the food and service industry, which has led to an increase in the amount of new construction.

Since 2006, the region has seen an important increase in commercial real estate. This year, 1,328 building permits were granted for local stores, hotels, and residential housing. The number of permits rose to 1,764 in 2007.

Likewise, in the first four months of 2008, 602 building permits were granted, which if it continues at this pace, would surpass last year’s figures.

“In the case of La Fortuna, just a few years ago, there wasn’t nearly as much development as now. There weren’t even many hotels, Now when the tourists come, they have more than 20 hotels to choose from” stated Saray Varela, president of Small Tourism Business Association in La Fortuna (AMITOFOR).

The international conservation organization Rainforest Alliance cited the national airline Nature Air in the list of world businesses that earned the award this year in recognition for its work in developing sustainability in its business and embracing conservation throughout the years.
The award was handed out recently in New York, US, in the category of Leader in Sustainable Corporate Standards, a distinction that Rainforest Alliance grants year after year to those companies or persons committed to conservation for a greener world.
Nature Air operates local flights in Costa Rica and some cities in Nicaragua and Panama.
It earned the distinction by being carbon neutral since 2006, and also in 2005, it made up for the emission of 4650 tons of carbon, the equivalent of 470,000 gallons of fuel used the year before. It also collaborated with the conservation of 494 acres of forest in the Osa peninsula, in the Costa Rican Southern Pacific. Other actions were taken into consideration which the company put into practice like recycling efforts and energy conservation, among others.

In La Fortuna, San Carlos, in the northern part of the country, a project will be implemented which will seek to convert the region into an organic supplies and food producing region.

The project expects 70% of the hotels in the area to be transformed into organic producers by the year 2009. With this proposal, training will be offered so that they can create their own supplies with regard to fumigation, cleaning, and food, among others.

“The idea came about with the intention of improving hotel conditions. There are multiple benefits to replacing traditional products for organic ones, not only in an environmental sense, but also in an economic sense,” stated Luis Shaeik, creator of the project San Carlos Organic Supplies and Food Producer.

The initiative also promotes reforestation in gorges, re-growth, and water basins, as well as vegetable production, garden produce, and organic legumes.

The plan is seeking the support of surrounding hotels in the La Fortuna region of San Carlos, in order to provide training and implementation of necessary equipment to carry out the change.

Tourists that enter the country through Daniel Oduber International Airport, in Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste, will have more shopping options.

A duty free store and kiosk will be open to the public in July.

The new establishments will expand the range of products available to tourists like liquors, watches, cameras, fine perfumes, tobaccos, and chocolates.

The establishment of duty free stores in Daniel Oduber airport is in response to the increase in the arrival of tourists through this terminal. It is estimated that more than 500,000 visitors will arrive to Guanacaste this year.

The two new sites will be administered by the Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) and the revenue that it generates will go to help low income families.

Throughout the country, golf has become a source of revenue, employment, and hotel positions to the point that 34,000 tourists come to Costa Rica to play every year.

The penchant for visitors to play is generating around $87.6 million a year from food, lodging, visits, entertainment, and the purchase of sporting goods.

Joseph Kuo, Corporate Vice President of New York Life Insurance Company is one of the many golfers who have fallen in love with Costa Rica as a destination for playing the sport.

“I’ve played in many different places around the world, but nothing can compare with the experience that I’ve had in Costa Rica, with respect to personal attention, exquisite views, and the affordable price”, said Kuo.

The potential for golf business and Costa Rica’s reputation as an exotic destination has led to the creation of newly design courses in the last few years, by world renowned golf figures like Robert Trent Jones II, Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer and Mike Young.

The number of courses will increase soon. At least six projects are already underway.

Isla Moín is the name of the mega-project that the company SolerPazos Group announced on its Internet page, which it plans to develop in the province of Limón.

The investors plan to build 600 condominiums, 100 villas with ocean and canal views, and more than 100 homes over 113 hectares (280 acres) and 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) of Limon beaches. In addition, they want to create a marina with 500 spaces for “yachts and mega-yachts” and build a luxury hotel.

The company, SolerPazos Group presented the project before Marina and Tourist Pier Inter-institutional Commission (CIMAT) to create one of the biggest and most important marinas in the Caribbean.

Adrián Polini, representative of the Costa Rican investment company, said that the commitment of the business partners is to create an environmentally-friendly project and to contribute to the development of the province.

The development firm stated that they will invest $150 million in the first stage of the project.

In addition, according to representatives, the Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA) approved the permits last week. The same was also done by the Institute for Housing and Urbanization (INVU). They are still waiting on approval from CIMAT.

The province of Alajuela will be the location for the first large convention center in the country. The grounds will be comprised of 23,000 hectares (56,833 acres) and will be located very close to the international Juan Santamaría airport.

Construction will be done by the Spanish firm, Feria de Valencia and the local group, Alta group.

As part of the project, Banco Nacional (National Bank) announced yesterday the creation of a $250 million trust. The bank group will be in charge of seeking resources to finance the project.

The convention center will include fair and exposition grounds, a large convention center, several offices, and two hotels.

Feria de Valencia is considering the addition of a commercial center.

The promotion of Costa Rica in tourism festivals in different countries throughout Europe has led to more and more Europeans choosing it as their preferred vacation destination.

Along with this, the first three months of the year overall have seen 532,000 tourists choose Costa Rica as their destination spot. This figure reflects a 14% increase or 65,000 more tourists, in comparison to the first trimester of the previous year; these numbers represent only those entering the country by plane.

Another way to put it is that during January, February, and March of this year, 2,000 more tourists arrived daily, compared to the same months last year. Tourism continues to be a primary source of the country’s revenue, since it comprises almost a quarter of the country’s national exports.

The Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, recorded an influx of some 150,000 passengers in the first three months of the year 2008, according to data from the General Civil Aviation Administration.

This number represents a 13% increase compared to the record of the same period last year.

Six of ten passengers that passed through this terminal were men and half of the tourists were between 30 and 49. Forty-eight percent had already been to Costa Rica before. The majority live in the United States and Canada.

A survey by the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism showed that at least half of the entrants came from a high socioeconomic background. In addition, it was shown that the most visited sites in the province are Playa Flamingo, Playas del Coco, and Playa Tamarindo.

According to specialists in the tourism sector, this increase means that Guanacaste has become the primary tourist market in the country as well as one of the main sources of employment.

Seat occupancy is more than 80% on direct flights that Delta Airlines offers from the city of Liberia, Guanacaste, to Atlanta and Los Angeles (United States). This encouraged Delta to offer one more route, to New York.

Service on the airline began the 16th of February. There are two weekly flights (Wednesdays and Saturdays), leaving at 3p.m. from Daniel Oduber and arriving at John F. Kennedy at 11 p.m.

The airline will also offer, as of February, service (5 times a week) to New York from Juan Santamaría international airport, in the Alajuela province.

Presently, the company offers 33 weekly direct flights from Costa Rica; 21 from Juan Santamaría and 12 from Liberia.

There is a daily flight from Liberia to Atlanta (Delta’s main connection center) and Saturday and Sunday flights to Los Angeles.

Costa Rica is the country with the best technological development in Central America and the seventh in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the most recent report from the World Economic Forum.

The first place worldwide goes to Denmark and within Latin America, Chile.

The organization evaluated such aspects as the export level of technological products, legal framework, education, Internet access, government institutions’ online services, cellular telephone users and the availability of scientists and engineers.

According to information from TACA airlines, Costa Rica is the most visited country among Central American travelers, followed by Guatemala and El Salvador.

The statistics were released by the TACA “Live, fly; Central America is yours,” program, which launched marketing campaigns to travel to and from any destination in the region, except Panama, by reducing airline ticket prices on all routes up to 63%.

Whether it be for pleasure, business, or family visits, Central American residents prefer to come to Costa Rica, the most visited interregional country, a figure that has increased over the last quarter.

According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Americas experienced a 5% growth in tourism and in Central America specifically, it was 8% for the year 2007.

Europeans are increasingly favoring Costa Rica as a tourist destination thanks in part to the country’s self-promotion in tourism fairs in different European countries.

