You've Got Mail: Guanacaste is Costa Rica's Biggest Tourism Investment Yet
Date: 08/12/2007The big boys have big plans for Costa Rica's booming Guanacaste Province. First, Mel Gibson moved in, now he is followed by Steve Case and Sol Kerzner.
With Costa Rica's President by his side on August 3, America Online founder Steve Case announced the largest tourism investment in the country's history-an $800-million luxury resort complex. The location? Punta Cacique on the northern Pacific coast, province of Guanacaste.
Good news for Guanacaste investors, the Punta Cacique project is being developed by Exclusive Resorts (a recent acquisition of Case's Revolution LLC). The complex, which will create at least 2,000 direct jobs, will boast a Tom Doak golf course and a tennis and fitness center designed by world champions André Agassi and Steffi Graff.
Also included in the plans are two luxury hotels-a One & Only five-star hotel (by the Sol Kerzner, who developed the Atlantis on the Bahamas' Paradise Island) and a Miraval Life in Balance spa and resort-as well as time-share homes, private villas, and apartments. A resort shopping and entertainment center will support the community by favoring local products over high-end international brands and featuring regional dishes (prepared by local chefs) at its restaurants.
The project will be located on 650 acres once owned by former president Daniel Oduber (the namesake of Guanacaste's international airport in Liberia). Case says only 20% of the property will be developed, and he plans to plant one million trees along area riverbanks and establish a $1-million scholarship fund for local environmental initiatives. "I hope that this will define a new type of resort, that improves the life of the local community and is in harmony with the environment," Case said.
Despite the project's emphasis on low environmental impact, Costa Rica's Environment Ministry rejected the first set of environmental studies presented in June. The Environment Ministry's Technical Secretariat (SETENA) expressed concerns over various points, including possible impact on plant and animal species and the property beach area. The Cacique project developers are awaiting SETENA's pronouncement on a recently submitted revised study.
Your Latin America Insider,
Suzan Haskins
for International Living
P.S. Considering a trip from Costa Rica to neighboring Panama? If you're a golfer awaiting completion of Cacique's Tom Doak golf course, October is the perfect month to head over to Panama and make a difference. And in November? Consider a trip to Costa Rica.
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