Tourism Chiefs Fear Airport Can't Cope
By Ralph Nicholson, The BeachTimes.com

Guanacaste tourist industry leaders, gearing up for the coming high season, fear Liberia’s international airport is inadequately equipped to handle the huge increase in incoming passengers.

The Beach Times

They say more parking for both commercial and private jets, more staff and better facilities are urgently needed to cope with the increase.

The fears of hoteliers, tourist associations and civil aviation officials come as newly-released statistics show passengers traffic through the airport has more than doubled in the past year, out-stripping even the best industry projections.

Further, all three US carriers which run direct, scheduled flights from the US to Guanacaste, say they will increase the number of flights each week over the next three months. By January commercial airlines and charter companies will run 34 flights a week.

In fact Aviation officials say more than 179,000 passengers will arrive and depart Daniel Oduber Airport this year —- 97 per cent more than last year. And some in the industry say those figures are conservative.

“It is not our fault that tourism is growing so fast,” said Hubert Gysemans, President of the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism, this week. “We underestimated how fast the sector would grow this year.”

Mr Gysemans’ comments came after a meeting between his chamber, hoteliers, the airlines, and airport and civil aviation officials.

“We estimate tourism earns more than $1.75 million a week,” said a clearly frustrated, Gysemans. “We are one of the few industries bringing money to the community, but we can’t get any attention.”

Last week’s meeting heard while tourism to Guanacaste has sky-rocketed, the number of workers at Daniel Oduber Airport remains unchanged since 1995. There are 269 full-time staff, but significantly, 60 per cent are employed by the private sector.

Ana Saborío, Chief Executive Officer Desarrollos Hoteleros Guanacaste, S.A., the parent company of the 930-hectare Paradisus Playa Conchal project, said the key issue was clearly personnel, which included immigration, customs and security.

“The problem is that everything is related to the government, and there is simply no attention paid to the tourism sector,” said Ms Saborío, who attended the meeting in Liberia. “Our sector is growing at a fantastic rate, but the infrastructure is just not there, or doesn’t work.”

Ms Saborío was scheduled to meet with President Abel Pacheco this week to push their cause. She will point out tourism nation-wide, worth about $1.2 billion annually, accounts for seven per cent of the Gross National Product, and 20 per cent of export earnings. It now earns more money than bananas, pineapples and coffee put together.

Ms Saborío said there was a great willingness by the individuals involved, but the process to do anything involving a government contract took too long —- a sentiment echoed by the airport’s governing authority, the Consejo Técnico de Aviación Civil.

“We need another 30 personnel,” says the director of the Technical Board of Civil Aviation, Roberto Kopper.

“We need more customs, immigration and security officers —— ten of each —- which will allow us to keep the airport operational from 6.00am to 10.00pm, or about four hours longer than at present,” he said. © Ralph Nicholson

SUMMER JOB, ANYONE? The long grass at Liberia’s Daniel Oduber International Airport is a problem: more than 60 hectares of it, is supposed to be cut three times a year.


Kopper wants to be able to handle the current increases in air traffic, as well as divert San José-bound planes to Liberia during inclement weather.

“Money is not actually the problem,” he says. “The positions need approval and the public policy and strategy does not allow for increasing staff levels.”

The board has been getting around that by moving staff between departments, however that’s merely spread the shortfalls and meant untrained staff employed in critical jobs, like security.

Parking is another key issue. In December the Board spent about $700,000 building a second apron of about 16,000 square meters, which allowed for up to four, small commercial passenger jets to park.

“We have planned a third apron for the past 12 months, but there have been delays of four or five months,” says Mr Kopper. “That is now scheduled to open in March of 2005, giving us parking for two, possibly three, extra planes.”

That’s of little comfort to the airlines, which called last week’s meeting.

“The traffic has grown to double it’s size in a short period of time and even with the new terminal this has put considerable pressure on the airport facilities,” said Silvia Arias, Country Director for American Airlines.

“If Daniel Oduber lacks the proper facilities then there will be congestion and delays,” said Ms Arias, who took over has head of American six months ago. “We are asking the new minister of transport to try to free up some budget to deal with the shortfalls in staff and facilities.”

Ricardo Martinez, Sales Account Executive for Delta Airlines, agrees.

“Basically, the lack of airport personnel is the main problem,” said Mr Martinez. “This causes passenger delays and some inconvenience.

“If we consider that two new carriers will be flying to Guanacaste in the coming months, plus the incremental frequencies of those already operating there, the parking won’t be enough,” he said.

The news is likely to be worse for private plane owners, who by Christmas are likely to need parking for up to 20 planes.

“We will have no choice but to insist the private planes land in Liberia, drop off their passengers, then move to San Jose to park,” says Roberto Kopper of the Board of Civil Aviation.

“If we don’t react quickly, if we don’t solve these problems we are going to ruin this once chance,” says DHG’s Ana Saborío. “People are not going to come back if their baggage is stolen, if they are forced to wait at long airport lines with no air conditioning, or if they do not feel safe.”