Grupo Nacion, the most powerful media group in Costa Rica, is restructuring its operations by shutting down two daily newspapers and a monthly magazine. Sports daily Al Dia will cease publishing in late November and home design magazine Su Casa will circulate for the last time in December. The other news daily being axed is Ahora, which was a trial newspaper that aimed to reach younger middle clas...

First there was the Big Mac Index, then the Casado Index and now the Arroz con Pollo (Chicken Rice) Index. Costa Rica has no shortage of innovative and highly informal methods of pointing out the numerous shortcomings of the national economy. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, our country is not as expensive as the Big Mac Index, created by The Economist, suggests. When it comes to pur...

Following an official staff visit (known as a mission) by representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Costa Rica, the mission's preliminary findings have been published with the consent of our country's authorities on finance and economics. You can read the entire text of the Concluding Statement at the IMF website; The Costa Rica Star is pleased to bring you the following highli...

Costa Rica is quickly becoming a hub for regional and international business conventions. For TyreExpo2015, organizers have even scheduled Hall of Fame Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, whom we interviewed in 2011 about the up-and-coming aerospace industry in our country. TyreExpo is the preeminent international trade fair for the tire and accessories industry, bringing together suppliers and buyers ...

UN-Cruise Ship La Pinta Un-Cruise Adventures is a specialty line of cruise ships that emphasize in luxury and adventure on smaller vessels. This unique cruise line is the recipient of the 2016 Reader's Choice Award by Porthole Cruise Magazine, and CEO Dan Blanchard took the opportunity to announce the inclusion of Costa Rica as a destination for the 2016 cruise season. Here's the official pres...

Brightstar Corp. is exactly the type of major foreign direct investment (FDI) that President Luis Guillermo Solis has been trying to bring to Costa Rica. This global supply chain and retail solutions provider for the wireless industry is headquartered in Miami, and its new operations center, located in Barreal de Heredia near the CENADA, is creating 150 jobs. Here's the official press release by t...

The future of one of the most lucrative and controversial crops in Costa Rica is being discussed by major business and agricultural players at the Cariari Double Tree by Hilton near San Jose. The International Pineapple Organization (IPO) Global Pineapple Conference is the world's most important trade meeting on Ananas comosus, a fruit that has resulted in major profits for farmers in Costa Rica w...

With spa vacations and delicious traditional cuisine, officials from the National Tourism Board of Costa Rica (Spanish initials ICT) are currently in London along with 32 tour operators and hoteliers for the 2014 World Travel Market. In preparation for this event, the ICT contacted 25 important tourism business entities in the United Kingdom and key Eruopean markets for the purpose of making our c...

Economists and business leaders gathered this Monday at the San Jose Palacio Hotel to discuss a topic that is in the minds of millions in Costa Rica and others with financial ties to this country: ¿Hacia dónde vamos?  (Where Are We Headed?). The 17 experts agreed that this nation is in deep economic crisis, but they also agreed that not all hope is lost. This business forum was hosted by Summa Con...

Grupo Enjoy, an investor group in Costa Rica working with 100 percent domestic capital, is preparing to unveil its latest $2.5 million investment in early November. According to finance reporter Evelyn Fernandez of business weekly El Financiero, Grupo Enjoy will welcome diners to the very first P.F. Chang's China Bistro in Costa Rica, located in the ritzy Avenida Escazú, on November 3rd. Reader...

In late 2014, the sashay will no longer be confined to San Jose. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is Costa Rica’s most prominent event for the haute couture and prêt-à-porter industries, but until recently this extravaganza only took place in the lovable city of San Jose. In recent years, however, the Guanacaste region has been flourishing in terms of fashion design. To this end, Allan Andino of nat...

The exclusive and stylish Redken brand of hair care has a new location in Costa Rica, specifically at the Paseo de las Flores shopping plaza in Heredia. Redken Laboratories is a global leader in the hair salon industry, and the company’s certified salons are subject to rigorous standards of quality. The first Loft Redken salon opened in Escazu at the Plaza Golden shopping center a few years ago; i...

San Jose, Costa Rica (PRWEB) October 26, 2014 Skål International announces Rios Tropicales, Costa Rica’s leading adventure company, as the winner of its 2014 Sustainable Tourism Award in the category of Tour Operators. What began in 1985 as a simple dream to pursue a love of paddling, provide jobs for fellow Costa Ricans and support rainforest land protection developed into Rios Tropicales, Cos...