On a more general level, 532,000 tourists chose Costa Rica as their destination in the first three months of 2008.

This figure reflects a 14% increase in comparison to the first trimester of the previous year, which corresponds to 65,000 more tourists; this data represents those tourists that entered the country by plane.

Tourism continues to be the main source of foreign currency in the country as it contributes almost a quarter to the national exports.

The influx of tourists does not stop; during the first trimester of 2008, 14% more tourists arrived than in the same period of last year. A total of 65,000 more visits was reported for the term of January to March which reached 532 thousand people.

Of those that entered this year, 82% came by plane, or 436,719. The rest of the visitors, 96 thousand in total, arrived by land. The majority were Central Americans.

The Juan Santamaría airport, in the Alajuela province, is the most important aerial terminal, with traffic that totaled 358,705 passengers. As for the Daniel Oduber airport, located in the city of Liberia in the Guanacaste province, an arrival of 78,014 people was reported between January and March.

The tourist arrival details were issued by the National Tourism Chamber (Canatur), according to data submitted by the Immigration Administration.

The construction of the first luxury tourist complex in the Osa Peninsula, in the Puntarenas province, will begin shortly.

The Cascadas del Mar Rainforest, a project estimated at $25 million, will be the first of its kind in the area.

The project, which will begin next week, is located in Uvita in Bahia Ballena and will include 51 villas, restaurants, and spas, all under the concept of ecotourism.

The developers plan to build the condominiums vertically, according to their representatives, so as to have less environmental impact.

Costa Rica and Peru are the only sites selected in Latin America where the entertainment giant, Disney, looked to establish their vacation tours.

The decision is in response to the tourist industry in the Unites States, which has risen slowly over the last few years, while Latin America is the most dynamic region in the world with respect to this sector.

As proof, over the last year, the region has received some $63.9 million in revenues related to tourism and travel, which represents a 7.9% growth in the year 2006, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

The country appears to be one of the biggest recipients of this “boom,” with a 6% growth, which made it one of the entertainment giant’s preferred destination sites.

Adventure by Disney will begin its “Path to Pura Vida” tours of the country May 31st of this year, which will include a stop in San Jose with a stay in an Escazu hotel, then proceed to the Arenal Volcano National Park and Manuel Antonio, Quepos in the Central Pacific. The expedition will last 7 days.

The marketing proposal of the expedition taken by Disney will allow visitors to see the beauties of the rain forest, and come into contact with natural wildlife through hikes in the national parks. Likewise, it will promote various adventure sports like rafting, canopy, and relaxing on a variety of beaches.

Three Spanish hotel mega-projects will begin in Costa Rica, an investment that will surpass $1 billion.

There are three chains, Sirenis and Riu Hotels & Resorts, as well as the real estate Space and Nature group (NVESA).

In the case of NVESA, it will build four hotels and a residential project. On the other side, Riu Hotels &Resorts will construct three hotels in Matapalo, Aguirre district, Guanacaste province; the Spanish chain Sirenis plans to enter the Costa Rican market with an investment of more than $50 million dollars.

One of the advantages for the European countries to invest in Costa Rica is that the country is in the proximity of the United States and Canada.

Sirenis will start with the construction of the Papagayo hotel first, followed by the development of a residential project in the same zone.

Costa Rica ranks fifth in the world with respect to its environmental concern, according to the Environmental Action Index 2008, recently released by the World Economic Forum, located in Davos, Switzerland.

According to the index, Switzerland heads the list and Colombia fills out the 9th spot, being the second best location in Latin America. The index was put together by a team of environmental experts from Yale and Colombia University.

The calculations took into account 149 countries together with 25 indicators based on six criteria, such as environmental health, air pollution, water resources, habitat and biodiversity, natural resource products, and climate change.

After Switzerland, came Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Costa Rica. At the bottom half of the list were five African countries: Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Niger.

An initial analysis of the results suggests that wealth is one of the determining factors of the success and implementation of policies with respect to the environment, although at every level of development some countries achieved significantly better results than their counterparts.

After Costa Rica and Colombia came Canada, Ecuador, Chile, and Panama, while Bolivia and Haiti filled out the last spots. The Untied States ranked 39th, way behind other industrialized nations like the United Kingdom and Japan, which came in 14th and 21st, respectively.

The designation of Costa Rica as the best in America stems from its clear policies with respect to environmental conservation, said president Oscar Arias.

“We are one of the few countries, by way of development, that have recovered forest area in the last 20 years, to the point that more than half of our territory is woodland,” the president maintained.

Arias also highlighted the push toward sustainable tourism, eco-friendly production, and incentive for socially and environmentally friendly companies.
“All this because, like I’ve said many times before, the future of Costa Rica will be green, or it won’t,” reinforced the president.

In 2007, around 265 thousand tourists came from Europe to visit our country. Of that number, at least 57 thousand were Spanish, followed by 43 thousand Germans, according to data from the National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR)

In third and forth place were the English, with 32 thousand, and those from France and Holland with 27 thousand between the two.

Although CANATUR stated this data is not official, they do reflect a European tourism pattern in the country.

Costa Rica engenders a great deal of trust among tourism investors thanks to its legal system, its hardworking and skilled labor force, as well as its peaceful climate.

“These factors make it an ideal country for vacationers,” stated Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Minister of Tourism.

Costa Rica was rated as the safest nation in Latin America for businessmen and multinational companies, according to the latest Latin Security index conducted by FTI Ibero-America Consulting for the weekly publication, Latin Business Chronicle, based out of Miami, FL.

The index measures the risk level of every country on a scale of 1 to 5; one, for a completely safe country and, five, for the least. Only three counties in Latin America were rated with a score of 2: Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay.

Joachim Bamrud, the director of Latin Business Chronicle, comments that although it has the same rating as Chile and Uruguay, the index determined that Costa Rica is the safest. The year before Chile was the safest. What this means is that Costa Rica has improved.

“The rating was based on homicide, crime, theft, and assault rates. The information is gathered by the police, public and private entities, specific institutes and NGOs. This helps the country attract more foreign investment,” said Bamrud.

On Thursday, March 20, 2008, the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) will put into effect the new telephone numeration that will consist of 8 digits for residential and commercial telephones in addition to cellular telephony.

As of that date, telephone clients must dial the digit “2” before the already known number for fixed telephone lines and the digit “8” for cellular phone numbers.

The new national numeration contemplates the National Telecommunications System’s (SNT) current and future needs and considers the growth and distribution of the clients in addition to the capacity to satisfy new facilities and services demanded by technological innovation.

During this year and in the beginning of 2008, information will be provided to people, companies, operators, and national and international organizations on the scope and characteristics of this change.

In this sense, the Institution recommends that clients have foresight in the matter and apply the new telephone number with the new digit tostationery and publicity materials.

During the second trimester of year 2008, the Fourth Meeting of the International Work Group regarding the Development of Sustainable Tourism will be held in Costa Rica.

Countries such as France, Germany, Australia, United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Bahamas, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, China, Croatia, Madagascar, Mali, as well as the European Union, the UNESCO, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and representatives of professional and nongovernmental organizations will all be participating in this important event.

The objective of this international gathering is to project and value “good practices” regarding the topic of a sustainable tourism that is respectful towards local cultural identities, the environment, and that allows a harmonious development of small towns.

The Minister of Tourism of Costa Rica, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, indicated that this meeting will allow participants to become aware of the experience and goals that the country has in order to carry out tourism development through a sustainable model.

Benavides also pointed out that the tourism policies should be aimed towards achieving a fair distribution of the resources among the population and that the agreement that substitutes the Kyoto Protocol, regarding the reduction of emissions causing the greenhouse effect, should include a mechanism of compensation for countries that protect wooded areas. In that sense, Costa Rica has set a goal to become a zero carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) tourist destination by the year 2021.

Costa Rica, one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity in the world, has been since 1990, one of the first eco tourism destinations where the national heritage has been used in a sustainable and responsible way. Among the country’s activities in favor of sustainable development, there is the program for the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST), created in 1999 by the Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT).

