Introduction
Richard Bexon: Hey, Don Richard. It’s a pleasure to see you again. Doing well. Thank you.
Bary Roberts: Fantastic. I was trying to think last time we had you on here, it’s probably about a year ago actually. How time flies.
Richard Bexon: Well, it does. Well, you’ve been lucky. You haven’t had to see me that often.
Bary Roberts: Not that we haven’t tried, it’s just, you know, it’s. Yeah, but I mean, look, I mean you’ve got your fingers in many pies, but I think you’ve definitely got your fingers on the pulse of tourism here in Costa Rica. And I think, you know, as I said prior to coming into this, I don’t think that people understand of like if you look at the tourism stats, it’s going to give you an indicator on vacation rentals, it’s going to give you an indicator on development and also kind of real estate in the country as well. And there’s more tourists coming in, there’s more people buying that stuff and more people using it. But how did 2024 end up for like Costa Rica and tourism, Barry?
2024 Tourism Performance Analysis
Bary Roberts: Well, that’s interesting and I would add to what you just said though, that there’s a delay in between one and the other groups. I mean, you know, there’ll be a period of delay which I don’t know exactly how much it is, but there is a delay from one to the other. 2024 was very interesting because it started off with a very strong high season which is from mid December through Easter. And so we, we had a very high first quarter which was very, very interesting and record setting to a certain degree. But I think it was still like the last flutters of the, of the revenge tourism from COVID You know, I mean, seems like that was finally it. And then since September we’ve started to see a decrease which is every month a little less 10%, 7% less etc than last year. And the, the forward looking trend is in the same direction, going down. So last year we ended up with a, with a, a record high of air arrivals, but not of tourism. And that’s something that needs to be clarified to people because what happened is that the government, in order to improve its public standing, change the way of measuring tourism visitation from total tourists to just air tourists. Air arrivals and air arrivals did increase, but in total tourists were still below 2019, interestingly enough. So.
Richard Bexon: But Barry, you don’t think that, I mean the real tourist is arriving by air though, if that makes sense. Like they’re not crossing, they’re not crossing borders from Nicaragua or Panama per se. I mean, maybe it’s cruises a little bit, but.
Bary Roberts: Well, there’s a little bit of everything. And part of what, part of what you have to see is, for example, that you have people that are coming into Costa Rica, getting off the plane in the area and getting on a bus and going straight to Nicaragua.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: And then coming back a few days later, getting on a plane and going back home. So you have a different, a different set of circumstances. I mean, in immigration’s record we have people coming in and out, but in effect, they didn’t stay here, they stayed in Nicaragua or they stayed in Boca del Toro from Panama or something like that. So there is, there is a variety of things. They’re also, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of tourism that comes in off the cruise ships and that would stay here. They would make their trip to here through a boat and then stay here for, for some time. And that’s not happening. And so in general, we have a, we have a, an interesting point, but I think that you have to remember that tourism is at least generally a six month window from when you reserve and when you travel.
Richard Bexon: Yep.
Bary Roberts: That’s maybe an average. And so what you had last this, this past quarter, the first quarter of 2024 was probably booked in the middle of, of 2023.
Richard Bexon: Yep.
Exchange Rate and Security Concerns
Bary Roberts: And at that point, at that point you had a different exchange rate than what you had when they came. And when people came, they hit with a 30 increase in their cost because of the devaluation of the dollar next to the Costa Rica cologne, which is an absurdity if you ask, if you want to know. But, but that obviously made an impact and that’s having an impact on people not returning. Remember, a very high percentage of people who travel to Costa Rica come back one or two times a year, you know, even for a weekend and stuff like that. Because our main market, almost 70% is the US and that’s short flights. So we have a lot of repeat customers. And yet now with all this increase in cost and the insecurity factor, then we have, we have things happening because it was in February or March that the embassy came out with another warning on security, the U.S. embassy. So the State Department is not going to do these things if they didn’t have data on it. Obviously they’re saying things that are serious and worrisome. And so in effect what that happened is now it’s, now we’re starting to take a result on that. And it’s a shame because we shouldn’t be in that condition. We shouldn’t be in that situation. We’re losing market to Colombia very seriously. We’re losing market to Dominican Republic. I mean, yes, some people say Dominican Republic is not the same kind of product as Costa Rica, but when you have a 30, 40% difference in price structure, all of a sudden it looks a little bit more attractive, you know.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
High-End Development vs. Market Challenges
Bary Roberts: And so this is, this is something that’s been, that’s been weighing on us in terms of, of the development of tourism. There have been some interesting things coming out. You have, for, you know, the Ritz Carlton opening up. You have a few other key. The Waldorf Astoria. Yeah, the Waldorf Astoria. But then you have six senses cancelling.
