Development Could Make Guanacaste Collapse

The presentation of the study titled “The Impact of Hotelier and Real Estate Growth in some Coastal Sectors of Guanacaste,” which was carried out by the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels, concluded that in about 20 years the region would have about 86,500 additional rooms.

According to the Minister of Tourism Carlos Benavides, the growth in the real estate development in Guanacaste threatens to collapse the province because the Government will not have the capacity to provide the basic services such as water and electricity. The Minister clearly stated, “We could not handle it.”

The information resulting from the study prepared by tourist consultant Alberto Salas indicates that within a year and a half, the construction of residences in Guanacaste increased by a 171%. In order to complete this study, the consultant had to take on a three-month fieldwork. From his own point of view, Guanacaste is unrecognizable, if compared with other years.

During one of the runs Salas had to do, he found out that the groups of developers have advertised 32,000 rooms in the public road in 9 cantons and 17 districts in Guanacaste.  Let us add to this, one of the aspects the consultant concluded as to the local governments. Now that there is a boom in construction projects, the municipalities, in most of the cases, only have three people in charge of the building department.

To Guanacaste’s tourist and real estate growth add the construction of marinas. This implies the opening of spaces for dozens of vessels.

Salas could not hide his concern about some aspects that are directly and indirectly related to tourist development, such as the rise in price of land, which benefits are centered in foreign hands, tax evasion, the  quasiprivatization of public beaches and the environmental impact generated.  Due to these reasons, Salas suggested  Costa Rica should stop projecting the image of an eco-tourist paradise because “it is no longer that,” and stated that our country should try to profile as a small luxury destination.

Nevertheless, the Minister of Tourism Benavides, did not agree with such statements. On the contrary, he mentioned that the marketing strategy has worked well. “This country should feel proud of eco-tourism development.” In addition, he said that what really matters is to know how to take into account the importance of tourism for the country and of strengthening the measures protecting the flora and fauna; this could be achieved with a shared work between the government and the private sector.  Benavides indicated that part of the solution would be given when the decree to organize Guanacaste’s real estate development is published. The model will be extended to other areas of Costa Rican Pacific and Caribbean.

In the meantime, the president of Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels, Carlos Lachner, stated that in spite of the higher tax recollection due to the construction boom, the Government is not supporting the local governments as expected.