Statistics show that during 2007, tourism grew a 10%, representing more than 200,000 tourists.

This result doubled the number predicted by the World Tourism Organization, which estimated that the region would grow a 5%.

“This has been truly a good year, the policy of the Costa Rica Tourist Board aimed at attracting new airlines, knocking on doors, and signing cooperative campaign agreements, has turned out in our favor,” stated the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides.

An increase of tourists entering the country is expected for this end of year, and according to Gonzalo Vargas, President of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), the high season will grow between 11% and 12% in comparison to the previous year, meaning that it will be as productive a year as 2005, representing the arrival of 940,000 tourists.

As of this date hotels are already announcing that they will be completely full for this high season, due to the fact that the majority of rooms are already reserved, especially the ones located in the areas that are most visited in the country.

Precisely Costa Rica recently stood out as one of the ten most important destinations in the world regarding the environment, according to the ranking in Country Brand’s latest publication, carried out every year by the company Future Brand.

The teacher and musician Fernando Rodríguez Zumbado was awarded the Mauro Fernández 2007 Prize, due to his broad and prosper career in the study, interpretation, and composition of folklore music and traditional culture and, above all, for the promotion of Costa Rican music and values among students.

“Mr. Rodríguez represents one of the most outstanding characters in the education field that we wanted to award during this government administration. We want to emphasize the need of educating Costa Ricans of future generations in an integrated way, not only limited to mathematics, science, and social studies, but extended to art, music, ethics and values,” pointed out the Minister of Education, Leonardo Garnier.

Rodríguez is native of the province of Heredia and has a Bachelor Degree in Music with emphasis in Community Promotion, granted by Universidad Nacional (UNA), in addition to a Bachelor Degree in Education with emphasis in Music and a Degree in Education with emphasis in Music Education.

He has worked as a music teacher in different educational institutions of the country, both public and private, including universities.

After four years, the Coffee Tour is now a reality in the town of Naranjo, located in the province of Alajuela. This event was inaugurated by the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias.

This project, which combines the production of coffee with rural tourism, has 2,400 members, namely small coffee producers.

The goal is to produce high quality coffee which will be exported all over the world and, at the same time, to promote the location as a tourist attraction so that foreigners who visit the country can enjoy the beauties that Naranjo has to offer, given that it is a region merely dedicated to the production of coffee.

During his visit, President Arias stated that for the last twenty years the country has been growing on a tourist level and that, projects like this one, in harmony with nature, are what characterize us as a country, by attracting many visitors to Costa Rica.

Delta Airlines announced its operation of 5 new direct routes to connect New York, United States with Central America and the Caribbean, as part of a new strategy for expansion which will allow the airline to expand its presence in the region by 60%.

Starting from December, Delta Airlines will start to fly directly from New York to Panama, Guatemala, and Tobago, and in February the airline will fly to San José and Liberia.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides confirmed that starting in the last week of November a new airline will be offering flights from the United States to Costa Rica.

The announcement will be completed in the month of December when at least 3 more US airlines choose Costa Rica as a tourist destination.

This way the arrival of tourists from the United States to Costa Rica will increase starting next month. The names of the airlines have not been revealed to this date.

According to Benavides, this represents at least 1000 tourists more per week that could possibly come to the country, which would allow the arrival of tourists to Costa Rica to keep on growing.

For the first time in the country’s medical history, Costa Rica will be officially hosting the International Congress on Medical Tourism, organized by the Medical Consortium of Costa Rica.

Doctors who specialize in plastic surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry, as well as beauticians will be able to participate in the event, which is expected to turn into a forum, so that professionals and students from the different areas of health and cosmetic surgery in the country can share their knowledge and experiences with specialists from abroad.

“The initiative of the congress is based on the fact that Costa Rica has turned into a point of reference when searching for medical services, while enjoying a first class tourist destination,” commented Doctor Kattia Calvo, one of the organizers of the activity.

The congress will be held at the Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura in San José, on December 10, 11, and 12 with the participation of representatives from the United States, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil and Costa Rica.

According to statistics supplied by the Costa Rica Tourist Board, between 200 and 250 operations related to health and cosmetic surgery are carried out per month at hospitals in Costa Rica. 90% of these are performed on foreigners.

The main interest that China has with Costa Rica, in addition to commerce, is the tourism and investment sector, stated Martín Zuñiga, General Manager of the Promoter of External Commerce of Costa Rica (PROCOMER), who recently visited China.

Some sectors are already beginning to show interest in Costa Rica as a tourist destination, commented Zuñiga.

Regarding the topic of investment, China is searching for new markets to enter other countries and in that sense Costa Rica is geographically an attractive market due to the fact that it is a central point between America, Asia, and Europe and because it has close commercial ties with the United States, concluded Zuñiga.

Costa Rica proudly classified as one of the 10 most important destinations of the world regarding the environment, according to the most recent publication of Country Brand’s ranking conducted every year by the company Future Brand.

For this recognition, important issues are taken into account, such as policies that the country enforces in order to safeguard the environment. A few other nations that also classified in this group are Sweden, New Zealand, Singapore, Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, Germany, and Austria.

Regarding the category “Most Like to Live in” where Costa Rica also classified among the 10 best of the world, aspects such as the quality of life, government stability, climate, peace, tranquility, and security were taken into account. Countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, United Kingdom, and Italy also classified in this group.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, stated that in both of the categories, Costa Rica appears as the only country in Latin America considered in the ranking, not to mention the fact that Costa Rica was competing with other first world countries.

The construction of the first JW Marriott hotel in the country is making progress on the lands of Hacienda Pinilla, Santa Cruz, province of Guanacaste. The works, managed by the company Van der Laat & Jiménez, have reached a 35%. The design was created by the architect Ronald Zürcher, along with the company Paul Design Partners.

The five star hotel will offer 310 rooms, 30 of which will be reserved for executives. Moreover, the complex will have 10 individual units, 200 condos and a swimming pool.

The hotel will be the 7th of this chain in Latin America. The idea is the result of a franchising agreement between Marriott International and Hotel Real de Pinilla, a company subsidiary of Grupo Poma (El Salvador).

The hotel will be built on a 63.500 square meters area. More than a half of the land will be assigned to construction and there will be 25.000 square meters of green areas.

The developers expect the construction to be concluded within the next year.

Currently, there are 950 people working in the construction, an amount that will increase up to 1.500 between December and January 2008.

The hotels Arenal Springs, located in La Fortuna de San Carlos, and Best Western Jaco Beach obtained the Tourism Sustainability Certificate (CST).

The document was issued as an award for the efforts made by both tourist complexes in order to improve efficiency in electrical energy usage.

This certificate represents a useful tool to measure the companies’ commitment towards community and environment. The objective of the plan is to guarantee the sustainability of the country’s tourist activity. The program was created by the Costa Rica Tourism Board in 1999.

Currently, there are 92 companies in the country awarded with CST, and those who seek to achieve the tourist sustainability seal must comply with 108 parameters. The degree of requirements compliance is measured in levels from 1 to 5.

The province of Guanacaste is becoming a tourist oasis for those travelers who seek luxury during their vacations.

The area that just few years ago was the cradle of activities such as agriculture and cattle farming is currently earning added value, for it has become the location of several international hotel chains that promote luxury tourism.

The construction beginning of hotels such as Hilton or JW Marriott is creating optimism in the industry, due to business opportunities and employment increase in the province.

The impact of these projects could be materialized starting from 2008, year in which the works should be concluded.

A group of 200 tour operators from China will visit Costa Rica in the next months, according to the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides.

The businessmen will visit Costa Rica to get informed about the tourism offer that the country provides and to be familiar with the national territory.

Benavides explained that it will be a great opportunity for the country to show its tourism potential before this new market.

The tourism high season will begin the last week of November and the authorities of this sector are projecting that, only in this month, half a million people will visit the country’s beaches, mountains, and reserves.

The areas of the North Pacific, namely the beaches of the province of Guanacaste, are the favourites. It is considered that there will be the highest presence of national and international tourism in this area, according to the Manager of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), Alberto López.

