Costa Rica´s hotel and tourism operators take gloomy view of upcoming tourism season. Hotel occupancy to drop, they claim

Hotel and tour operators in Costa Rica are not very optimistic about the country's hotel occupancy for the coming high season. Even less if you review the results compared to the high season of November 2009 to March 2010 where the occupancy reached 70 percent.

Gustavo Araya, a spokesman for the hoteliers, said that it will be very difficult to exceed the figure of the 2009-2010 period and estimated occupancy in hotels this season to reach 60 or 65 percent.

"The end of the year is a busy tourist period. In the last decade, averaging 26 percent growth in tourist arrivals to the country in December compared to November, plus increased holiday family outings, but this season the situation is much less encouraging", said Araya.

Original source: Inside Costa Rica