The Liberia Airport is expanding in response to the overwhelming increase in passenger traffic over the last few years.  The expansion will make the arrival and departure process more agile to an already pretty comfortable airport.  We have been hearing reports for a few months, and today The Tico Times reported the planned expansion project.  Here is the article from the Tico Times below.

December 14, 2016 by L. Arias of the Tico Times 

Works to expand and improve Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR), in Liberia, Guanacaste will begin next month, Casa Presidencial confirmed in a  statement.

Airport administrator Corporación Interamericana de Inversiones (CORIPORT) will invest $10.3 million to expand the terminal and increase its current capacity by about 20 percent.

The project, originally planned to start this year, is now scheduled for completion by next November. It consists of building new boarding gates, VIP lounges, shops and offices over an area of 2,633 square meters (some 28,340 square feet). It also involves the renovation of 1,485 square meters (16,000 square ft) of current waiting and baggage claim areas.

The company will install a new X-ray system, new video and audio systems for passenger information, and an improved wireless network for Internet access.

CORIPORT General Manager César Jaramillo said in a news release that the company hopes all these improvements will allow Liberia Airport to continue offering first-class service for travelers. The expansion will also allow the terminal to receive new flights from at least five more airlines in the short term, he said.

Jaramillo said that new Liberia-Denver and Liberia-Mexico City flights are already scheduled to begin operating next year.

Tourism

Daniel Oduber Airport is a key terminal for the tourism industry in Costa Rica, thanks to its proximity to some of the country’s main tourist attractions such as beaches, volcanoes and national parks.

It’s located 12 km (7.5 miles) west of Liberia, approximately 40 Km (35 miles) east of the Papagayo Peninsula, and 79 km northeast of the Tamarindo, Conchal and Flamingo area.  The airport is approximately 220 Km, or 137 miles, from the capital, San José.

CORIPORT expects to end 2016 with a 35 percent increase in the number of travelers compared to last year. The terminal in 2015 received 426,336 visitors, the company reported.

According to a survey conducted by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) in 2015, 98.5 percent of travelers who entered the country through the Liberia Airport came for tourism, pleasure or recreation. Four percent of them have already been in the country and wanted to return. More than half of them travel as a couple, ICT reported.

Tank Tops Flip Flops Newsletter edition no. 95

Crocodile Rock Costa Rica Style

This week Costa Rica celebrates Dia de las Culturas, Cultural Day or Columbus Day as it is called in North America, marking the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ first journey to the Americas. It is a National Holiday. It is a wonderful time to be in this little paradise, as every town has its own flair of celebration. Parades and people line the streets and centers of every pueblo, with marching bands, colored costumes and the local “beauty queen”.  Good times for all, and I highly recommend you stick around next year for it. As I have told you before, they LOVE to party in Latin America.

As with most of the New World, the Conquistadors brought pain and suffering, violence and disrespect, imprisonment and torture to the Native population along with an entire moving van full of diseases. Many of the local Indians succumbed to Measles and Small Pox as they had no natural immunity against them.  Sometimes I wonder if it is still going on LOL.

Costa Rica is one of the healthiest countries in the world. They actually have entire regions known as Blue Zones where many of the locals live to be well over 100 years old; Ten Times the average rate to be exact and the country has a higher life expectancy than most developed countries on the planet. Personally, I have never felt better in my life. I am eating better, breathing clean air, I have very little stress, no cold, no snow and I find myself walking more than I ever did back in the USA. I am almost never sick and neither are any of my Tico friends. If I would quit drinking Pilsen I would lose that last 6 pounds and be fitter. Life is awesome. Yet every September and October, the North American Conquistadors, known as Gringo Tourists, from the Mason Dixon line all the way up through Canada, pile into the metal petri dishes known as airplanes, and bring down their bacteria.