Purchasing in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is literally exploding with visitors. The number of visitors to Costa Rica increased 25% in 2004 or 1,500,000 visitors. In 2005 the figures increased in the range of 18%. In fact the government is very worried that with the increase in visitors expected that the country will not have enough space in hotels to accommodate the influx; they expect a hotel deficit in 2006. The government has estimated that the country needs to build a minimum 19,000 new rooms each year to meet the demand. The recent range is in the 2,000 to 3,000 new rooms per year. Until January of 2003 there were no scheduled airlines visiting the airport in Liiberia until Delta initiated service. In 2004 Northwest, Continental, American, Iberia and other European airlines began service. In 2003 there were 85,000 visitors to the airport and in 2005 the number was in excess of 310,000.