Costa Ricans head to Nicaragua for Holy Week?

Recently, Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, eliminated the visa fee for Costa Ricans.

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There used to be a $25 visa fee for all Costa Ricans to enter Nicaragua. This was recently eliminated to overcome poverty in Nicaragua. "Responsible and dignified tourism" is what Rosario Murillo, Ortega's wife said. They hope that the elimination of the visa fee will bring more tourists to Nicaragua and therefore generate more income.

This action will be enforced prior to Holy Week with the hope to bring more tourists to Nicaragua for the holiday. According to Vianica.com, Holy Week beings April 2nd and continues throughout the whole week.

Costa Rica has a dry law during Holy Week. Nicaragua does not encompass this same dry law. Nicaraguan's hope this will bring more people to their country for the holiday, they especially think it will draw in the partygoers.

The following link is a video of what Holy Week is like in Costa Rica. This was Holy Week last year. Holy Week 2008 .

CORRECTION & APOLOGY

First of all I wanted to apologize to Thomas Walker and Leland Baxter-Neal, a Tico Times Journalist. My previous post was titled Construction is Nearly at a Stop and in this I referenced to Baxter-Neal's article from the Tico Times. He wrote this article about Thomas Walker, a sales director and the construction projects he is currently working on.


I misinterpreted some of the information from the article and I just wanted to make the correction and set the story straight. I said that the real estate agencies are without any work during this economic crisis. This is not completely true. The real estate agencies still have work, it is just not as much work as previously. The selling of property and the construction has slowed, but not stopped is what I mean to say.


Mr. Walker is currently building luxury homes and he is continuing on his project. “I have a very unique product, and there's a group that will always have money for that,” Walker said. Mr. Walker has already made two sales this year, both for over $1 million, according to Baxter-Neal.


"The frenzied pace of construction and real estate sales of recent years has been nearly stopped in its tracks by the financial troubles in the United States," said Leland Baxter-Neal, a Tico Times journalist. I quoted this statement in my previous post and I still stand by this to be true, however, what I am mainly trying to say is that construction has slowed due to the economic crisis but there are still some buyers.

Construction is nearly at a stop

Costa Rica is always looking to build more homes and hotels, especially expensive ones. However, the real estate agencies are without any work during this economic crisis.

"The frenzied pace of construction and real estate sales of recent years has been nearly stopped in its tracks by the financial troubles in the United States," said Leland Baxter-Neal, a Tico Times journalist.

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Walker said, “It's the sunset – the year-round sunsets right here.”

Sales Director Thomas Walker is currently trying to work on a project in Punta Bocana. He is building four story condo's that will end up costing between $1.6 million and $3 million.

Thomas Walker says that his construction has pretty much stopped because there is no one able to purchase homes right now, especially expensive homes like his.

It is said that the real estate market will not jump back into place until 2010.

Did you say bailout?

Is planting trees really going to help boost the economy? Twenty-three year old Edwin Sequeira, president of the youth reforestation cooperative thinks so.

The Costa Rican government has recently issued a Labor Ministry program. This program is designed to aid the young entrepreneurs. According to the Tico Times, there are 1.5 million Costa Ricans between the ages of 18-35. Out of these 1.5 million people, 360,000 are not enrolled in college nor do they have a job. The government has a plan to decrease the unemployment rate by providing $100 million to these young Costa Ricans, however, there is a catch.

This is not a bailout! This money will not be sent to the Costa Ricans directly, they must work for it. This money is planned to help 150 of these Costa Ricans in starting their own businesses. The government believes this will boost the economy.

Sequeira will be setting up a tour office in Bijagua de Upaia and will be heading tours of the area. This job will bring youths together to help preserve the environment. He plans of planting 2,500 trees in the area.

“We're also going to incorporate the environmental aid factor into our tours,” said Sequeira. “We'll allow tourists to plant a tree themselves, as well as providing information about climate change in Costa Rica." (Robertson, Tico Times).

This got me thinking, how are these young people going to be able to run a business with only a high school diploma? The National Cooperative Council has already agreed to help the youth with their endeavours. They plan on assisting them with financial problems along with paperwork and any other knowledge they will need to begin their business.

President Oscar Arias believes that this will really work. “The crisis has affected everyone worldwide, countries big and small, rich and poor,” said Arias. “But it will be the countries who protect and support the ambitions of its citizens who will be the first to leave this crisis behind.”

Tourism

The Tico Times recently wrote an article on the lack of effort Costa Ricans are putting fourth towards tourism. This article was named Grim Tourism Outlook has Silver Lining and was written by Patrick Fitzgerald.

According to Fitzgerald, tourism accounts for more than 500,000 jobs in Costa Rica. With the economy the way it is and tourism being one of the key factors to enhancing economic growth, the Costa Rican Government should be focusing on this issue more.

Costa Rica has always had a reputation of being a relaxing, breathtaking, environmentally friendly escape from everyday life. However, Costa Rica is not keeping up with the environmentally friendly part of it. Fitzgerald mentions how Tamarindo has been having sanitation problems. They are also becoming overdeveloped.

“Some of the smarter countries are stepping up. If we stay back, we're going to lose out," Bary Roberts said. This is true, there are many other developing countries that have a lot of beauty to them and if they are smart about it Costa Rica could fall behind and these countries could become the new relaxing, breathtaking, environmentally friendly getaway.

What they really need to do is improve their e-commerce and start to market online more. It is reported that 58% of Costa Rican tourists purchase their travel packages online. This is more than half of the people that are traveling there. I am even thinking of traveling to Costa Rica this summer. I have been doing a lot of research about vacations in Costa but I have not found a huge amount of advertisments. As a college student I am unable to purchase an all-inclusive, 5 star hotel stay. I need something a little less expensive but still desirable. They need to advertise this!