128Canopy Blog

On Wednesday October 8th, the Atlantic Coast town of Limon received its first cruise ship of the season marking the beginning of the 2008 cruise season in Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast.

The province of Limon is quite optimistic as it expects a 21% increase in tourist arrivals for this year compared to last season. The first cruise ship to reach the port of Limon is the Coral Princess with a total of 2,800 passengers.

Although Limon does not offer a developed infrastructure, it does offer spectacular and pristine landscapes.  Exuberant and dense rainforest unfold right on the beach providing the most idyllic and breathtaking scenarios.

Tourism authorities expect to receive at least 125 cruise ships this season which will carry on until April 2009.  However, due to the overwhelming permit requests on behalf of cruise companies to dock at port Limon, the season may extend all the way to July 2009.

Due to the increasing visit requests from cruise companies, Limon authorities have set an ambitious goal to have a year round cruise season in the region.  For this season, authorities are expecting an approximate 230,000 tourists.

The 21% increase in visitors is not only due to the amount of ships including Limon within their itinerary, but also that the ships that will be docking at Limon have a much larger passenger capacity than from previous years.

The main challenge the province and town of Limon face is infrastructure.  They are well aware that a modernization plan and budget is urgent so that visitors will want to remain longer on shore visiting attractions and engaging in adventure tours.