Mention Costa Rica, and images of natural beauty, rain forests and a popular retirement destination for Americans comes to mind. Like most small nations, Costa Rica has a very low profile in the numismatic community. That means an interesting history of coinage is largely overlooked, and the collector who wants to take the less-traveled road and an overlooked challenge will find it here. Origin...

The leading Costa Rican presidential candidate in the polls would prefer state run companies to control the energy market. Johnny Araya Monge, who was a former mayor of the capital San Jose for many years and is now presidential candidate for the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), is the candidate with the highest number of voter intentions in recent polls. In the interview he gave wi...

Source: Flickr Creative Commons People in Costa Rica have equal access to education, but one gender has learned to take better advantage of this civil right. One of the goals behind Costa Rica's new country branding campaign is to showcase the high level of education of her people insofar as Latin America is concerned. Costa Rica has a significant edge when it comes to funding public educat...

Ticos Air, the new Costa Rican airline on Monday presented the relevant documentation to the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) for the certificate of operation of several international destinations. The company says its goal is to fly first from Costa Rica to Mexico and then incorporate other routes. Last May Avianca announced the elimination of five...

A new mobile application for business account holders and a system for easy domestic money transfers in Costa Rica are the latest offerings by Banco Nacional. BN Movil Empresarial is a mobile application for smartphones powered by the Android operating system, as well as Apple iPhone and iPad devices. This new service is an electronic platform especially designed for business account holders wh...

According to El Financiero, the first two stores will be strictly ice cream parlors, while a third location planned for Curridabat, on the east side of San José, will be the fast casual style of Dairy Queen (DQ) stores in the United States. The Costa Rica franchise is being developed by Honduran businessman Miguel Hernández, who immigrated to Costa Rica a decade ago and with his brothers Frank ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Workers in Costa Rica are feeling the pinch of globalization and inflation as their salaries stagnate and their consumption patterns increase. According to a recent radio feature aired by Radio Monumental, 93.5 FM, most people in Costa Rica believe that upward salary adjustments in the next 12 months will not be sufficient to support their lifestyle. As the 39th co...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. The International Pineapple Organization (IPO) is pleased to announce the IPO Global Pineapple Conference which will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday November 01, 2013 at the San Jose Marriott Hotel. Join Major Stakeholders from the Global Pineapple Industry as we discuss critical issue...

During a recent trip to Jaco, I learned about a free community newspaper called The Jaco Journal, photo herein. Print media is not doing very well as an industry globally, as everyone moves online and uses smart phones, however hyper local print newspapers will always have a marketplace and locals will read them in volume. Especially a great service like this in English for expats and English ...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Pineapple prices, which have been marked by variability over the past two years, are finally recovering some stability and remaining at good levels. This is due, in part, to the fact that the number of pineapple producers has dropped, opening up some space in the market. One of the companies bene...

Every driver in Costa Rica knows well that the autopista General Cañas, the major route between the international airport in Alajuela and the La Sabana park in San José, is the busiest and most congested road in the country. And now there are numbers to back it up. According to the Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Modelos Estructurales (Lanamme), of the University of Costa Rica, 98,616 v...

United Parcel Service Inc will expand in Costa Rica by buying small package delivery company Union Pak de Costa Rica and brokerage company SEISA Brokerage. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deals are expected to close in the fourth quarter. Both companies have long worked with Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS) as authorized service contractors. “With the ownership of these operation...

Costa Rica is a land of endless charms, and not all of them are related to her natural beauty, amazing biodiversity and penchant for environmental protection. Until recently, the National Board of Tourism (ICT) has focused on two major concepts for the branding and marketing of Costa Rica as an international destination. From now on, however, the focus will be on the Ticos. Esencial Costa Rica ...

My North American friends often ask me “What can I do in Central America?” in terms of business start up. I tell them Central America is an under developed group of countries, so everything needs development, there is opportunity everywhere for the entrepreneur at every level especially, in Costa Rica. At a population of 589,018,000+, Latin America as a whole is called the largest emerging econ...