The special commission of the Municipality of Santa Cruz, province of Guanacaste, which studies the award of the Flamingo Marina in Potrero Bay, informed that it is currently contracting this structure.

The mayor of Santa Cruz, Jorge Chavarría, stated that the closing of the public bidding notice is programmed for January 14th, 2008.

Chavarría declared that the whole process has been undertaken under the framework of regulations, laws, and bylaws. Therefore, the project is expected to become a reality in a short period of time.

“The marina is an important source of development. We all hope that there will be no obstacles in its awarding.

It will strengthen employment and economic activity in the canton”, added the mayor.

The next November 24th and 25th, nationals and foreigners should not miss the XIth Saints’ and Drovers’ Parade in San José, a ceremony in which almost 300 drover families take part.

The purpose is to recover a Costa Rican countrymen tradition and promote national and international tourism, along with music, dance and cattle drovering.

The main goal of the San José Municipality, as organizer, is to support the Costa Rica Drovers Foundation and enhance this tradition, declared tangible and intangible cultural patrimony of humanity.

Please, take heed of the activity program:

Saturday, November 24th: east side of Estadio Nacional (National Stadium)

1:00 p.m.: Ox Yoking and Taming, Plowed Land Farming with Oxes, Ox cart Loaded with Wood and Transport of Wooden pieces.

From 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Cultural Festival

7:00 p.m.: Folkloric dancing.

Sunday, November 25th:

9:00 a.m.: Saints’ and Drovers’ Parade starts at the León Cortés Statue in Paseo Colón and goes through Central Avenue up to Plaza González Víquez. The parade is enriched with folkloric dance groups, daddy-longlegs and masquerade.

Don’t miss it! Support Costa Rican drovers!

The canton of Vasquez de Coronado pretends to become the new magnet for tourists in the Central Valley with rural tourism, ecology, and adventure.

The first step was recently given with
the opening of the first office of tourist information that will be located on one side of the park of the city of San Isidro.

This office will provide information to visitors about the canton, its tourism attractions, and public services.

Moreover, visitors will be given free access to the Internet network.

The office will be open from Monday through Friday from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m.

As for Saturdays and Sundays, the office is expected to be open with the same schedule. Tourism students will attend it.

This is a project of the Tourism Chamber of Vázquez de Coronado along with the Municipality. Moreover, the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) will support it.

The construction of the premises was financed with donations of 21 companies.

The French airline Air Caraïbes will inaugurate in December two flights from Paris to Costa Rica, with a stop over in the Guadalupe Island and Panama, informed the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Benavides.

The flights will take place Tuesdays and Thursdays and will begin in the second week of December, specified Benavides.

The Minister added that a French tour operator already acquired half of the available seats in the first flights. The service will be given in a new Embraer plane with a capacity of 100 passengers.

Benavides said that the flight is attractive because it does not stop over in the United States, which will increase the visits of Europeans to the country.

On her part, Marie Claire Roux, Sales Manager of the airline company, explained that the headquarters of the company are in Guadalupe, from where they have been operating for four years at a transatlantic level, as a result of the merging of several companies.

The connection will be from Paris to Guadalupe using an Airbus, and from the island an Embraer will depart with a stop over in Panama been its final destination the Juan Santamaría International Airport, located in the province of Alajuela.

More than 20 Spanish companies from the industrial and food sector will seek business in Costa Rica starting next November 19th through November 25th, in the framework of two commercial missions.

The first 7 companies belong to the Spanish Association of Manufacturers and Exporters for construction, public works, and engineering machinery.

The second commercial mission includes 16 companies from different industrial and food sectors.

Mónica Araya of the Exporters Chamber considers that Costa Rica has now become more attractive for the missions, due to the reputation it established at an international level.

The president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, ended a six day trip through China. As part of his tour, he achieved a donation of $48 million from China. The money will be used to help the victims of the recent floods, to build a new National Stadium, and to finish the new road to San Carlos (Alajuela). Also, there are promises and negotiations to promote tourism and investments.
In relation to public finances, a possibility was unfolded that China, by using its immense reserves of foreign currency, will acquire Costa Rican bonds for more than $250 million in the next two years.
During its visit, Arias officially inaugurated in Peking the first embassy of Costa Rica in China.
Arias said he felt “deeply proud to be the first president of my country that has the privilege to share with China and, at the same time, with the entire Asian continent, a little piece of our beloved Costa Rica.”
According to the president, “this embassy will be a symbol between China and Costa Rica, sign of friendship that unite us and of the ideals in which we both find home. This house is small as Costa Rica, but it is also full of dreams and promises. This is a house of peace as Costa Rica, of freedom as Costa Rica, of tolerance as Costa Rica.”
In the same building, he also inaugurated the office of the Foreign Commerce Promoter (Procomer). This entity is in charge of stimulating, promoting, and offering commercial exchange between Chinese and Costa Rican companies.
Costa Rica is the first country in Central America to recognize that Taiwan is a Chinese province.

From Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th of December, the first Real Estate and Tourism Exposition for 2007 will be celebrated at the Santa Rosa Commercial Plaza, located in the city of Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste.

During the last few years, Guanacaste has turned into one of the regions in the country that has shown a strong growth in the tourism area and real estate development. This is due mainly to the beauty of the beaches in the province and to the biodiversity that they offer.

The beaches in Guanacaste stand out for their world renowned beauty and, as a result of this, they are visited by thousands of tourists, both locals and foreigners.

Guanacaste offers great attractions to its visitors, such as its beautiful coastline, an incredible view of different species of birds, amazing horse back riding, great surfing, fabulous diving and snorkeling and magnificent mountain and lake windsurfing.

Liberia is an interesting city where modern and colonial architecture mingle. Houses with sun dried bricks and tiles can be found, built approximately 200 years ago, in addition to a Pre-Colombian art gallery.

Close to the city of Liberia, which is the main point of access to the different attractions in the region, is the Daniel Oduber International Airport, which represents a direct doorway into the country for visitors.

TACA Airlines (Air Transport for the American Continent) has high expectations on the local market, offering more destinations within the country.

Every day more tourists, including Costa Ricans, are opting for transportation by air when it comes to moving around Costa Rica.

For next year, the company Sansa (National Air Services Ltd.) expects to offer seats to more than 200,000 passengers, representing 15% more than this year. In order to prepare for this growth Sansa is planning some changes, among them acquiring 4 more aircraft.

Sansa is a local airline of TACA; it has nine aircraft and operates approximately 67 flights on a daily basis. It offers direct flights to 17 destinations in the local territory and the most recent flight transports tourists from San José to La Fortuna of San Carlos, on the northern part of the country, in less than 15 minutes.

In addition to the above, on July 24 of the present year Sansa obtained its certification to operate international flights.

The arrival of tourists to Costa Rica by air grew 11.30% in the first nine months of the year, in comparison with the same period of 2006.

Up to September of this year, 1,216,345 visitors came into the country, which was an increase of 123,533 tourists more than last year for the same period.

These estimates were supplied by the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur), based on reports of arrivals at the Juan Santamaría International Airport, located in the province of Alajuela, and at the terminal of the Daniel Oduber International Airport, located in the city of Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste.

According to the report, the months of March, January, and July were the months with the highest activity.

The estimates showed that in March 163,433 tourists entered the country, in January 149,878 visitors arrived and in the month of July 145,455 tourists visited Costa Rica.

These estimates only include those tourists who came into the country by air, which represents 78% of tourists that enter the country by that means.

Canatur estimated the total amount of visitors to the country at 1.5 million for the first nine months of the year including the arrival of tourists who entered by sea.

The residents of Limon, through their art, music, dance and warmth which make visitors feel at home, have joint hands to turn the Afro-Costa Rican Cultural Park into an area of fun, laughter, imagination, and creativity.

This new cultural area was inaugurated recently at the Parque Vargas (Vargas Park) located in the province of Limon with the rhythm of calypso and with the presence of the dance troupe Los Basileros.

