Click for Vacation Rentals in San Jose

Aside from being a popular beach and sun vacation destination Costa Rica is also known for medical tourism. Offering high quality medical services, Costa Rica has successfully positioned itself as a leader in the medical tourism niche market.

The Costa Rican organization that promotes international medicine (PROMED) released figures showing that 36,000 visitors came to Costa Rica for medical treatment in 2010, 6,000 more people than in 2009.

The organization highlighted a specific interest in cosmetic dentistry and surgery as well as orthopedic procedures with the majority of patients coming from the United States and Canada.

Demand for Costa Rica dental services increases
A total of 40% of medical tourists visit Costa Rica for dental work including dental implants, tooth extraction and aesthetic surgery.

The popularity of Costa Rica as a medical tourism destination is largely attributed to quality of service combined with much cheaper prices.  Expertise, certified doctors and the high standard of infrastructure in Costa Rica hospitals and clinics are also highlighted as important factors.
Hospital CIMA and Clinica Biblica accredited with the J.C.
PROMED currently has a total of 27 Costa Rica hospitals and clinics registered and certified under the Joint Commission International (J.C.I) which is linked to the Accreditation of Health Care Organization.

Click for Vacation Rentals in the Central Valley

Hospitals with this certification include Hospital CIMA in Escazu and Clinica Biblica in San Jose making Costa Rica the only country in the region with three accredited medical centers.

PROMED and the Costa Rican government estimate that by 2014 the country will receive over 100,000 medical tourists a year.

Click for Vacation Rentals in Manuel Antonio

World Tourism Day was celebrated on the 27th September. On this day the world tourism organization announced that there have been over 440 million worldwide tourist visits in the first six months of 2011.

This number of worldwide tourist arrivals reflects a 5% increase and has set a new record. Many tourism experts agree that the industry shows great resilience despite economic uncertainty in the Western World.
Tourism Linking Cultures

This year World Tourism Day focused on the theme “Tourism linking cultures,” a celebration of tourism’s role in bringing together cultures through world travel. With millions of people travelling the world every day never before have people visited so many places and so many different cultures. As Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed, “World Tourism Day is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of tourism to global well-being. As we travel, let us engage with other cultures and celebrate human diversity. On this observance, let us recognize tourism as a force for a more tolerant, open and united world. ”

Costa Rica Tourism is flourishing

Allan Flores, The Costa Rican Tourism Minister said, “The celebration of the world tourism day encourages us to protect our culture as the principal differentiating element. Reinforcing our traditions will ensure more people fall in love with Costa Rica and our new

Click for Vacation Rental Homes in San Jose

tourism model.”

The President of the Association of Tourism Professionals, Yadira Simon believes that Costa Rica must concentrate on developing niche markets through innovation as well as eco tourism. “Our country has many elements that can still be developed to make it even more attractive,” she explained.

In Costa Rica tourism contributes 7% to the country’s GDP and approximately 7.5% in employment with more than 144,000 people directly employed. In the past 20 years Costa Rica tourism has grown by 600%, at a yearly percentage of 10%, more than double the global average.

Click for Manuel Antonio Vacation Rentals

Costa Rica is the top tourist destination for 2011, according to the American travel and tourism company, Apple Vacations. The winners of the people’s choice “Crystal Apple Award” for best Destination 2011, were announced during the 24 Annual Trade Show held at Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois on September 13^th.

Costa Rica has it all!

Upon awarding Costa Rica “The Crystal Apple,” people’s choice award for best destination 2011 Apple Vacations stated, “This eco-friendly dream destination has it all! Hundreds of species of exotic birds and wildlife, cloud and rain forests, rivers running through mountains, stunning waterfalls, gorgeous beaches, 28 national parks and so much more!”

Costa Rica picks up the Crystal Apple award for best destination

The Crystal Apple Award is one of the most coveted honors in the travel industry as they are dependent upon the opinions and experiences of thousands of American vacationers who submit satisfaction questionnaires. Recognized as America’s favorite tour company, Apple has a successful 42 year

Click for Vacation Rental Homes in Manuel Antonio

trajectory working with tour operators around the world.

Costa Rica’s Tourism Award Cabinet Filling Up

This is not the first time Costa Rica’s popularity as a top and sun vacation has been recognized. Forbes Online awarded Manuel Antonio National Park on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica amongst the top 12 most beautiful national parks in the world. Brides Magazine also ranked Costa Rica in the top ten of the best honeymoon destinations. In 2010 the Trip Advisor Travelers Choice awards also recognized Manuel Antonio as one of the best beach and sun vacation destinations in the world.

