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 progr