There is a popular adage in Costa Rica, Pide perdón, no permiso. Doing this can get an expat snagged into a big, expensive problem. The saying means “ask forgiveness, not permission.” It is a strategy used by Ticos and expats alike to get things done without going through the normal red tape. The scheme is also used to avoid traffic fines, building permits, payments, and the list is long. Th...

There is little disputing one central fact about Costa Rica’s outsourcing industry: it is on fire and it has been on fire consistently for the last several years. For some countries, such a development is entirely positive news, but for Costa Rica, such success has to be managed carefully. “We are really hot right now, due to our growth and our sophistication,” says Gabriela Llobet, Director G...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Two young men promise to help entrepreneurs permanently relocate from their home offices in the US to exotic, all-inclusive "happy hubs" all over the world, including Costa Rica. Happy Hubs a concept launched by two young entrepreneurs in their 20s, promises to help entrepreneurs permanently relo...

Cheaper than San Jose? Edmonton. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Comparing the cost of living across international regions is a popular activity among those who seek to retire abroad. Until a couple of years ago, Costa Rica appeared in just about every list of top places to retire -all of which considered low cost of living a priority. That no longer seems to be the case. Popular consumer financ...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. DogWalkerCR.com, is one of the first companies in Costa Rica dedicated to the business of taking dogs for a walk, literally. This business is perfect for the busy professional who does not always have time to spend with their canine companion to go for walks and play in the parks around their ho...

The Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica, located in the Gulf of Papagayo, Guanacaste, laid off 68 employees last week, due to low season visits. The hotel, by way of its corporate communications, confirmed the layoffs on August 20, saying it was necessary to adjust for the low vacancy rate it has experienced since July. In the statement, the hotel said, “vacancy varies throughout the year at ...

The Legislative Assembly is considering reforming Article 10 of the current Liquor Law, to establish fairer license fees for small rural businesses that sell alcohol. The new law took effect on August 8, 2012, and one of the controversial aspects is setting the base cost, which is currently 379,400 colones ($760), as a parameter to determine how much a business should pay to sell alcoholic bev...

Source: Flickr CC If you are in need of work in Costa Rica, you might feel encouraged by the various employment fairs that offer thousands of available positions to job seekers in diverse industries. Attending one of these fairs, which take place several times a year, will leave you feeling pretty upbeat about your work prospects, at least until you realize that after a few weeks not one poten...

Source: Flickr CC In the early 21st century, the bed & breakfast (B&B) lodging trend became a cottage industry in Costa Rica and gave hope to families whose properties had the potential to attract tourists looking for cozy, alternative accommodations. More than a decade later, many B&B operators are closing their doors in Costa Rica, and the rest are weighing their options in the m...

A new shopping center will open next October in San Martin Avenue, Los Yoses, San Pedro. This new shopping center will include a Fresh Market, a Henry’s sports bar and a New York Pizza. Vivo Plaza is the name of the commercial project, which is developed and marketed by ServiGlobal for the corporation that owns the property: Zeta Group (specialized in building zones). Tammy Roitman, project ...

Four new industrial parks will be built in Santa Ana, Alajuela and Heredia. Alajuela will have two, one will be called Green Park and another Life Free Zone and Business Park, a third one will be located in Ulloa, Heredia, and will be named Tech Park, and the fourth one will operate as Lindora Business Park, which will be in Pozos, Santa Ana. The four real estate developments are currently bein...

Article by Central America Data with insights from La Nacion. The international crisis and exchange rate fluctuations caused the agriculture sector to export 7% less during the first seven months of 2013, when compared to the same period of 2012. The Costa Rican agricultural sector is not experiencing good times. Nacion.com reports: "According to the monthly index of economic activity (M...

Article by Central America Data with insights from Prensa Libre. The Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) is planning a borrowing program of $838 million of state funding, lasting until 2019, to fund its own projects. Yesenia Calderon, chief executive of the institution, reported that included in the list of projects is $662 million worth of projects which have already bee...

