Costa Rica Hotels Fearful

Hoteliers are afraid of the impact in activity because of real estate growth

Worry for lower room occupancy, disorganization and environmental damages. Hotels will occupy less than a third of the demand for accommodation.

The number of tourists expecting to come to a hotel in Costa Rica is far from the reality: condominiums, villas and residencies are abundant options.

Tourist companies and especially hoteliers are worried about the transformation in the offer and demand of facilities for this purpose.

There is evidence that in a very short time there could be more informal than formal lodging offers, said Ana Gabriela Alfaro, vice-president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels (CCH).

A research made by CCH in 2006, estimated that only in nine districts of the five counties at the northern and central Pacific area, there are around 6,000 rooms constructed, 14,000 more projected in one year from now, and plans to reach 53,000 at the end of the next decade.

According to Alfaro, not even a third of it corresponds to hotel rooms. Studies show that in only 13 big projects of those studied districts, 3,883 are hotel rooms and 14,731 are other types of accommodation.

Spending less? Change of habits in tourists will have multiple effects. ICT estimates that one tourist spends an average of $120 per day but the actual spending of the visitors is less when they stay in a house or an apartment.

Orlando Castro, president of Tourist Federation Chamber, pointed out that if tourists do not visit restaurants. There is no income for ICT or for hotel owners. Castro, who is an hotelier from southern Pacific said that this is the tendency in the country, and it has started to be felt in the southern zone.

It does not only affect occupancy but ecology too. Mountains eroded can be seen by the Costanera Sur road, said Castro.

Residential tourism has positive effects in a short period of time; it generates jobs and accelerates the economy, said architect Alberto Salas, author of the study from CCH.

However; he mentioned risks in the long run, especially in the construction of the public services since they do not collect taxes in the same proportion as the real state investments growth.

Salas also mentioned that there are no sewer projects in any town around the coast area.

Mauricio Castro, president of the Costa Rican Real State Brokers, is also worried about the uncontrolled growth of the real state on offer. However, he considers that the tourist investor is not competitive with the hotel tourist, but they also demand additional services.

Our thanks to our friends at La Nación – Costa Rica’s largest Spanish circulation newspaper for their permission to summarize this article.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.