The idea surfaced as an initiative of scholars from the University of Costa Rica campus located in Limon, Sonia Vargas, and Carlos Saavedra, sponsored by competitive funds for the improvement and strengthening of the Society-University Relationship.

According to the professor, Carlos Saavedra, this project was created to satisfy the needs of the cultural sector in Limon for an area where artisans, dancers, musicians, and painters can present their artistic work to both locals and foreigners.

Airlines are getting ready for the high season by offering travelers more flights for the end of year.

There are an increasing number of airlines interested in flying through Costa Rican skies.

Costa Rica has always been a very attractive destination for tourists. People around the world have a desire to see and experience what Costa Rica has to offer; this awakens an enormous interest for airlines to fly to the country.

Delta Airlines announced a direct flight from the city of Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste, to New York, United States, starting on February 16th, 2008.

The flight will be operated from the Daniel Oduber International Airport. The new route also includes a flight from San José to New York.

“Delta is a worldwide consolidated airline, offering travelers more than 310 destinations in 54 countries. In our country, from the Juan Santamaría International Airport, the airline offers two non stop direct flights to Atlanta during the week and three on weekends,” stated Damaris Fallas, local Sales Manager.

This year, the cruise ship season will be much more active, as a result of the 138 cruise ships that will be arriving at the ports, with a plus of 11 ships compared to last year’s season. This represents a growth of 8.6%.

As for the province of Puntarenas, Miguel Rena, President of the Chamber of Tourism in Puntarenas, stated that they are expecting to receive 180,000 tourists, which will generate approximately 2,300 million colons.

The President of the Chamber of Tourism of Limon, Noel Ferguson, stated that in the case of Limon, at least 200,000 people are expected, including tourists and crewmembers.

The new goal of the Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT) is to attract more European tourists in order to diversify the market and create more jobs.

According to the Costa Rica Tourist Board, while North American tourists show a preference for the beaches on the Pacific Coast, Europeans show more of an interest for adventurous and exciting sports.

The consortium Grupo Caribeño Internacional S.A. informed that it will invest $40 million in the construction of a marina with 398 wharfs in Puerto Viejo of Talamanca, province of Limón.

The new structure will be built in the place known as Playa Negra. It will include two breakwaters, a commercial area, administrative offices, warehouses and a place to repair and give maintenance to yachts.

The investment is $40 million. Moreover, a canal will be built in the area near the breakwater for handcrafts stands.

Grupo Caribeño Internacional S.A. includes Costa Rican and American businessmen.

The works will begin within the next eight months if all the formalities and permits will be ready in the established terms. The building stage will take two years. The company estimates that the Project will generate 2,000 new jobs in the area.

This includes the necessary staff to operate the wharf, as well as the commercial and service activity that it will develop.

The increase in the arrival of tourists to the country during this year has been very satisfactory, mainly due to the arrival of new air lines.

Preliminary information of the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) pointed out that, according to reports of the Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José and Daniel Oduber, in the city of Liberia, province of Guanacaste, the increase in the arrival of visitors has been 6% in relation to last year.

“It looks like there has been an important effort made by the airlines. This year, several have been admitted and others that were already flying increased their offer” commented the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides.

The National Air Service Company (Sansa) will compensate the environmental pollution that its air fleet will generate until 2011 while transporting national and foreign tourists to the 16 different vacation points that the national territory offers.

This is due to the fact that the representatives of the company signed an agreement with the National Fund for Forestry Financing (Fonafifo), in which they agree to finance the protection of hectares of forest land according to the amount of fuel that is used by the airplanes.

The action is part of the Environmental Service Payment Program, promoted by the public institution that seeks the reduction of greenhouse effect gas emissions produced in the country.

With this agreement, the national airline will compensate from the beginning more than 5,740 tons of carbon dioxide that were emitted by the nine Cessna Grand Caravan airplanes that they own, with its 2006 operation. It will assign $15 thousand to finance the protection of approximately 48 hectares of land in the Peninsula of Osa.

As for the aviation sector, Nature Air was the first company to establish an environmental commitment. This Company signed an agreement in 2003 and it protects more than 120 hectares of forest.

The agreement signed between the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) and the National Forestry Financing Fund (Fonafifo) seeks that national and foreign tourists contribute in the compensation of gas emissions that are produced by airplanes and cars.

The affiliation to the initiative is voluntary for the tourism operators, but the ones that undertake it will achieve that their clients contribute with a small tax during their arrival or departure from the country.

Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Minister of Tourism, indicated that the Costa Ricans can be an example for the world in the conservation matter, specifically in carbon monoxide reduction. This is why in next November fair in London, England, public and private national companies will undertake it “in a clean way” compensating the National Forestry Financing Fund (Fonafifo) for the carbon dioxide emission caused during that trip.

About 36 companies of the north of the country joined the I Ecotourism Fair, with the purpose of attracting more visitors during the months of October and November.


The businessmen offered discounts from 10% up to 30% in lodging, visiting natural attractions and restaurants, among others.

The tourism industry represents one of the economic development activities of the region, whose main feature has been the dynamism in transforming communities that used to carry out agriculture activities into tourism service centers.

The north area offers several kinds of forests, rivers, lakes, volcanoes, wetlands, thermal waters, a unique phenomenon like the Celeste River, an ideal environment for rural tourism and a border for bi-national tourism, among others.

The air traffic of the International Juan Santamaría Airport had an increase by 30% in August, in relation to the same month of last year, according to the statistics of the company Alterra.

In August of this year, the number of incoming and outgoing flights increased to 282,572, while in the same period of 2006, there were 216,037. This shows an increase of 66,535 additional flights.

The numbers show a significant increase compared to the trend of previous months. As a matter of fact, the inter-annual growth up to June in the traffic of flights was 18, 4%.

According to the report of the Head Office of Civil Aviation, Taca is the company that shows a greater increase in the number of flights in August of 2007, with 24,2%, followed by Iberia with 24% and Delta with 17,2%.

The visits of tourists to our country registered up to August increased by 9,18% (93,912 more people), in relation to the same period of 2006.

So far in 2007, 1,3 million visitors have entered the country, generating $1,230 million in income, informed Gonzalo Vargas, President of the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur).

“We are talking of a sector that is in constant growth”, said Vargas, who pointed out that in August the visits increased by 28% in relation to the same month in 2006.

Last year, 1,7 million travellers arrived to the country leaving $1.600 million of income.

The company Playa Hotels & Resorts S.L., created in 2006 by the Spanish consortium of hotel chains Grupo Barceló, is negotiating the development of a new tourism Project in Costa Rica as part of their expansion plans.

Playa Hotels & Resorts S.L. is a Spanish company with private capital that dedicates itself to use its resources for the acquisition and development of “all inclusive” vacation centers in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Moreover, the company has $1.000 million in available capital to invest around the world and has obtained more than $580 million in financing commitments with international institutional investors.

“The Group is actively interested in developing projects in Costa Rica, this is the reason why we are in the process of negotiation. Among different places, we are considering the great area of Guanacaste”, confirmed Fernando Mulet, Vice-president of Development and Management of the Barceló Corporation.

Even though he considered that it is very early to talk about projects, Mulet pointed out the “great interest” that the company has in the national territory.

During the next trip of the President of the Republic, Oscar Arias, to the Republic of China, Costa Rica will be declared as a Recommended Destination.

The purposes of the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) are focused on attracting European and Asian tourists and, above all, Chinese, given that in 2006, about 1,500 Chinese visited the country.

Recommended Destination is a program of the Chinese Government to designate some nations with the purpose of facilitating the trips of tourist groups to these destinations. Only the countries that are recommended destination can promote pleasure tourism in China.

Four new airlines announced their intention to include, among their connections, the Juan Santamaría International Airport, located in the province of Alajuela.

The first company to arrive will be Frontier Airlines, which announced its entry into the country in November. This airline, registered in the United States, will be flying from Denver, Colorado.

Another company which officially communicated its willing to fly to Costa Rica is a French airline, Air Caraibes, which announced that its first flight would be on December 11th, 2007.

Air Caraibes will be flying out of the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, (the French Antilles), which are the connecting centers to Paris and the rest of Europe.