On Tuesday, the presentation "Costa Rica to Feel and Live" took place, presented by the Tourism Department of Costa Rica in association with Peruvian Airlines. The event was focused displaying the various attractions that Costa Rica has to offer. Providencia, Peru — The event began with an introduction by the CEO of Peruvian Airlines, Alberto López, where he presented the opening of new routes ...

Costa Rica wants to attract more Chinese tourists and investors and so it is planning to open consulates in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Central American nation’s envoy to Beijing said Tuesday. The opening of the two consulates, which will augment Costa Rica’s only existing diplomatic mission in China, is a “project for 2014” that still must be approved by the foreign ministry, said Ambassador M...

"A little girl?” asked a surprised Paulo Trejos, manager of Hooters restaurant in Escazú, where several customers saw a 10 year old girl apparently working there. A photograph that circulated on Facebook last Sunday shows the little girl working at Hooters with the uniform on. Furthermore, the customer who provided the photograph assures that the child was handing over food and bills to cu...

During 2012, the office space market experienced a significant growth in supply motivated by the addition of new properties and new phases in existing projects. However, today, more office space without demand has put developers on alert. According to an analysis by Colliers International, in the first quarter of 2013 less office space has been rented by businesses, while more office space is m...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A recent news release published by the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) claims that three Canadian investors were victims of a swindle involving a bank account in Costa Rica. The incident dates back to 2012, and it was allegedly perpetrated by a presumed investment firm based in Chicago. According to a Notice of Hearing issued by the BCSC, the perpetra...

Costa Rica's Hotel Industry does not want to lose its leadership in Central America, so in order to stay competitive it's seeking to establish an innovation and renewal plan to be implemented during the next 20 years. The president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels (CCH in Spanish), Ruben Pacheco, explained that this initiative was the main subject of study of the National Hotel Congress, wh...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to cover your business press release, please contact us. The first regional Franchise Fair (Expo-Franquicias 2013) will soon take place in Costa Rica. More than 8,000 investors interested in buying and selling franchises in Mexico, Uruguay, the United States, Spain and Panama are expected to attend. The activity will be held on September 26 and 27 at th...

Source: Flickr CC Dear Readers, It has come to the attention of the Costa Rica Star that our previous article on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the growing number of United States citizens around the world who are choosing the drastic step of renouncement as a means to mitigate their tax liability has raised many questions. This article seeks to answer some of those conc...

Charles Boyd is a huge supporter of community development projects and here at The Costa Rica Team we are always looking to edify the community in which we operate. Most recently, one way in which we have accomplished this is through our proud sponsorship of our local heroes at the Jaco Volunteer Fire Department, Bomberos Voluntarios Compania 63. The Jaco Garabito District has a paid Fire Depa...

The inauguration of train service to Cartago recently has resulted in a 10% reduction in the number of passengers carried in Lumaca company buses, but manager Roberto Rivera says he is not worried. The La 400 bus company in Heredia is not in a good position, having lost 35% of their passengers. But the government’s plan to expand train service in order to reduce traffic congestion in the capita...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release please contact us. The ecological car hire company, Green Motion, confirmed today that the international development of its brand is continuing with the sale of its first Master Country Franchise in Central America, being Costa Rica. Green Motion’s master country franchise for Costa Rica has been purchased by Toyot...

A surveyor works atop a hillside overlooking Papagayo Bay Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste- The Board of Directors of the Asociación de Vecinos y Empresarios de Playa Hermosa in Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, recently had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the new Meliá Paradisus Papagayo Bay Hotel & Villas project that is under construction in the Polo Turistico between Playa Hermosa ...

Costa Rica’s central bank is buying dollars at the fastest pace in three months after foreign companies brought in cash to pay workers, not because of a return of speculative capital to the country, according to brokerage Aldesa Puesto de Bolsa. Costa Rica’s central bank bought $41.5 million this week through yesterday, the most since May 17. Dollar purchases have exceeded $750 million this yea...