Costa Rica Property: The Medical Tourism Factor

Costa Rica has been named as one of the top destinations for health tourism, a growing industry of people travelling abroad to have cosmetic surgery that is too costly back home. Other countries in the top 5 were Malaysia, Panama, India and Brazil.

These countries are most popular because of their advanced, high quality health services, and low costs. Malaysia and India attract people from all over the world, as do Costa Rica Brazil, and Panama, but the latter three attract the most U.S. citizens, because of the above reasons as well as their Americanised cultures.

Costa Rica's medical tourism industry is one part of the economy that has been growing lately, and experts predict this is a market sector that will continue to see growth for the foreseeable future, especially given that these places are developing people's trust having been popular with medical tourists for a few years now, and benefiting from word of mouth. Trust is an integral part of a developing country becoming popular with medical tourists.

David Stanley Redfern releases have touched on the growing medical tourism industry in Costa Rica before, but only that growth in the sector will continue Costa Rica's ability to grow economically, and how the incoming visitors are strengthening the rental market in Costa Rica.

The factors not mentioned were, that countries like Costa Rica, in order to maintain their reputation as a medical tourism destination, must make themselves attractive to specialist surgeons from more advanced countries. To do this they rely on the ability to provide high quality rented accommodation. This is excellent news for the Costa Rica property market.

Medical tourism is yet another growing string to Costa Rica's economic bow, which already has unique tourist attracting features, like the fact that it boasts five percent of the world's ecology, in only 0.003% of the world's land mass. But other places in Latin America have equally rich and diverse ecological systems; Costa Rica is set apart by its stability and safety, making it ideal for family holidays.

Costa Ricans readily boast that their country has no need for an army, the country is so peaceful that schoolchildren oversee election parades, and there are more doctors in the country than policemen and women. Perhaps the latter feature played a part in Costa Rica ranking above the U.S. in a recent study into world health services, and also plays a part in Costa Rica's success in the new medical tourism phenomenon.

Find out more about Off Plan Property and Emerging Property Markets.

About DSR Asset Management

DSR is an overseas property investment specialist, working directly with developers in more than forty countries. All properties are exclusive to DSR , giving an unparalleled selection of resale and new builds.

Please direct all media queries, requests for press information and editorial details, to media@davidstanleyredfern.com

David Redfern is the director of DSR Asset Management an overseas property investment specialist. David works closely with developers in more than forty countries and oversees the DSR education programme which lectures individuals and organisations on property investment. Advertise Your Private Overseas Property

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Costa Rica: Economic Strength by Adaptation

The Costa Rican government has announced that its economy will not suffer a downturn from the U.S. slump. For the first time in 50 years the Costa Rican government was left with a $174million budget surplus. It is expected that the U.S. slump will do no more than limit Costa Rica's growth to 3.8%, down from 6.8% last year. Costa Rica has long been one of the best developed Latin American countries, because of forward thinking leadership.

Disbanding the military in the 70s freed up millions of dollars to develop the country's health and education sectors as well as the infrastructure. Thanks to that move, Costa Rica has a 95% literacy rate and one of the best educated populations in the Southern Hemisphere.

From starting life as a banana republic reliant on Banana and coffee exports, Costa Rica now has flourishing hi-tech and medical manufacture and export sectors, and services sector, on top of a rapidly growing tourism sector and successfully diversified agricultural export sector.

The hi-tech sector has attracted companies like Panasonic and Intel, the latter having invested some $800million into Costa Rica's coughers, with plans to invest a further $90million this year. 11,000 Costa Ricans are employed in the hi-tech industry, and hi tech exports were valued at over $2million in 2005. The fact that Intel has invested so heavily and continues to invest shows that it is still a growth sector. Working from developing countries like Costa Rica keeps costs down and profits up -- a portion of which is then reinvested in said developing country thus keeping the growth cycle going.

The agriculture sector has had to diversify because of regional competition and a changing global economy, but Costa Rica's agricultural industry has stayed strong by changing with the market. Costa Rica has complimented its original coffee and banana exports with pineapples, watermelons, papaya and tropical flowers, as well as diversifying agricultural methods to capitalise on new fair-trade exports, and luxury organic produce.