The Canadian airline, Air Sunwing, is the third company requesting their flight operations certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority. This North American airline is willing to offer charters, cargo and mail services.

In Sunwing’s case, the exact date for the start-up of operations to the country has not been defined yet, but it has been confirmed that the airline will be using Boeing 737-800 airplanes to fly to Costa Rica.

Another company that has expressed interest in flying here is the Asian airline, Air China, belonging to mainland China’s government. Its interest in flying to Costa Rica came up in virtue of the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between both countries.

The arrival of these competitors will offer Costa Rican travelers new alternatives to fly to Europe, North America and possibly even to China.

Additionally, Delta Air Lines will establish two new routes from New York to the province of San José and to the city of Liberia, Guanacaste, beginning in February next year.

Approximately 110 years ago, our ancestors made history by completing the construction of one of Costa Rica’s most cherished symbols, the National Theater.

Costa Rica stood out across the whole continent by raising one of the most beautiful cultural masterpieces ever seen in that period, thanks to the hard work of hundreds of countrymen who transferred the theater’s jewels using a wagon.

For this reason, within its extensive cultural program, several high caliber shows such as Ballet, the Infant’s Birthday, the Festival of Choreographers and The Nutcracker will be presented in December.

As such, in the coming weeks, a first edition stamp commemorating the 110th anniversary will be released and national lottery tickets will be printed up with images of the National Theater.

The inauguration of the travelling and temporary “Celebration of the Senses” will take place on Friday, October 12th, in the National Museum of Costa Rica, as a reference to the Central American gastronomy.

This exhibition is organized by the Central American Network of Museums (Redcamus).

The Central American cuisine is a real celebration of senses, where colors, flavours, aromas, textures with thousands of years of tradition are mixed together. This cuisine merges what has been developed in the region and what has come from other parts and cultures of the world.

Each country of the isthmus has defined its special regional features in relation to the cuisine but, apart from differences, there are elements that have been shared for centuries that unite us over social, political and economic differences.

For more information, please call (506) 257-1433.

Delegates from 22 foreign companies will be able to learn more about products and services from 44 local businesses from the province of Guanacaste, during the third edition of the Guanacaste Market Place tourist convention. This activity will take place from the 7th to the 14th of October, at the Flamingo Beach Resort in Santa Cruz.

The Association of Costa Rican Professionals in Tourism, (ACOPROT), who will be organizing the event, indicated that most of the visitors will be coming from the United States. Businessmen from Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Mexico will also be participating in the event.

Patricia Duar, executive director of ACOPROT, stated that nine out of the twenty-two foreign companies will be coming here for the first time.

“This will give the local tourism businessmen the possibility of accessing new markets,” commented Duar.

More than 30 foreign companies participated in the convention of 2006. According to information from ACOPROT, 98% of tourists who have visited Guanacaste would recommend it as a tourist destination.

The wetland of Caño Negro, in Los Chiles, located in the northern region of the country, gave birth to another world-renowned biosphere reserve of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Representatives from thirty-four member states of the Organization unanimously approved the proposal for Costa Rica.

A biosphere reserve is an area of great natural wealth where the conservation of natural resources is promoted, but also the economical and rational use of those ecosystems on behalf of the neighboring communities.

The new biosphere reserve is called Agua y Paz (Water and Peace) with an area of 916,000 hectares including wetlands, seaworthy rivers, tropical humid forests, and large water springs.

There are important pockets of mammals in the region such as the jaguars and manatees.

Agua y Paz is located in the basin of the San Juan River and it extends from the Central Volcanic Cordillera Reserve of Costa Rica up to the Indio Maíz Reserve located in Nicaragua.

The reserve integrates the Tenorio Volcano National Park, the Miravalles Protected Area, the Camelias Lagoon Wildlife National Refuge, the Arenal National Park and the Arenal-Monteverde Protected Area.

Also, the prized area includes the Caño Negro Wildlife National Refuge, the Maquenque mixed Wildlife National Refuge and Juan Castro Blanco National Park.

Surrounding the new reserve are the Frontier Corridor Wildlife National Refuge, the Arenal Volcano Emergency Zone Forest Reserve, the Arenal Monteverde Protected Area, and the Tenorio Protected Zone.

Agua y Paz is the third reserve of its kind in the country. Previously, La Amistad International Park in Talamanca and the Central Volcanic Cordillera reserve had been declared as reserves of the Biosphere.

In the case of Agua y Paz, UNESCO acknowledges that the area contributes to the conservation of the scenery and species, guaranteeing the genetic variability of the animal population and plant species.

Diverse tourism organizations and Costa Rican companies celebrated the World Tourism Day.

In virtue of the important celebration, the Costa Rican Association of Professionals in Tourism (ACOPROT) conducted a Latin American Forum focused on successful cases of enterprising women in the tourism industry.

This year, the Tourism World Organization took on the slogan “Tourism Opens Doors for Women,” creating awareness that women occupy all types of jobs, from artisans or tour guides, to being delegated consultants and presidents of administration boards, in countries and companies of all sizes throughout the entire world.

The season for cruise ships in the Caribbean officially started with the arrival of the cruise ship from Carnival Liberty cruise lines, with the first three thousand tourists aboard who will be visiting the coast of Limón.

For this year, 138 cruise ships are expected to enter the port of Limón, in other words, 11 cruise ships more compared to the previous year. This represents a growth of 8.6%.

The president of the Chamber of Tourism in Limón, Noel Ferguson, said that for this season at least 200,000 people are expected, including tourists and crewmembers.

The arrival of the cruise ships represents an important source of income for the locals.

The mayor of the province of Limón, Eduardo Barboza, stated that for this year, security was reinforced with the presence of either 50 or 100 additional policemen, depending on the number of arrivals.

According to estimates from the Costa Rica Tourist Board, the country will receive 232 cruise ships for the entire season, which also includes arrivals to the port of Puntarenas.

The above represents an increase of 7.4% regarding the previous year meaning 216 additional entries. It is important to state that the cruise ship season runs from October 2007 to April 2008.

The Valencia Fair project in Costa Rica is a mega plan: At least 100,000 square meters of construction, enough space to organize up to six fairs simultaneously, convention centers, two hotels, and a shopping center.
The initial investment is estimated at 300 million Euros (approximately $410 million dollars or 213,200 million colons) destined for the building and equipment for a total area that will be equivalent to 10 football fields.

The construction is scheduled to begin next year and the project is expected to start operating by the end of the year 2009, according to Roberto Esquivel, representative of Alta Group Developments, local partners of Valencia Fair.

The project will be located less than 20 minutes away from the Juan Santamaría International Airport, in the province of Alajuela and it will have a construction area between 100,000 and 150,000 square meters.

The investment was recently made official in a meeting with the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias.

In the second week of December, the EXPO Real State and Tourism 2007 will be carried out in the province of Guanacaste.

The event will take place in the Centro Comercial Plaza Santa Rosa, in the city of Liberia. Its purpose is to stimulate the tourism activity and the real state development.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, announced that in the next four months, four grand hotels will open in the province of Guanacaste. Three of them already informed about the starting of the construction.

According to Benavides, the fourth hotel will be ready in the next few months. It represents a millionaire investment of the hotel chain JW Marriott.

The Minister explained that the increase of this kind of hotels generates a greater income of high purchasing power tourists in the area, a fact that will improve the development in this region.

Costa Rica and China will sign an agreement to stimulate tourism, especially high purchasing power and nature oriented.

The ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, between the Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT) and the respective Chinese authority of tourism, will be signed in October, during the visit of the President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias Sánchez to China.
A declaratory of Costa Rica as a recommended destination will precede the document, given that this is a requirement for Chinese citizens to visit Costa Rica.

Tamarindo, in the province of Guanacaste, has recently opened its doors to a unique and luxurious mall called Garden Plaza.

The building has 29 commercial stores and a gastronomic center combining four types of culture: Argentinean, Peruvian, Italian and Japanese. It offers parking lot with a capacity for 108 vehicles.

