Spanish Companies to Invest $1 Billion in Costa Rica

$RIU\'s Guanacaste Hotel$
RIU’s Proposed Layout for a Hotel in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Three of Spain’s biggest hotel chains have announced plans to expand in Costa Rica promising to bring more than $1 billion dollars in development. The news comes as no surprise to the ever so popular tourist destination as the number of European tourists is increasing each year as they flock to the country’s gorgeous beaches and biologically diverse rain forests. Spanish tourists, in particular, are even more common and the inclusion of these well-known Spanish brands is expected to coax more to make the cross-Atlantic voyage.

This year Costa Rica could receive around 45,000 additional Spanish tourists due to a dramatic increase in direct flights from Madrid, Spain to San Jose, Costa Rica. The Spanish based airline, Air Comet, has been around for 10 years and flies direct from Madrid to other Latin American cities such as Lima, Buenos Aries, and even Havana, Cuba. The airline has announced plans to purchase 12 new airplanes within the year in order to increase Costa Rica travel and tourism from Spain.

“The company believes in the tourism potential towards Costa Rica,” Manager for Air Comet Costa Rica, Luis Brenes, said. “In fact, we have invested to promote the country in European and Spanish markets with an initial result of 240 passengers.”

The airline’s plans will not only help bring more Spanish and European tourists to Costa Rica but it also provides Costa Ricans the opportunity to explore the old continent. Air Comet’s tickets will start at $500 and will operate every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, however, Air Comet isn’t the only popular Spanish Company that has faith in Costa Rica; Sirenis and RIU Hotels & Resorts, as well as the real estate Space and Nature group (NVESA) also have a strong interest in the up and coming country.

RIU Hotels & Resorts is a large Spanish hotel chain founded in 1953 that plans to build three hotels in the northern Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. The company began with a small 80 bed hotel on the largest Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, Majorca. It has now become the second largest hotel chain in Spain and boasts 45,000 beds in 110 hotels in 18 countries. RIU employs 18,000 people and serves 2.1 million clients each year.

The first establishment in Costa Rica will be built by RIU itself on Playa Matapalo on Costa Rica’s North Pacific Coast. The hotel is only 20.5 miles from the Liberia International Airport and will consist of a 6-story main building surrounded by 41.86 square yards of lush gardens. RIU plans to open Hotel RIU Guanacaste in the winter of 2009.

The Spanish chain Sirenis Hotels & Resorts has also announced plans to begin construction this year for their first Costa Rica hotel project. Sirenis is also a family-run international business that got it’s start on Ibiza an Island off the coast of Spain. The company has 35 years of experience and also has resorts in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Cuba. Sirenis has announced that their newest project will take place in the Gulf of Papagayo in Northern Costa Rica.

Construction will begin on the Guanacaste Resort this year and will carry the Grand Sirenis Hotels & Resorts brand meaning it will offer the highest level of luxury all-inclusive service. The resort will house 350 bedrooms and will be located only 29 kilometers from the Liberia International Airport. No completion date has been determined yet, however, it is rumored that Sirenis will begin a Costa Rica real estate project in the Papagayo area shortly after the hotel construction has been completed.

Sirenis isn’t the only Spanish company interested in both residential and tourist accommodations, a trend made popular by the Canadian Four Seasons brand. The Spanish born real estate group Space and Nature group (NVESA) also has sights set on a similar plan. The large real estate enterprise will build four hotels within the country and one residential real estate project.

It is safe to say that there’s no doubt that the number of Spanish tourists in the country will only increase as construction and development of these new projects is completed. Costa Rica’s National Tourism Chamber (Canatur) announced that in 2007 an estimated 265,000 tourists visited the country from Europe and about 57,000 were from Spain. If Spaniards aren’t yet the official “number one” European tourists yet, they soon will be thanks to Spanish hotel, airline, and real estate expansion in the year to come.

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