(qCOSTARICA) In the next three years the government will try to make inroads in the country’s convention industry, a potential market identified years ago, but has not advanced from its early stage.
The goal, according to Tourism Minister, Mauricio Ventura, is consolidate efforts to attract conventions that could in the next 3 to 4 years increase tourism revenue by 5%.
The Minister is clear that the country cannot try to penetrate the market without a covention centre, a plan that has been brewing since the Abel Pacheco administration (2002-2006).
Related:
- ICT Betting On US$30 Million Convention Centre (June 2014)
- National Convention Centre One Step Closer To Reality (June 2013)
According to the Instittuto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Tourism Board –Â figures show that foreign tourists generally spend about US$100 per day, while convention goers average between US$200 and US$400 per day.
The proposed National Convention Centre (Centro Nacional de Convenciones), to be located in Barreal de Heredia, on the north side of the autopista General Cañas, next to the Plaza Cariari, is a US$35 million project that will be financed in part by the ICR (US$23 million) and the balance from loans at state banks.
Ventura says the Solis government is committed to begin construction before 2018.
Source: Crhoy.com
I would draw your attention to the editorial in today’s AM CR. in which one sentence reads ” Even for a 5 percent return, the government would need to generate $33,600 a week in income from the convention center. Considering the fact that the tourism institute and the central government could not market themselves out of a paper bag, the chances of this happening is not even slim.”
I do believe that this project will be an utter failure and will be an asset to be sold WHEN the government is forced to sell it to pay off the country’s debt. Convention centers are losing propositions, which is why most large convention centers are built and paid for by the taxpayers not private enterprise. IF they made money, the private sector would be building them. I hope someone comes to their senses and sees that this is a losing proposal and stops it before taxpayer money is wasted.
I agree with Fishrman as well a Jay in AM Costa Rica. Convention centers are almost always a losing proposition for the governments that build them, and I see no reason to believe that this one will be any different. Plus, insofar as it is successful (which probably won’t be completely) it will have the effect of encouraging some kinds of businesses while discouraging others. Yeah, people who fawn over tourist-oriented businesses rarely stop to realize that government nurturing of these businesses may well have the effect of preventing the development of other businesses that would have started in that location.
Where I might be inclined to support a convention center, even if the projected finances didn’t look that great, would be somewhere like Puntarenas. A place like that could use one (and those attending conventions like to be near the beach). But Heredia? It’s already probably the most developed (and traffic congested) area in the country, and I can’t see it being a draw for conventions, the attendees of which will probably go to a place like Puntarenas anyway.