As part of its design, it has water components, 3 meter high Buddha and sculptures of Polynesian women, among others.

Moreover, 6 stars luxurious hotel will be built near the mall, with 72 independent villas. It will be ready between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.

The Lapa Ríos Hotel, located in the southern Pacific-Osa sector of the country, and the Four Seasons Hotel, located in the province of Guanacaste, were selected by the international tourist magazine, Travel and Leisure, among the top 25 Hotels from Mexican, Central American and South American region.

The prestigious distinction appears in the August edition of Travel and Leisure, as a result of the World’s Best Awards that the magazine has been handing out for the last 12 years.

The awards are granted based on a survey carried out among readers, who rank cities, hotels, islands, cruises, tourist operators and airlines, just to mention a few.

More than 19,000 subscribers participated in this edition, who evaluated the characteristics and services in several categories, to which they gave a score from 1 (being the lowest) up to 5 (being the highest).
This year, the Four Seasons Resort, located in Papagayo, was ranked in the 8th place. Last year, this hotel also received award in the same category, in 5th place.

The Lapa Ríos Hotel achieved 11th place and it is the first time that it appears in the publication.

With the purpose of promoting tourism in the province of Alajuela and offering a new and different product to tourists, the Butterfly Farm located in the Guácima de Alajuela and the Botanical Garden of Orchids in La Garita, joined their efforts to offer a new combined tour: Butterflies and Orchids.

The journey begins early from any hotel in San José directly to the Butterfly Farm where the visitors walk among thousands of butterflies flapping their wings all around. The tour continues to the Botanical Garden of Orchids, located 10 minutes from the Butterfly Farm. This place offers the opportunity to walk through exotic gardens and observe the beauty of a great variety of orchids. Tourists can also learn about the cultivation and natural history of these flowers. The tour ends with lunch in Cafe Vanilla located inside the gardens.

After lunch, the buses leave towards the different hotels in San José. The tour is for all ages. For more information please call (506) 438-0400.

The Hampton Inn & Suites, located in front of the Juan Santamaría International Airport in the province of Alajuela, inside the Airport Boulevard complex, which currently has 100 rooms, is waiting to receive the necessary permits enabling it to initiate the construction of 80 new rooms.

This enlargement, which is estimated to be concluded by the end of July 2008, represents an investment of 5.5 million dollars and will generate approximately 20 new jobs.

“We are waiting for the permits in order to start constructing immediately,” stated Luis Montero, Director of Operations from Grupo Marta, who added that this Project is a top priority, because the Hotel needs to increase its capacity to be able to satisfy the demand of its clients.

Part of this plan also includes other upgrades to the Hotel, such as extending the cafeteria, renovating the gymnasium with better equipment, as well as beautifying the gardens with native trees from Costa Rica.

In 2007, the amount of visitors that will arrive by cruises to the country will increase by 7.4% compared to 2006.

The Executive Manager of the National Chamber of Tourism, Alberto López, explained that the biggest beneficiaries of this increase are the small companies of the provinces of Limón and Puntarenas.

Preliminary numbers show that the country will receive, between next October and April of 2008, more than 230 cruises, exceeding the 216 calculated in the previous stage.

Specifically, a total of 138 boats is estimated to reach the port of Limón in the Caribbean Area, while in Puntarenas, in the Pacific Coast, there will be 94, when last year there were 126 and 89 respectively.

The Franco-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce and Industry is inviting all interested people to the workshop called “Achieving Client Service Excellence in Hotels” which will be carried out on September 10th and 11th at the Hotel San José Palacio.

This workshop is addressed to personnel having a direct contact with the hotel guests and it is supported by the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), the Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT), the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels and the Costa Rican Association of Professionals in Tourism (ACOPROT).

The objectives of the workshop are to establish awareness in the hotel staff regarding the importance of offering their hotel guests the highest standards of service, not only face to face, but also over the phone. The employees that put themselves in the client’s shoes have a better understanding of their needs and expectations and they also learn how to handle the client’s complaints in an effective way.

The workshop will be lead by Chantal Menton, ex-administrator of the Hotel del Quai d’ Orsay and of the La Celle Saint-Cloud castle in France, ex-director of the OSTAPE Inn of Alain Ducasse and the Demeure Hotel Baltimore (VIVENDI). She graduated from the School of Hostelry Jean Drouant in Paris and the Cornell University in New York.

The cost of the workshop is $250 dollars. For further information visit the website at: www.camarafranco-cr.org , please feel free to call the following numbers: (506) 257-1138 and (506) 843-0497 or send an E-mail to: General Manager.

The arrival of tourists to Costa Rica increased by 6.4% during the first six months of this year compared to 2006, according to statistics provided by the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur).

The statistic is based on the number of visitors who arrived to the country through the main airports: The Juan Santamaría International Airport, located in the province of Alajuela and the Daniel Oduber International Airport, located in Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste, approximately 170 kilometers from San José in the northwestern part of the country, nearby the main beaches of the Pacific Coast.

From January to June a total of 832,604 foreigners visited the country, versus 782,346 tourists who entered the country in the same period for 2006, for a total growth of 50,258 tourists, of which 595,405 arrived at the Juan Santamaría International Airport, stated the President of Canatur, Gonzalo Vargas, during a press conference.

The President also added that the Juan Santamaría Airport increased by 3.14% while the Daniel Oduber Airport grew almost 16%. Even though statistics are not official yet, they help in providing an idea of the trends that this sector is experiencing.

“The statistics fill us with optimism. In fact, the closing date for the first semester of this year exceeds the expectations of the national plan which estimated a growth of approximately 5% for this year,” stated Vargas, as he pointed out the arrival of new airlines coming to the country as one of the reasons for the growth.

The country promotes itself in Europe as a destination for ecological adventure. For this reason, Costa Rica is part of an office that was established in Spain a few years ago, in which all Central American countries show their main attractions.
“We are a destination where nature can be enjoyed comfortably, that means that we are a country that has kept a balance between the comforts requested by tourists and the ecological and adventure tourism. Actually, this is our strength, this is what Europeans, North Americans and people from all over the world want to come and see in Costa Rica’’ stated the Minister of Tourism Carlos Ricardo Benavides.
According to authorities of local tourism, be present in the Old Continent guarantees that the travel agencies will take into account the region for their excursions.

Delta Air Lines announced that it will increase its flights from the United States to Costa Rica.

The routes that it will operate as of February 2008 are: New York - San José and New York –Liberia, province of Guanacaste.

Currently, the airline has 28 weekly flights to the country and, with this new route, it will have a total of 35.
Delta was the first company that began international flights to the province of Guanacaste.

The Costa Rica Tourist Board (ICT) is inviting the general public to visit the Spanish Modern Sculpture and Drawing Exhibition, ICO collections, a sample of contemporary art with the participation of 31 renowned artists presenting small formatted pieces of art.

The exhibition will be open to the public from July 13 to September 16 at the Museums of the Central Bank on Central Avenue, Street 5, underneath the Cultural Plaza.

There will be no entrance fees for locals and residents who show proper identification on Wednesdays and on the first Sundays of the month.

For further information regarding the diverse complementary activities please feel free to call (506) 243-4219.

For information regarding guided tours for high school and university groups, please call (506) 243-4208. There is complementary material available for family groups who are looking for a more dynamic and fun tour of the exhibition.

Taca Group recently launched a campaign to stimulate business and tourism trips among Central Americans.

This campaign called “Live, fly: Central America is yours” plans to increase the traffic of passengers by 40% in the following 12 months.

With “Live, fly: Central America is yours”, the rates will be reduced to travel to Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

According to the different destinations and schedules, the reduction goes from 13% to 63% for trips where the tickets are bought within a minimum of seven days prior to the date of the trip, and from 8% to 37% if the tickets are purchased within less than seven days before the date of departure.

According to the Executive Director of the Taca Group in Costa Rica, Fernando Naranjo, the region has a great potential from the tourism point of view. In fact, it represents more than 40 million people with an interesting growth potential, given that of 1,6 million tickets sold by the company in the region, 50% are to fly within Central America.

