The Business Opportunities in Costa Rica has Drawn More Investors
Costa Rica had always been a popular destination but lately, their various sectors have shown exceptional growth and large investments coming in. The industries included here are the production of bananas and coffee then exporting them; as well as a flourishing tourism industry. In addition, the modern service bases are showing growth while Costa Rica works hard to take on necessities. Aside from that, there are other business opportunities in Costa Rica.
Principal Economic Activity
Due to how their economy has been moving, they recognize Costa Rica as an improving country in different aspects. These are in the branches of tourism, service, and agriculture. Even if these are the industries where the country gets most of its income, due to the advancement of technology in the last 20 years, they have invested more. They allocate it to industrial manufacturing in general and specialized areas. Since then, their economy has changed.
There are 2 parts here focusing on the facets of Costa Rica. It is for you to know more about the impeccable opportunities in this country. The fields that will be pointed out are the traditional tourism industries and modern markets. These modern markets are like producing and exporting electronic components.
Costa Rican Tourism
For several decades, tourism has contributed a lot to its economy. Back in 2015, 5.8% of the country’s GDP is from tourism, which is the 2nd biggest in their continent only after Panama. It continuously increases through time. In the 1st 3 months of 2018, their recorded income was $1.81 million, which is a 7.2% increase compared to the same time in 2017. In the last 9 years, this trend was the response to an excellent commercial effort to improve the country’s image. Furthermore, the infrastructure with a lot of routes to be built also experienced improvement.
Opening of Tourism Sector
The population support tourism in the country. They can speak an intermediate level of English and an incomparable quality of life. According to the study, Costa Rica has been named as one of the happiest countries today. This index has brought in more tourists ever since.
Categories of Tourists in Costa Rica
Coastal – Costa Rica is known for its natural beauty and resources. The country is the border of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which means there are a lot of beautiful beaches ad coastal areas. Tourists from Europe and North America visit these beaches often. Moreover, Costa Rica is an excellent surfing spot because of the strong tides that attract surf enthusiasts. The World Surf Championship was held here twice.
Adventure Seekers – Costa Rica is popular for its mountain ranges and irresistible coastlines. They can do a lot of adventurous sports here like abseiling, zip-lining, rafting, and others because of the mountain areas in the country. Tourists who go to Costa Rica for this specifically go to Monteverde.
Medical Purposes – This latest trend is becoming popular because of the country’s low medical cost in comparison to the top professional doctors and private healthcare institutions. Medical procedures such as plastic surgery, dental surgery, and small operations are bringing in more tourists.
Conferences and Conventions – This is a fresh trend in Costa Rica which caused the building of the National Centre for Conventions and Conferences with a capacity of 5600. This is their newest expansion project for holding conventions. Even if it is not a typical tourism sector, Costa Rican Tourism gave an investment of $35 million because they believe in the project.
Electronic Components
In the Beginning
The start of this industry happened in the latter part of the 20th century, the same time when Intel arrived. This is a time when the country was recognized for good production and a source of innovative technology. As the years went by, Costa Rica gained more competitive globally in this area and enticed investors to put money in the country.
Growth
In the 10 years that have passed, Costa Rica has been a top provider of electronic components that ship their products to leading countries. Costa Rica was the 2nd biggest provider of electronic components in the USA in 2010 and the top spot was China. More than 10% of the imported products from the USA were from Costa Rica.
Costa Rica’s Competitiveness
- The population is highly educated with close to zero illiteracy, their primary and secondary education is free, and professionals invest in technology careers. The careers received support as a tactic to push the country as one of the economically free nations in the world.
- The convenience of discovering skilled and bilingual workers to build relationships with markets that are bilingual or speaks English. They easily allowed the solicitation of the bilingual workforce making it as a strength of the country. Therefore, there was an easy interaction between English and Hispanic customers.
- The country’s political and legal climate is greatly favourable and has no problem exporting electronic components. There are tax exemptions implies to customer-free sectors, free-market niches that bring a huge amount of business to Costa Rica and its entire economy.
- The vanishing relationship between Mexico and the USA is also important in boosting the platform of Costa Rica. As a result, Costa Rica rose to become a major player and the trade has doubled between the USA and Costa Rica in 2000.
Investment from Companies
One of the things that demonstrate the growth of precision goods is when Microtechnologies announced its investment of $15 million. The investment fund will go to the development of a modern manufacturing plant and will boost 30% of its present locations. The company promised to produce automotive parts, aerospace and medical sectors.
The sector is a unique export market in comparison to coffee or fruit, but its progression moves towards strategizing business opportunities and a source of Foreign District Investment. This also creates more jobs for the people living in Costa Rica and their economy has a steady movement and technological dependency, which means growth for the electronic component industry.
For the past 4 years, the energy consumption of Costa Rica is almost 100% which are demands met by renewable resources. Costa Rica only produced clean energy from January 2014 to and of 2017, which is a total of 1000 days. Although, Costa Rica has limited electricity production investment coming from private companies.
Clean Energy Production
Costa Rica aims to become a pioneering country in Latin Country that uses only 100% renewable energy by 2021. It is achievable. From January 2014 to June 30, 2018, Costa Rica used 98% of the electricity from sources of renewable energy. This is a total of 1197 days.
Private Investment in Costa Rica
They allow both the public and private institutions to use renewable energy sources. From 2006 to 2013, almost $1.7 billion from foreign investors was for the production of renewable energy.
Costa Rica was the 1st to produce win energy in Latin America. In 2017, the people consume 11.5% of the energy in Costa Rica that comes from wind. This sector is mostly present in Guanacaste and the Tilaran region has the strongest winds the entire year.
Market Opportunities
The biogas is another energy source of Costa Rica. It has produced about 1% of what the country consumed from 2014 to 2017. Maybe they found top marketing opportunities in projects that aim to improve solar and wind energy, and these have lower rates of production in Costa Rica. Since they are less useful sources in Costa Rica, they don’t link it to the cost in these production methods. $0 is the cost of wind and solar energy in Costa Rica.
Development of Solar Energy for Infrastructure
It is a belief that they undervalue the production of solar energy in Costa Rica. It led to undiscovered potential in the sector of national solar energy. The Inter-American Development Bank study the production system of national electricity. The study shows that usage of solar energy together with short-term hydroelectric storage in locations with low water were “excellent”. This is the highest score they can get.
Moreover, Costa Rica is coming up with an action plan for technological development. It reduces solar and winds energy production costs. This year, they approve a loan that came from Inter-American Development Bank which amounted $500 million. They use it in producing and developing other sources of energy.
The government of Costa Rica has come up with a lot of plans. It is to aim to encourage renewable energy production and alternative energy sources development. For instance, the University of Costa Rica conducted a study entitled “40 business ideas for the future of Costa Rica”. It is where they start to research the chances of energy generation activity development by using hydrogen and plasma-based technology. This is clearly a sign that you can set up a business in Costa Rica and helped the country gain more independence and strength.