In an effort to make tourists feel more secure in downtown San José, the Tourist Police headquarters recently moved to new facilities and added 49 police officers, two police cars, six motorcycles and ten bicycles for patrolling downtown.
Tourism Ministry officials on Thursday reported that revenues from Costa Rica's travel sector last year totaled $2.6 billion, an 8.3 percent increase over the $2.4 billion registered in 2013, according to figures from the Central Bank.
Leaders of the National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) on Tuesday said they will use all available legal tactics to challenge a Finance Ministry order to start collecting 13 percent sales tax on all tourism activities, including several that previously were exempt.
The cruise ship season began on Costa Rica's Pacific coast last Sunday with the arrival of the Carnival Legend in Puntarenas. At the same time, Tourism Minister Wilhelm von Breymann said his ministry would increase efforts to promote more cruise ship tourism in the country as a way to boost the economy.
A reorganization of the Solís administration has the tourism sector on edge. On Monday, the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels criticized a decree signed by President Luis Guillermo Solís that places the tourism sector under the authority of the Economy Ministry.
Extreme right homophobia is often rooted in misinterpretations of biblical scripture, and attempts to base public policy on religious texts far removed from their original context is a fool’s errand under the best of circumstances.