A stem cell research company firm is opening an office in Costa Rica, according to a press release issued by the Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. In Costa Rica, clinical trials and stem cell research on humans was a gray area of the law for about four years. One of the last Executive Decrees signed by former President Laura Chinchilla gave more freedom to stem cell research in Costa Rica, which ha...

Even though ratings agency Moody’s recently downgraded sovereign bonds issued by the Central Bank of Costa Rica as junk, President Luis Guillermo Solis has been busy courting investors from the United States and is planning on visiting Canada soon for the same reason. Costa Rica plans to issue $1 billion more in bonds next year, and President Solis is still intent on gaining entry into the Organiz...

Source: Flickr Just in time for Christmas, residents who live near La Sabana Metropolitan Park in the lovable city of San Jose will be able to enjoy a wide selection of arabica coffee beans from around the world, including one strain from Costa Rica, at the fifth Starbucks cafe to open in this country. According to market reporter Cristina Fallas Villalobos of business weekly El Financiero, th...

Punta Loros, a planned luxury resort and development property that spans 800 acres in the Central Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, recently tendered its environmental impact study to the Technical and Environmental Secretariat (Spanish acronym: SETENA). The study is an important part of the compliance process required to make this ambitious project a reality. According to a news report by Spani...

Wikimedia Commons One of the most vexatious telemarketers in Costa Rica, at least  in the financial services arena, is undergoing a major restructuring process that will see its retail banking operations significantly reduced before they are completely gone. Citigroup, one of United States banks that required millions upon millions of dollars in bailout funds from the Federal Reserve and Treas...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Amidst a growing smuggling trade in cigarettes, the Law 9028 on Tobacco Control and Its Harmful Effects on Health has also impacted the once-thriving tobacco industry in Costa Rica. According to a recent press release by market research firm Euromonitor International, tobacco industry executives in Costa Rica has responded with pricing and marketing strategies within ...

  Source: Gamping.com Airbnb, Viviun and HomeAway are three of the various online platforms used by property owners in Costa Rica to offer their homes for short-term rentals to foreign visitors. A similar business model is being offered by gamping.com, a new site that is being advertised as a sort of “Airbnb for campers.” Gamping is a portmanteau of “garden” and “camping,” and this tou...

A controversial multi-level marketing (MLM) system based in Canada recently announced the inauguration of a new chapter in Costa Rica. The name of this MLM system is Organo Gold, and its main feature is instant coffee. The Facebook Timeline of Organo Gold Costa Rica posted a message on October 4th that stated:   Today we make history as thousands of people in Costa Rica who have believed ...

Costa Rica is one of the latest Latin American countries added to the GoodSpeed international data service. GoodSpeed is a device that creates a personal mobile Wi-Fi hotspot offering affordable Internet access on the go. With the addition of Costa Rica and various other countries in the Americas, GoodSpeed now offers wireless broadband coverage in 50 percent of the world. According to Uros, th...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Starting next year, a television and mixed martial arts (MMA) event production company based in Spain will commence donating a portion of its profits towards the acquisition of books and computers as well as for the construction of small schools in Costa Rica and other nations. The company is Batalla MMA Fight Entertainment, and the proceeds donated will be managed by...

Auto Mercado, an upscale supermarket chain in Costa Rica, has opened its 17th grocery store. The new Auto Mercado is located one mile west of the Catholic church of San Francisco, a once bucolic municipality in Heredia that has been transformed into a sprawling suburb of the lovable city of San Jose.     As reported by Cristina Fallas Villalobos of business weekly El Financi...

Upon the arrival of the off-season (or "low season" as it's known here in Costa Rica) most small businesses downshift by reducing prices, scope of services, hours of operation, and staff. Some folks just close their doors and go on vacation. Many also slow down or completely stop their marketing efforts, citing reduced resources and capital intake.   Editor's Note: We have updated this ...

  Source: Twitter The iPhone 6 has arrived in Costa Rica ahead of schedule, but both shoppers and shopkeepers are wary about “Bendgate” and the “Dali Edition” of the iPhone 6 Plus, the latest and largest version of the revolutionary smartphone that was historically introduced by the late Steve Jobs back in 2007.   According to a recent news story by Alejandro Mendez of natio...

