Construction experienced an explosive increase of 70 percent in the last 12 months, mainly in houses and hotels on coastal areas. While 3,271,605 square meters (over 3.52 million square feet) were built between October 2004 and September 2005, the figure climbed to 5,594,904 square meters (over 6.02 million square feet) October 2005 through September 2006. In contrast, during all of 2005, construction increased 11 percent. According to the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction, the housing sector increased 68 percent during the last 12 months, the business one did so 100 percent, and the industrial one 142 percent. The Canton of Santa Cruz, on the northern Pacific, surpasses 2.6 times the rate of construction of San Jose, these mainly because of tourist developments in the coastal area.
Other news in the report
US tour wholesalers
Multi-million dollar contracts were signed by some 30 U.S. and Canadian tour wholesalers who visited the province of Guanacaste to attend the Second Tourist Trade Marketplace. Twenty-one of the international firms who had attended the first one repeated, while 18 other wholesalers joined the activity for the first time. The director of the Costa Rican Association of Professionals on Tourism, Patricia Duar, said that the visitors found the offer of some 60 local firms –including hotels, airlines, tour operators, and car rentals– as excellent in 71 percent of the cases and very good in 25 percent.
Early departure of rains
This was the driest September in 30 years in several areas of the Province of Guanacaste, on the Costa Rican northwestern Pacific, according to the Weather Bureau. According to weather experts, this is one of the changes brought about by the phenomenon known as El Niño, which would also account for an early arrival of the dry season to Guanacaste. El Niño unexpected and aggressively showed up again this year, the experts pointed out.
Source: Weekly Report - October 21th 2006 - La Nacion - www.nacion.com
To read the full report go to the Week in Review section at La Nacion - http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/english |