After the inauguration of the first direct flight Madrid - San José of the Spanish airline Air Comet, Costa Rica could receive 45 thousand more Spanish tourists in a year.

“The company believes in the tourism potential towards Costa Rica. In fact, we have invested to promote the country in European and Spanish markets with an initial result of 240 passengers’’, stated Luis Brenes, Manager of Air Comet for Costa Rica.

The airline expects to purchase 12 new airplanes in 2008, which will allow them to increase the number of flights towards their destinations in Latin America within a daily frequency.

“This is just the first step. We have come with the idea of staying. Our goal is to promote tourism in Latin America, where we see great opportunities, especially in Costa Rica,” emphasized Gustavo Camandule, Manager of Air Comet for America.

Air Comet is a ten-year experience airline that flies to different cities in Latin America with direct flights from Madrid to places like Lima and Buenos Aires. A few weeks ago it began flying to Havana, Cuba.

Aside from flying to Latin American cities, Air Comet has routes to European capitals such as Rome, London, and Paris, which could also be profitable for Costa Ricans who want to travel to the Old Continent, stated Brenes.

Air Comet will fly Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The tickets price will be from five hundred dollars.

In the next five years, Costa Rica will receive an economic input from the main hotel chains of the world.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides stated that during his visits to different countries, he has achieved a contact with representatives of hotel chains such as Ritz-Carlton and Starwood, among others.

According to Benavides, the country has become one of the main adventure destinations and this is the reason why businessmen see in Costa Rica the great potential they need to obtain substantial profits.

According to the World Tourism Organization, the motivation provided by Central American governments to promote a major tourism growth in the area gave good results in the last years.

In the American context, Central America is the sub-region with the greatest growth. In 2006, it had almost 7 million arrivals, which contributed with 5 thousand million dollars.

Each one of the Central American countries has its own personality and very specific proposals for the different demand segments.

With the purpose of captivating people from remote areas of Europe and Asia, the Central American Tourism Fair known as Central America Travel Market (Catam) is being organized in Costa Rica.

The fair will take place in October and it is organized by the Central American Promotion Agency, established in Spain, responsible for executing national strategies in relation to fairs, promotion, advertisement, marketing, and public relations, among others.

The idea of a group of approximately 20 hotel owners from Turrialba, in the province of Cartago, is to promote their town as a rising destination, where visitors can enjoy the panoramic beauty of the region and take advantage of the attractive products and services offered by the locals.

Recently, businessmen from Turrialba carried out the first tourism gathering in the town as the first step to unanimously promote their offer, focused on ecotourism and adventure sports.

Moreover, one of the advantages of this region is its geographical location, which enables visitors to easily reach Siquirres, Limon, Sarapiquí, and the Northern region.

The tourist package includes trips to the Turrialba Volcano and to the Guayabo National Monument, bird observatories, hiking, horseback riding, canopy, rafting, as well as visits to the Cabecar indigenous reserve, tours to the sugar mills and coffee plantations, just to mention a few.

Continental Airlines, the fifth largest airline in the world ranking, and China Southern Airlines, the largest airline of the People’s Republic of China, announced their strategic alliance including their frequent traveler program, mutual access for frequent travelers to the VIP lounges and shared codes on an extensive network of routes, in order to promote and enable trips between the United States and China.

“It is beneficial for us to strengthen our service to China and, at the same time, it is an honor to have a strategic partner such as China Southern Airlines. Doubtlessly, our passengers will appreciate the benefits of this agreement,” stated Larry Kellner, President of the Board of Directors and General Director of Continental Airlines. “China Southern Airlines is the best partner for us in China, and we also look forward to welcoming the Chinese airline to the Sky Team global alliance in the near future.”

On the other hand, Liu Shao Young, President of the Board of Directors of China Southern Airlines, said that the cooperation with Continental Airlines would significantly increase the participation of the airline in the transpacific and domestic markets within the United States.

Five new airlines entered the country in the last three months and those already established in the country increased the frequency of their routes to Costa Rica.

The new airlines are Spirit, Frontier, First Choice, Iberia, and Air Comet.

Moreover, by the end of this year, an increase of six hundred thousand airline seats is expected on the different flights that come to the country.

In the meantime, the airlines that are already operating in the country increased the frequency of their incoming flights and, in some cases, the rates were reduced up to two hundred dollars.

Thanks to the increase of tourists who consider Central America as a whole destination and not as individual countries, tourism in Central America had an 8% increase in the last year.

The President of the Costa Rican National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), Gonzalo Vargas, said that the region will benefit from tourists choosing to visit several countries in Central America when they travel.

Costa Rica is one of the highest ranked destinations according to the Istmo Magazine. However, Guatemala and Nicaragua are carrying out significant efforts to promote their countries abroad.

The North American company ‘All American Homes RPC’ will build a hotel specialized in health tourism, with an investment estimated at $34.5 million dollars.

The Ailanto Wellness Resort and Spa Hotel will be located in the rural community of La Fortuna, Bagaces, on the skirts of the Miravalles Volcano, in the province of Guanacaste. It is expected to open its doors to the public by the end of 2008.

Hugo Ribadeneira, developer of the project, announced that the hotel will offer to its guests a wide range of medical and holistic services, such as plastic surgery, nutrition, homeopathy, dentistry, and massages.

In addition to its 400 rooms, the hotel will have especially designed residences with several rooms and condominiums for sale. The latest will be valued at prices ranging from $330,000 dollars to $1,000,000 dollars.

The Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, explained that health tourism is a constantly growing sector in the country.

The owners of Ailanto estimate that the lowest price per night in a suite will be $285 dollars. However, during high season, prices could go up to $500 dollars per night.

The developer estimates that the hotel will have a demand for at least 250 employees, who will be trained in the next months.

Given the reputation that Costa Rica has gained as a potential destination in the tourism sector, the Chinese Ambassador in the country, Wang Xiaoyuan, stated that Costa Rica could become a tourist destination for more than 20 million Chinese citizens going on vacation every year.

“What we are planning is to promote tourism from both sides and in both directions. China already has about 5 countries as its main tourist destinations for its citizens. In that sense I strongly believe that it is convenient to declare Costa Rica as another possible tourist destination,” stated the ambassador.

Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba are the countries in Latin America that receive the majority of Chinese tourists.

The world renowned hotel chain Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group signed a contract to purchase a land of more than 300 hectares in Manzanillo Beach, in the province of Guanacaste, where a luxurious hotel consisting of 130 rooms is expected to be inaugurated within two years.

The hotel development will include a golf course and a private residential complex named Rancho Manzanillo (Manzanillo Ranch), for a total of 220 hectares.

The complex will be built on a cliff 60 meters over sea level, with views of the Gulf of Papagayo and sceneries of dry tropic protected areas. The hotel will have three suites built separately from the main hotel building, a restaurant, a conference room and three bars. It is expected to be finished by 2009.

“The goal is to create the most luxurious secluded hotel in Costa Rica which will blend in perfectly with its natural environment,” stated Edouard Ettedgui, President of Mandarin Oriental.

The hotel would be the second of the chain in the region, since one is being developed on the Riviera Maya (Mayan Riviera).

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is a hotel chain founded in 1963 and currently operating 20 hotels around the world. Among its services, it offers to its guests luxurious spas for treatments based on oriental techniques available at any one of their locations around the world.

The hotel chain is on the rise, considering that it has 16 complexes under development in destinations such as China, Morocco, Pekin, Taiwan, United States, France, and the Cayman Islands.

Continental Airlines announced its new direct flight to Houston-Texas on Saturdays, making this the airline that offers the higher number of direct flights from Costa Rica to the United States with 48 flights per week.

This airline started its operations in Costa Rica 17 years ago and its representatives assure that they have plans to keep on growing in the country.

Playa Blanca, Playa Negra, and Puerto Vargas in Limón are proud to have been awarded with the Ecological Blue Flag.

This is the tenth time that these beaches in the province of Limón receive recognition for their environmental efforts.

This outstanding result has been achieved thanks to the efforts of primary and high school students who clean beaches and paths.