Number of Tourists Up, So Why Is
Costa Rica Seeing A Slow Green
Season?
Costa Rica Holiday, a leading UK
travel agency based in San José
recently announced that it has
seen a recent decrease in the
number of bookings and also the
vast amount of space available
this green season (May - Nov
2007).
Typically the previous couple of
years have been fabulous with
2005 being a great year for the
lower season months in Costa
Rica, said Costa Rica Holiday (CRH)
in a newswire press release.
CRH said that a hotel owner in
Arenal mentioned that he is just
not seeing the number of
families and couples coming to
Costa Rica this year as he has
seen in the previous years. When
asked why he just shrugged his
shoulders and exclaimed that he
had no idea.
It is hard to pin down why there
has been this decrease but maybe
Costa Rica has lost the
attraction as an
eco-destination?
However this can be proved wrong
by the number of hotels in Costa
Rica being built.
Maybe it is because the people
who repeatedly come to Costa
Rica have bought property here
and not longer use hotels?
But the number of tourists has
increased drastically this year
over last; estimates seem to
think there is a general
increase of about 10-15% per
year. So why is it that Costa
Rica is seeing a slower green
season than previous years?
Some of the factors to look at
are of course economical.
Over the past months the US
economy has not been the
strongest and there have been
more foreclosures on houses in
2007 than in 2006. In fact from
Jan 2007 to March 2007 there was
a 25% increase in the number of
foreclosures (Real Estate AOL).
In Europe there have been mainly
weather factors affecting
people's holiday habits, with
the UK having the wettest June
ever recorded. Currently there
are places in Britain under 5
feet of water.
One of the great advantages the
UK has at the moment is the
strength of the sterling pound
against the US Dollar. The
current rate is just over us$2
to the £1. Therefore
effectively the holiday prices
for Brits holidaying in Costa
Rica are half price.
However on a positive note this
has made the Costa Rican hotels
stand up and see that they
cannot be reactive to situations
and wait for tourism to be
generated and then come to them.
They have to get up off their
'derrieres' and become
proactive, and you can see this
happening in some hotels.
Many hotels offer "green season"
specials and there is no better
time to Costa Rica than during
the green season as there are
fewer tourists, more wildlife as
the afternoon rains bring
the flowers and fruit out and
more wildlife with it.
Typically days are great, you
will have sunny mornings until
about 2-3pm where it will rain
for like 30 to 60minutes and
then clear up; nonetheless it is
still warm ranging from 20-32 ºC
and sun tans will happen even
when it is cloudy.
This time of year is when also
the turtles are laying their
eggs on the Caribbean beaches of
Tortuguero, whales and dolphins
can been seen in the Osa and the
splendid Quetzal is in
Monteverde.
There are 1000 reasons to come
to Costa Rica. |
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