Wariness over Low Tourist Flow Sweeps Costa Rican Caribbean

It´s been nearly a month since wicked weather conditions battered the Caribbean-bathed coast of Costa Rica, and now local residents and entrepreneurs are increasingly worried about poor numbers of foreign tourists visiting the region.

Hotel occupancy here is usually in the neighborhood of 90 percent during the first three months of every year. However, heavy rainfalls pushed that average down to barely 40 percent, putting 12,700 jobs in harm´s way.

Rolando Soto, president of the Puerto Viejo de Limon Tourism Chamber, believes the absence of foreign travelers to this lovely location in southern Costa Rica is mostly owed to a geographical blunder made by the press when beating the drum about the pouring rains.

The storms occurred in early January left five people dead and damages for some $70 million. However, the country´s tourist infrastructure and roads came out unscathed because they are located far from the mountainous regions that were hit harder by the raging downpours.