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.
Costa Rica will eliminate the visa requirement for citizens of the Russian Federation as a measure to increase tourism and investments from that country, immigration and tourism officials said on Monday.
Business promoters hope that a new national brand will make investors imagine another kind of "green" besides environmentalism when they think of Costa Rica.
