QCOSTARICA — The province of Guanacaste has an enormous growth potential mainly due to tourism, which along with the international airport has multiplied investment, business and commerce, reducing unemployment and poverty numbers rapidly.
In the last decade, Guanacaste has seen a reduction in unemployment of 10 percentage points according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC) – National Institute of Statistics and Censuses.
In 2012, when the new and modern airport terminal was inaugurated, Guanacaste had an unemployment indicator that affected 35% of the population. In 2019, before the pandemic, the indicator was 20%.
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“The impact of the (Guanacaste) airport is multiple. For every dollar of investment in the terminal, the gross value of the area’s production increases 12 times, and this positively impacts families. The contribution of Guanacaste Airport and the entire tourism chain is key, with greater employment opportunities,” said Luis Fournier, Administration and Finance Manager of Guanacaste Airport.
The growth that Guanacaste has been reporting has been like a chain reaction. Basically, the greater the number of tourists, the more productive chains and the greater the demand for services and goods at all levels.
In 2023, the Guanacaste Airport had the best visitation rates in its history, registering 1.6 million passengers.
For this year, a record 687,167 passengers were registered during the first quarter of 2024. This statistic represents a 29% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Currently, 14 airlines operate at Guanacaste Airport, connecting it to 22 international destinations in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
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It is estimated that the region represents 6% of Costa Rica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and that 17% of tourists who enter Costa Rica do so through the Guanacaste Airport in Liberia, in addition to 40% of visitors to the country visit the province.
“Guanacaste is a province that has immense agricultural, real estate, commercial and tourism potential, and where BAC already has more than 60,000 clients, including individuals, PYMEs and large companies. At BAC we know that Guanacaste is already, and will be consolidated, as an important development pole for Costa Rica and we are present to lend a hand to all those people and companies that want to develop and grow,” said Laura Moreno, Vice President of BAC Corporate Relations.
For the next 5 years, the BAC hopes to increase its portfolios at a rate of more than 30% and, to achieve this, a new business model was developed more than a year ago by inaugurating an operations center known as “HUB”, located in the Solarium business park.
Other companies that offer goods and services have considerably increased their presence and offerings in the province, such as McDonald’s, Grupo Montecristo, Banco Nacional, Gensler, and CoopeAnde, among others.
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However, to maintain this rate of growth, it is essential that the country promotes projects that allow greater availability of water, while human resources must be trained so that there is no shortage of talent in any area.
Another fundamental task is to improve the infrastructure of the entire province, according to Shirley Calvo, executive director of the Cámara Nacional de Turismo (Canatur) – National Chamber of Tourism.
“Perhaps one of the main factors that has hindered further development in the province has been the availability of water, the lack of investment in projects that allow this resource to be available in quality and quantity in different regions. On the other hand, the flight of human talent after the pandemic and the lack of availability of trained personnel have been a problem that companies have had to face,” said Calvo.
Tomorrow, Thursday, July 25, Guanacaste celebrates 200 years of the annexation of the Partido de Nicoya, a historical event that refers to the incorporation of the territory of Nicoya (most of what is today’s modern day Guanacaste) to Costa Rica. The day is a national holiday.
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