Costa Rica
                                
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Considering the beauty of its tropical
environments Costa Rica tourism is growing leaps
and bounds. According to statistics, a boost on
Costa Rica tourism is growing significantly. It
appears that most of  the increase of tourists has
occured in the past five years. The literal Spanish
translation of Costa Rica is ‘rich coast’ and it
adequately describes the beauty of this great
tourist destination.

Costa Rica Tourism is considered a 1.9 billion USD
a year industry. It stands out as the most visited
nation in the Central American region and last time
it was recorded, it receives an impressive 1.9
million visitors (2007). More than half of the tourists
come from the United States and a fifth of the total
number come from Europe.

Costa Rica now prides itself in having two major
international airports (SJO and LIR) and several
domestic airports. The first major airport is Juan
Santamaría Airport (SJO) and it is accessible to
major cities of the country which are Alajuela,
Heredia and the capital city of San José. The
second international airport is Daniel Oduber
Quirós International Airport (LIR) and it is located
in Liberia, near the Guacanaste province and
closest to the Pacific Northwest coast.

Part of the continuing positive
Costa Rica tourism
is the exponential increase with regard to the
incoming flights received by the Liberia airport.
This is why an expansion of the facility is currently
on the works to continually accommodate the
surge of visitors. The construction development in
the northern region of Costa Rica is one of the
chief reasons for this. Nowadays, luxury hotels,
enchanting villas and mesmerizing rentals are
constantly on the rise in this part of the country.

Costa Rica is the pioneer in strategic ecotourism.
Thus, there are many exciting destinations in the
country where nature can best be appreciated.
Tourists can visit any one of the country’s national
parks: Chirripo National Park, Manuel Antonio
National Park, Cahuita National Park, Corcovado
National Park and Tapanti National Park. Other
environmental tourist spots are the Monteverde
and Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserves and the
Pacuare River and Protected Zone.

Going on a holiday in Costa Rica is far from being
boring. Due to the fact that prostitution is legal in
the country, sex tourism has become one of the
country’s popular tourist attractions. The industry
is slowly gaining popularity, making it one of the
national destinations of ‘sex tourists’ and the
commerce already accounts for approximately
1/10 or 10% of the billion dollar
Costa Rica tourism
industry.

According to the first Travel and Tourism
Competitiveness Index published by the World
Economic Forum,
Costa Rica tourism
astonishingly ranks 41st place, making
themselves the first among other Latin American
countries. It is definitely a feat, since if the forum
only takes into consideration major factors such
as human, cultural and natural resources, Costa
Rica places 20th at a worldwide level.




                    
   Costa Rica Tourism