Richard Bexon: Yep.
Bary Roberts: You have other things like that. And why did they cancel? Well, there’s various reasons, but I’m sure the exchange rate cutting off 30% of your profit has had a lot to do with it. And particularly because that was started in 2016, the planning for it and the costing of it. And then the, the, the exchange rate went crazy after they came back from having frozen from pandemia. Then, you know, Covid, then it’s, it’s had an influence, but in general, you know, it’s, it’s, I don’t know, it’s, it’s a strange situation. I think we came out all right. We did okay in terms of tourism, but we also had a marked change in terms of the quality of the tourists. We have a continuous increase or a higher percentage increase in the upper echelon groups than in the three, four star groups. And this is having a serious impact in Costa Rica because 90% of our hotels and companies in tourism are small mom and pop operations and 80% of our hotels are less than 40 rooms. So they’re small hotels and those are the ones who have not seen the growth factor that the high end hotels have seen and the high end market has seen. But on top of that, then you have to add the fact that the Airbnb, the short term rentals has increased tremendously. So we’re getting close to 40% of all tourists coming to Costa Rica staying in in rentals. And that’s having a very serious effect of, of eating away at the hotel occupation. It’s actually has some hotels changing over floors of their hotels into Air B rentals just to try to keep up. But it’s also having a very serious effect on the local communities. Because it’s increasing the cost of rent and the cost of living so much that people are having to move farther and farther away from where they work to be able to pay the rent that is being charged because the Airbnb is raising all the rates. So I’m very, I’m very. You know, what can I say? It’s been a good year in terms of numbers that we did not take advantage of, let’s put it that way. We lost a lot of. We lost a lot of advantage. We lost a lot of benefits that we could have had if things had been handled properly, basically by the government in terms of the exchange rate and the security factor.
Currency Manipulation Analysis
Richard Bexon: Let me ask you about that, Barry, because my sense is, you know, I mean, I watch currencies constantly because I constantly do stuff in Europe and I’m like, well, you know, the dollars at, like, is it an all time strength against the pound that I’ve seen in a long time and with the dot and the euro? And I’m like, why is that not happening to the cologne? Like, is it being manipulated? Because it doesn’t make any sense, Barry.
Bary Roberts: Oh, it is totally manipulated. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, it’s not a natural exchange rate. This is a forced exchange rate. Because there is law here in Costa Rica that people don’t understand relative to the fiscal law that says that if your foreign Debt is over 60% of your gross national product, if it represents more than 60% of your gross national product, you cannot increase salaries to the public sector, you cannot increase in investments in certain areas. And the public sector is 350,000 employees.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: So they and their families represent a lot of votes. And so what they’ve been trying to do is bring it down so that this year, which is an electoral year, they can raise salaries.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: And that’s the only reason they’re doing it because in effect, you know, and also because they lower the, they lower the, the, what they call the debt structure. Because it’s a false change in the debt structure because you still have to pay that many dollars, just that you’re buying them with, look, with, with less colones. Yeah, you see, so it’s, it’s really a, a crazy thing. And, and all the major economists have been very clear to point this out. There’s a few that will back up the government craziness. History of, of Chavez, who’s the president and what he did in, in Asia when he was the head of the World Bank. He, he of the, of the office there. He applied the same strategy. And it was, it, it bounced on them completely. And they, they saw exactly what we’re seeing now. We’re seeing all the Dells and the thought. So, so we know it’s not a good strategy. It’s not a good financial strategy, and it’s hurting us very, very much. We’ve lost a lot of companies. We’ve lost a lot of people.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Employment Trends in Tourism
Bary Roberts: Business. I mean, look at, look, let me point it out to you in a different way. When in 2019, we had 2,600,000 employee visitors, let’s say, and we had 250,000 direct employees. Okay. Because of pandemic and everything, we dropped to 160,000, but we also dropped in the number of tourists. But then now we’re back up to the number of tourists, let’s say, and we only have, we’re not totally there, but we’re up to a close to it, maybe 7% below, but we have 180, 190,000 employees. So what does that mean? That we’re providing more services with less people?
