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COSTA RICA |
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Quepos/Manuel Antonio Visits Down
Drastically
The world economic crisis has hit many Costa
Rica tourism destinations in many different
ways, but all have in common one hope, that
2010 will be the way of the crunch. One of
the areas hard hit by the economic crisis is
Quepos/Manuel Antonio, the mid-Pacific coast
town and tourism attraction.
Richard Lamire, president of the Cámara de
Comercio, Industria y Turismo de Quepos (Quepos
chamber of commerce, industry and tourism)
confirmed the drop in tourism in the area,
which has affected all sectors.
However, Lamire says that the chamber is
hitting the problem head on with things like
competitive pricing and added value for
visitors.
"If a tourist stayed in the area four days,
now he/she is staying two or three days",
says Lamire.
A poll of various tourism related businesses
in the area all agree on one thing, there
are less people visiting Quepos/Manuel
Antonio.
Gustavo Segura, vicepresident of the Cámara
de Hoteles assures than 2010 will be a way
out of the crisis, saying that 2010 will be
more of a transition year, paving the way
back to good tourism levels in 2011.
For now, tourism operators have keep on
attracting "national" tourists until
"foreign" tourists begin to flock back to
the area.
Some of the attractions to lure national
tourists are discounts of up to 40% on hotel
rooms using a local credit card issued by
the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR). Other
incentives include the "Tasa 0" progam by
Credomatic, charing 0% tax on purchases made
using the Credomatic system.
Local hotel operators say national tourists
have helped them out to at least cover their
costs during the crisis.
Visits to the Manuel Antonio national park
are also down, with an average of only 300
visitors daily. A number of local area
hotels report of up to 60% occupancy rates,
when at this time last year they were full.
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