“First Global Camera Trap Mammal Study”

These are the images from hidden cameras that captured truly fascinating Costa Rica wildlife deep in the tropical rainforest. The Costa Rica wildlife photos form part of an album of 52,000 pictures released on the 17^th of August by Conservation International, a group that promotes wildlife protection.

Groundbreaking Camera Trap Study captures Costa Rica wildlife

The images were captured from three continents and seven countries highlighting the importance of protected areas and a coordinated approach to mammal conservation and diversity.

Researchers positioned 420 camouflaged cameras in seven different wildlife preserves in Suriname, Indonesia, Tanzania, Brazil, Uganda, Laos and of course Costa Rica, home to an incredible 5% of the world’s biodiversity.

The heat sensitive cameras captured images of mammals, large birds and lizards for a month during dry season beginning in 2008 in the Volcan Barva Transect in Costa Rica. ‘These kind of captured them doing what they’re doing, being themselves,’ said study lead author Jorge Ahumada, technical director of the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network.

Rare Costa Rica wildlife in Braulio Carrillo National Park caught on camera

Images of anteaters, ocelots, pumas and the Baird’s Tapir a very rare and endangered species were captured in the Barva Volcano-La Selva Biological

“First Global Camera Trap Mammal Study”

Station altitudinal transect, Braulio Carrillo National Park. The Barva Transect covers 7,690 ha of mature forest and ranges from 30 to 2906 m a.s.l. It is the largest uninterrupted tract of mature forest remaining in Central America.

After reviewing the study, Stanford University biologist Terry Root, said “‘What a great study, Mammals are very hard to census because they are afraid of humans, and they have better ways of hiding than we have of finding them.’

The results of the study were published in the article “Community structure and diversity of tropical mammals: data from a global camera trap network”, in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The study was led by Dr. Jorge Ahumada, ecologist with the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network (TEAM).

Click for Vacation Rentals in Manuel Antonio

Google has announced a new weather feature which will help you decide what you need to pack for your next Costa Rica vacation. Integrated into the successful Google-maps online application, you will be able to view an hourly or 10 day Costa Rica weather forecast.

Want to know the weather for Costa Rica? Check Google Maps

This handy weather application allows you to turn on icons that show current conditions in Costa Rica’s most popular beach and sun vacation destinations. Thanks to the U.S Naval Research Lab, Google Maps now displays live cloud coverage with satellite imagery. Read the rest of this entry »

An innovative conservation project aimed at raising funds to help the protection of Costa Rica National Parks is celebrating its first anniversary.

Click for Vacation Rentals in Manuel Antonio

Costa Rica’s Friends of the National Parks Club began in September 2010 and has successfully raised a total of $106,744. The National Park project aims to raise  $1 million within the next five years.

Fundraising Club Promotes Sustainable Tourism in Costa Rica

Created by ProParques, Fundecor and the Costa Rican government institution, SINAC, there are now a total of 40 companies and 1,629 individuals affiliated to the Friends of the National Park Club (Amigos de los Parques Nacionales). Read the rest of this entry »

Click for Vacation Rentals in Tamarindo

The Costa Rican tourism industry received great news in August: figures showed that Costa Rica welcomed 73,155 more tourists in the first six months of the year than in the same period of 2010. Arrivals in the first semester of 2011 have already topped 1,197,199 million, compared to 1,124,020 visitors during the same six months of the previous year.

Costa Rica Tourism Arrivals Increased 6.5% in the First Semester of 2011

According to figures released from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), there has been a 6.5% increase in tourism arrivals in 2011.  North America continues to be the main source of tourism revenue, with Costa Rica receiving well over 86,000 visitors from the United States in June alone. Read the rest of this entry »

Click for Activities in Costa Rica

Yet another airline has realized the massive tourism potential of the popular vacation destination, Costa Rica. On Friday, August 12^th, the Canadian budget airline WestJet announced a new air transport agreement with Costa Rica.

With its miles of untouched rainforest, gorgeous beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and the fact that its one of the top 20 most biodiverse countries in the world, Costa Rica is an ideal vacation destination for adventurers and beach bums alike.

Click for Vacation Rentals in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica

Hugh Dunleavy, the Executive Vice President of WestJet’s Strategy and Planning congratulated the governments of Costa Rica and Canada on this agreement, saying, “The beautiful country of Costa Rica and its extensive ecotourism opportunities have long been of

great interest to Canadian travelers. This agreement will result in new opportunities for visitors from both Canada and

Costa Rica to travel between the two countries.”

WestJet Airlines is a budget carrier that provides flights to destinations in the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and of course, Canada. WestJet is the second largest Canadian airline carrier, shortly following Air Canada.