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New investments in Guanacaste give hope to coastal areas

11 July, 2011 11:54:00 Marisol Arias

Projects like the completion of the new air terminal at Daniel Oduber Airport allow an increase in tourist traffic.

After two years of a difficult economic crisis, the arrival of new investment in Guanacaste renewed the aspiration of developers and entrepreneurs for a reawakening of the economic dynamism of the coastal regions.  After a buoyant period for the real estate sector with prices sometimes unreachable for the domestic buyer and the construction of quite ambitious projects, the bubble burst and brought a tough time, at the time appointed by former President Arias as "of lean cows".  2010 showed its worst face to consumer confidence with its limited access to bank credit, closing and binding of projects by banks, unemployment, the paralysis of announced investments that remained in suspense and a considerable fall in tourist visitation.  It is now that ads like the one recently made by the Spanish franchise RIU on the start of the construction of a second hotel in Playa Matapalo in Carrillo, let us foresee the chance for Guanacaste to recover and return to a path of growth.  Hotel RIU Palace, a giant on the coast  With a estimated investment of about $85 million, Hotel RIU Palace will have 538 rooms and is going to be located alongside Riu Guanacaste, the first hotel built by the chain years ago, which has 701 rooms. The opening is planned for late 2012 or early 2013.  Like RIU Guanacaste, Riu Palace will be categorized as a five-star hotel, according to international standards, but unlike RIU Guanacaste, the brand “Palace” is the most luxurious of the four hotels this chain manage.  The hotel addresses its attention majorly to the honeymoon, romantic wedding and luxury travel tourism, the same way as to those groups with higher income that would like to have a luxury experience.  The architectural design is very special because, as its name implies, it evokes a palace. The Spanish franchise has hotels in other Latin American countries such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and in countries such as Spain, Portugal Aruba, Morocco and Tunisia.  Once the hotel starts operating, it will employ about 450 people.  But the Hotel RIU Palace is not the only one Guanacaste is waiting for in a short term. The Daniel Oduber Airport in Liberia is one of these great investments that province is betting for in order to take off.  Passenger terminal at Daniel Oduber: the door to Guanacaste  The terminal began to take shape months ago as a response to the province’s urgent need for establishing itself as a tourist destination. This is a two-storey project of more than 23,000 square feet, 14 double desks, 4 bridges and 3 boarding remote stands.   Tamarindo News contacted the Civil Aviation Technical Council and they say that it is expected to be ready in November this year, before starting the high season.  The terminal will have parking for 500 vehicles, 12 spaces for shops, restaurants and other venues. It will have capacity for 1500 passengers at peak hours, and the double of capacity in waiting rooms, corridors, migration sections and other areas.  Consorcio Coriport, Inc. is the concessionaire of the work supervised by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the National Tender Board (CNC, for its acronym in Spanish). The terminal would cost about $41 million, between building construction and equipment. Additionally, they will require an additional investment of about $2 million that the Government will cover to build four boarding bridges.  The concessionaire will manage the new terminal for two decades and the State will remain as the responsible for the aircraft navigation through DGCA.

The airstrip will also undergo a facelift and will have more capacity, which means that this airport will allow the arrival of larger aircrafts.  There are great expectations on the opening of the new terminal on the part of entrepreneurs and tourism chambers of Guanacaste and the region, who relate the completion of this important work with the economic recovery and potential growth.

The visitation of tourists entering the country through Liberia has risen since the opening of the airport some years ago.  The Costa Rican Board of Tourism (ICT) reported that so far, the arrivals to the country at the Liberia airport grew by 18.1% in 2011. Furthermore, the airport has also received more commercial flights than other years. Departure destinations also diversified with airlines like Avianca, Taca, Jazz Air Nomads USA 3000, Czech Airlines and Transavia Enerjet.  Although there is a greater choice of airlines from around the world that include Costa Rica in their itineraries, Americans are still the main visitors.  Maria Amalia Revelo said that the ICT has set the goal to conquer new markets. "We are interested in attracting more tourists that may travel with their families, mainly from the United States and Canada, as families represent 40% of visitation," she said.

ICT will focus on three regions to attract airlines: North America (U.S. and Canada), Europe (Spain, Germany, France, Britain, Holland, Italy and Switzerland) and Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile). "We have an eye on South America, a region of the planet with a very strong economy."  China, the second largest power in the world has also been included in the country's promotion plans. The businesses possibilities that the new terminal will enable will let the investors to enjoy a respite.  Another project that is also coming with investments of over $125 million is the Hotel Dreams Tides Resort & Spa, which is going to be built in La Cruz.

Sol Melia will open the Papagayo Bay & Hotel in Papagayo and Pure Hotel will be another one in Sardinal. The three mega projects will account for about $300 million as to its construction and equipment.  Dreams Las Mareas will be built in within a 1,500 hectares site and will be a five-star hotel with 400 rooms, spa, meeting rooms, six restaurants, and pools. Its opening will in 2013 or 2014.  Papagayo Paradisus Bay will begin operating in July 2013. The Spanish franchise Sol Melia, who ran the Paradisus Playa Conchal until last April is going to be in charge. The hotel is a five-star and will be located on an estate of 21 hectares, will have 381 rooms, five restaurants, five bars and a spa.  According to the Coalition for Development Initiatives (INCD, for its acronym in Spanish), the investment will be close to $170 million.  Sardinal, Puntarenas will be home for a Pure Hotel of Central America, a five-star lodging facility located on a farm of 145 hectares, which will offer rooms, condos and villas.  Hotel Pure will house a clubhouse, several pools, restaurants and 18-hole golf court, among other facilities.  The hotels are conducting environmental impact studies and requesting all the building permits.  Allan Flores, Minister of Tourism expressed his gratification at the arrival of these investments which are closely linked with an increase in tourist arrivals to the country.  Despite the good news, there are sectors and analysts that consider this as is not a recovery for Guanacaste, yet.   Construction is far from recovering According to the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC), Guanacaste is the province that showed the biggest decrease in the first quarter of 2011.  CCC President, Ricardo Castro, explained that "the increase in recent months of the number of jobs in the sector and the results of the Monthly Economic Activity Index (IMAE, for its acronym in Spanish) are not enough for being optimistic. We can say a recovery has begun, fueled by greater openness and improved credit conditions at banks, but we believe that this process has not been consolidated." Castro said through a statement that "it will take a few months more to see if we have a sustained recovery or not, because we had a slight improvement several months ago, after bottoming out..." In addition, the CCC believes that Guanacaste has not recovered from the weakening of the housing market, which is still stalled due to the dependence on a foreign investment that does not pick up. The inventory of projects available, in accordance with studies of the CCC, has not been placed on the market; the "second home" project has not developed new stages or these are already closed.  Members of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Agents have pointed out that medical tourism and tourism in general are the businesses that can afford a solution to the crisis, provided that they do not handle non-speculative prices.  The investment in hospitals as CIMA and Clinica Biblica in Guanacaste in regards to the establishment of new hospitals has been announced as part of this recovery strategy.  According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the ICT, a medical tourist in the country can generate an increased income in foreign currency up to four times greater than another tourist that does not come attracted by the conditions and facilities in this segment.