The Latest News about Costa Rica and its Real Estate Market
Tourism in Costa Rica Growing at Three Times the World Average
The average growth in tourism worldwide was 5 percent for the first six months of 2008. However, during this same period Costa Rica experienced a 15.6 percent growth in tourism. This information was provided by The World Organization of Tourism (WOT). This demonstrates that Costa Rica is more popular than ever.
Giant Asian Hotel Group to Invest in Costa Rica
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group plans to build a new hotel in Manzanillo, Guanacaste. The chain currently operates hotels in 23 countries.
National Geographic Considers Costa Rica a Paradise
Costa Rica's jungles, rain forests, white sand beaches and abundant wildlife are enough reason for the National Geographic television station to classify the country as a paradise.
Aggressive Promotion of Tourism in the U.S.
The Costa Rica Tourism Institute recently announced an aggressive plan to promote its natural wonders in several U.S. cities. Both New York and San Francisco will display ads for Costa Rica in their buses and restaurants. Several prestigious travel magazines will also carry ads.
Costa Rican Tourism Investment Summit
LandAmerica Commonwealth Title of Central America, a leading title insurance provider, was a sponsor of the Costa Rica Tourism Investment Summit 2007, which was held last week in San Jose. The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), KPMG, and the Costa Rica Tourism Board organized the two-day event.
The objective of the summit was to provide a forum where participants can analyze business opportunities in the tourism sector in Costa Rica and meet hospitality executives, developers, tourism officials and representatives from financial institutions. The agenda for the conference featured renowned local and international speakers who addressed attendees on important topics relevant to investment in tourism and investment.
"We are proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Costa Rican Tourism and Investment Summit and support the local joint efforts of getting the main public and private actors from the industry together to identify investment opportunities" said Karla Amador, General Manager of LandAmerica Commonwealth Title of Central America.
As indicated by CINDE, Costa Rica earns over $1.2 billion in foreign exchange reserves annually. Real estate developments have been seen rising from $500,000 to $3 billion in value, including golf courses and marinas, while hotel infrastructure investment for 2003 tallied over $130 billion.
LandAmerica Announces the Opening of LandAmerica Commonwealth Title of Central America
February 16, 2007 - RICHMOND, Va. / PRNewswire-FirstCall / -- LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG), a leading provider of real estate transaction services, announces the opening of LandAmerica Commonwealth Title of Central America, a venture of its Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company subsidiary.
Construction Booming in Central Valley, Pacific Coast.
Construction grew by 20 percent in 2007, with 1.2 million more square meters popping up country –wide, according to the Costa Rican Construction Chamber. Most constructions permits were taken out in the San Jose province (24 percent) last year, with housing construction accounting for 67 percent of growth.
Fresh Del Monte Produce buys Costa Rica producers
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., which makes fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, said Monday it bought two Costa Rica fruit companies and an affiliated sales and marketing business for a total of $403 million.
Lehman Bros. to Offer Mortgages to Expats
U.S. citizens will be the first clients in bank’s foray into C.R. Making history on the local real estate front, Lehman Brothers Bank has agreed to finance mortgages for foreigners hoping to call Costa Rica their new home.
Costa Rica is Number 1
Costa Rica qualified as the most secure country in Latin America for businessmen and multinational enterprises, according to the last survey for Latin Security carried out by the FTI Consulting Ibero America, for the Latin Business Chronicle seminar held in Miami, USA.
The index measures the levels of danger in each country using a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is a country completely secure and 5 is the least. Only three countries in Latin America were marked with a 2: Costa Rica, Chile and Uruguay. Joachim Bamrud, Director of the Latin Business Chronicle commented that even though Costa Rica was marked at the same level as Chile and Uruguay, the survey determined that Costa Rica is the most secured country.
Hydroelectric Plant
The Costa Rican government declared Wednesday the construction of a new hydroelectric plant was of “national convenience and public interest”, and that it would bring the country closer to its goal of producing 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources.
27 Hi Tech Firms touched down in 2007
The firm brought $421 million in investments and created 6,352 skilled jobs, expert says. One designs sophisticated breaking and transmission electronics. Another sterilizes medical equipment by bombarding it with an electron beam. Several others handle phone calls from calls from around the world and do the back offices work for large multinationals.