Costa Rica holiday travel stimulated by incentives

by Bret G. Dudl
11.12.09
9:00 AM GMT+8

Filed in Costa Rica Tours And Travel, Costa Rica Vacation

By Richard Barone

Costa Rica travel is being stimulated by incentives from hotels and tour companies for the Christmas holidays. That’s great news for travelers who want to stretch their fun budgets to the max. You can stay longer and buy more and it kinda doesn’t come out of your pocket!

One five star resort has offered to reimburse groups of up to six people, four hundred dollars per person for airline costs to attract rental of its townhomes during the holidays. There are many 25 to 50 % off deals at new luxury beach resorts and some tour companies offering up to one thousand dollar savings on complete tour packages.

Costa Rica is an iconic tropical holiday destination, with a satisfying cosmopolitan nature that grows on you quickly. You can find excellent handmade jewelry and gifts, tomorrow’s trends, to take home to loved ones. Hand made Indian crafts made in remote Central American rainforests are a favorite.

So is chocolate, made fresh here by Indians in a variety of concoctions from pepper/lemon chocolate to ginger/mint and coffee combos, all of them addictively delicious. Chocolate covered coffee beans and guava jelly beans by the bag as well as coffee, liqueurs and cigars made in Costa Rica, make friends glow with joy.

But there’s much more. There are books, music, art and fashion, and if you can’t take it by plane you can pop it in the mail or on a ship if you need. Count on plenty of eye candy as you shop, it’s a shopper’s season and beautiful Latinos are out by the thousands and dressed for the occasion.

Relax. Dine in yesteryear elegance and soak in the singular sounds of Tico society. Forbes magazine said Costa Rica ranked the number five cleanest country out of 149 surveyed around the world. Air, water quality and natural vitality were studied by scientists from Columbia and Yale universities. Costa Rica is also the safest Central American country and has recently received awards from the World Travel and Tourism Council as well as the Sustainable Tourism Certification Program.