Costa Rica's perhaps less talked about industry is its flourishing services sector, with companies like Western Union, Microsoft, Unisys and Oracle operating call centres in the country.

Tourism to Costa Rica grew by 10.6% 2006-2007, receiving over 1.6 million visitors last year. Costa Rica has also been clever enough to diversify its tourism industry to keep up with demand, and is now offering eco-tourism holidays and medical tourism (plastic surgery) holidays.

This ability to adapt to changes in the global economy makes the outlook for Costa Rica's economy bright, and a property investment there even brighter.

Find out more about Off Plan Property and Emerging Property Markets.

About DSR Asset Management

DSR is an overseas property investment specialist, working directly with developers in more than forty countries. All properties are exclusive to DSR , giving an unparalleled selection of resale and new builds.

Please direct all media queries, requests for press information and editorial details, to media@davidstanleyredfern.com

David Redfern is the director of DSR Asset Management an overseas property investment specialist. David works closely with developers in more than forty countries and oversees the DSR education programme which lectures individuals and organisations on property investment. Advertise Your Private Overseas Property

FootPrints SEO is search engine marketing and online marketing agency based in the UK.
© 2009 Footprints-SEO.com

Hunt for the Next Spain Part II: Costa Rica

Costa Rica made it into my list of top ten destinations in the world to make a property investment in, and is certainly a contender for the country to become as popular and as successful for property investors as Spain is and has been respectively.

Ok, the property isn't the cheapest but there is massive potential for profit. Costa Rica is a gorgeous place -- positively vibrant. It has both a Caribbean and Pacific coastline, which not only gives it fantastic beaches, but also allows visitors and property investors a choice of climate, humid heat or dry heat -- it is cool in the centre.

Lush vegetation, jungles, tropical plant-life, and awe-inspiring volcanoes, as well as sun, sea and surf are all attracting tourists and property investors. On top of its aesthetic benefits Costa Rica is one of the most secure and stable of all the Central American countries. It also has a really good infrastructure.

In fact, the stage is set for Costa Rica to enjoy massive and sustainable growth for the foreseeable future -- in every industry. Costa Rica just signed the CAFTA, Central America Free Trade Agreement, its major export: micro-processors is a growth industry, on top of all other famous South American export goods like Coffee and Cocoa, and that is before we even mention tourism.

Like I said Costa Rica can easily rival Spain, the popular Caribbean resorts already rival Spain, but they are out of most people's price ranges. Costa Rica's emerging state means living costs are low so it provides an excellent low-cost Caribbean holiday. Little wonder that rental yields are very rarely under 12%.

Dominican Republic offers the cheapest Caribbean holiday, and the cheapest property, but for the extra money Costa Rica surpasses because of its infrastructure and stability. Costa Rica also has a very competitive taxation system; the first $2,698 earned from rental is exempt from taxation, after that it is taxed progressively between 10% and 25%. Capital Gains tax is not charged unless it is from a recurring (habitual) transaction, inheritance and gift tax is only 1-2%, and total round-trip transaction costs are a moderate 8.58 - 13.58%.

In short Costa Rica is doing everything right to ensure it sees continued growth, in its export industry in foreign direct investment and GDP growth, making it well worth considering as a destination for an overseas property investment.

Find out more about Off Plan Property and Emerging Property Markets.

About DSR Asset Management

DSR is an overseas property investment specialist, working directly with developers in more than forty countries. All properties are exclusive to DSR , giving an unparalleled selection of resale and new builds.

Please direct all media queries, requests for press information and editorial details, to media@davidstanleyredfern.com

David Redfern is the director of DSR Asset Management an overseas property investment specialist. David works closely with developers in more than forty countries and oversees the DSR education programme which lectures individuals and organisations on property investment. Advertise Your Private Overseas Property

FootPrints SEO is search engine marketing and online marketing agency based in the UK.
© 2009 Footprints-SEO.com