It has been more than a year since The Costa Rica Star reported on the gruesome murder of a woman in Guanacaste who died at the hands of her jilted lover. The killer confessed to the homicide by posting messages on WhatsApp, an instant messaging platform with social networking features that has become as popular as Facebook in Costa Rica. Media reports of that ghastly incident raised popularity an...

Clients of Banco Nacional, Costa Rica's largest bank in terms of deposits and account holders, were targeted this weekend by an email phishing attack that was detected by members of the financial institution's online security team after some of their customers reported suspicious activity.   The official announcement was posted on bnmascerca.com, which is Banco Nacional's online portal ...

Source: J. Martinez & Co Gourmet coffee is one of the most refined and appropriate gifts for business executives. Connoisseurs of java in the United States know that coffee from Costa Rica is considered to be among the most tasteful and sensibly priced in the world. If you are looking for alternatives to Cafe Britt and Starbucks, you will be pleased to learn that J. Martinez & Company ...

  Source: Flickr Commons One of the most derided provisions of taxation in the United States is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which is a topic that The Costa Rica Star has previously discussed more than once. This overreaching law, which has not yet entered a period of strict enforcement, has already led to the renunciation of U.S. citizenship by expats around the wor...

Have you ever used Twitter to plan your trip to Costa Rica? If you haven't, you may be missing out on special offers, travel giveaways and crucial information that could make your sojourn more enjoyable. Thanks to digital marketing initiatives managed by the government's Board of Tourism (Spanish initials: ICT), our country has a very solid presence on Twitter. For example, a quick Twitter search ...

Just a few days after Costa Rica celebrated National Coffee Day, Banco Nacional and various organizations dedicated to advancing the interests of this valuable commodity are holding a special fair and expo at the Antigua Aduana (Old Customs Building) in San Jose until 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 21st. Doors open at 9:00 in the morning, and 100 small businesses dedicated to cultivation, roasting, ...

  Source: Gekkotel The next ecotourism lodge in Costa Rica could be financed through a method that involves funds pledged by many people whose return-on-investment (ROI) expectations are minimal. Gecko Tail Holdings is a tour and hotel operator based in San Jose and Toronto that is launching a crowdfunding campaign to help raise money for a down payment on a new hotel.   Tho...

  Source: Wikimedia Commons Specialized housekeeping and nanny services, on-call chefs who cook on demand at the residences of their clients, limousine transport, and personalized security are some of the luxury services that are going through a burgeoning phase and could see a brighter future in Costa Rica. To a certain extent, these services could be offered by expats who have not on...

Source: SWAmedia.com The low-cost airline is popular among budget travelers in the United States, and it will be a welcome addition to the various carriers that connect North America with Costa Rica. The announcement explains that the route will connect the Thurgood Marshall International Airport in the Washington-Baltimore region with the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO). Following...

Source: Apple Technology giant Apple is looking beyond its iPod, iPhone and iPad legacy. After the sad passing of co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, the bar was set at an extremely high level for current CEO Tim Cook. At a recent special event organized by Apple for tech news media, Mr. Cook unveiled an ambitious project that seeks to conquer the burgeoning wearable computing market: The Ap...

Just one of the many firms reducing their presence in Costa Rica Economists and public officials who oversee business and industry in Costa Rica are extremely worried about the ongoing exodus of foreign firms that are moving their operations to other countries. This bleeding of capital has been taking place over the last few years, and it became exacerbated in recent days with the announcement...

Source: Bing Creative Commons The Internet marketing realm was recently shaken up by what analysts are calling an email faux pas by burgeoning social network Pinterest. Millions of messages congratulating Pinterest members on their upcoming weddings were accidentally sent to women who are not actually planning to get married. The reaction on Twitter was swift.   According to the Was...

Source: Bing Creative Commons From December 19th to January 2014, United Airlines will increase the number of non-stop flights to the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) from the following departure locations: George Bush International Airport in Houston and Newark Liberty International in New Jersey. United Airlines plans to assign Boeing 737-800 aircraft to these additional flights; ...

4-inch solar cell. Source: Wikimedia Commons Businesspeople from across major industries in Costa Rica met on Tuesday, September 2nd to outline a plan to promote the use of electricity generated by solar energy. The rising costs of electricity in Costa Rica are being cited as the main cause of an ongoing loss of competitive edge in the modern concept of trade and global business.   ...