COSTA RICA HAS GREAT PLANS FOR YOUR RETIREMENT
Costa Rica has a solution for the United States' aging baby boomer population.Send them south where they can enjoy a sunny climate, top medical services, a lower cost of living and a stunning natural landscape.
Seven government agencies are collaborating in an effort to develop retirement communities in the so-called Switzerland of the Americas. Launching a promotional campaign and partnering with private developers, they hope to make their country the next “retiree-friendly” Sunshine State.
“This represents a bigger potential for Costa Rica than recreational tourism represented 25 years ago,” said developer Lou Aguilera, who has spearheaded the initiative from the private sector. “The greying of America is irreversible and Costa Rica is in a position to service this population.”
Aguilera expects to break ground on his own retirement community, a joint project with CIMA hospital, in Guanacaste in May. It would be the first community to include extensive medical services and one of the few of its kind existing to date.
Jorge Woodbridge, competitivity minister, estimates the country can attract 10,000 retirees a year from countries like the United States, Canada and Spain, a population which could contribute more than $340 million annually to the local economy and generate 40,000 jobs.
He said promoting Costa Rica as a retirement destination would be building on a pre-existing niche.
Already the country has three internationally-recognized private hospitals; it's a top destination for medical tourism; the climate is cool and favorable along the country's spine and it's a short plane ride away from many destinations in the United States.
“Costa Rica poses significant competitive advantages in positioning itself as a retirement destination,” Woodbridge said.
The consortium of government agencies, which is calling itself Clúster Retirados, is promoting destinations in the interior of the country for further development, such as Lake Arenal, Miramar, Parque de la Amistad and the volcanoes of Guanacaste.
“The great majority of people (who we hope to attract) are active people that look for things to do,” said Marco Vinicio Ruiz, foreign trade minister. “We want to offer them a better environment than what they have … We want to include them in countrywide initiatives, in issues of research and development and ways in which they can collaborate with small or medium-sized businesses.”
He added, “I see this as an enormous opportunity to collaborate.”
For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?
James Allen
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