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: And that’s not a formula for raising standards.
Government’s Approach to Tourism
Richard Bexon: Well, see, I mean, the interesting thing here is just that you don’t. Maybe I don’t listen to the news enough because I really don’t. The government doesn’t talk that much about tourism, man. Like, it’s a huge part of its gdp, direct and indirect, but really it doesn’t seem to be part of anyone’s manifesto or they never really talk about it.
Bary Roberts: Well, that’s a very interesting thing. And that’s part of the historical dilemma that tourism has in Costa Rica. The fact that we are so many very small companies spread out throughout the country, all over the place, means we don’t get together and become a group, pressure the government. So we’re not like, I mean, we have people who, let’s say the coffee, the coffee growers can paralyse the government if they want to. And there are only 30,000 of them.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: There’s, you know, think of how many there are in tourism. And we’re not, we’re not getting the same kind of effect. So that’s the kind of things that we’re seeing in terms of, of why they don’t care and also because they know that, that we are affected by so many things that, that it’s going to jump on their face this year. It’s going to hit them in the face.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: They have been playing with it for too long and this year it’s going to bounce back and it’s A boomerang this year is going to be a boomerang on them in terms of tourism.
Outlook for 2025
Richard Bexon: Well, I mean, I was going to ask you for your prediction for 2025, but I mean, it sounds like, you know, and I’m in agreement it’s not going to be a repeat of 2024. I mean, I think it’s going to. The water level is going to be less.
Bary Roberts: Absolutely, absolutely. It’s going to be less and, and it’s going to be less and it’s going to keep on going down less. And we’re more and more problems of cash flow in companies and we’re going to have more and more closings of different properties and things like that. So it’s, it’s a real shame to see that when the potential is enormous, because when you look at what the world tourism demand from the US and from Europe, which are two major markets, and specifically the us, the Costa Rican product is the ideal product.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: So we should be booming and up and, and growing and, and, you know, really getting in there. And yet we’re going the way around. Why? Because of insecurity, but mostly because of cost of living.
Richard Bexon: Yeah, I agree.
Price Competitiveness Concerns
Bary Roberts: I mean, it’s just, it’s just too expensive here in Costa Rica. It’s much more expensive to go out to dinner here than it is to eat in Madrid or even New York.
Richard Bexon: I mean, Europe, Europe is cheap compared to Costa Rica.
Bary Roberts: Absolutely. So how, and how do you explain that? There’s no reality that backs that up. It’s purely mythical.
Richard Bexon: It’s mythical and that’s an exchange rate.
Bary Roberts: But there you go. And so, so that’s, that’s where we have the problem. That’s why we have a situation that, that is going to be a very negative one for us in this, in the future. In a way, in a way I’m, I’m not too sad because I think that we can, we can, like we always have, we can use these problems to generate a better situation.
Richard Bexon: Yep.
Bary Roberts: I mean, it takes, it takes a few slaps in the face so that we react and, and respond, but then we can come that are a lot better, a lot more strategic and a lot more intelligent. And I think, for example, that the use utilisation of artificial intelligence, for example, will become a lot bigger in this year and we’ll be able to assimilate that and then be able to automatize a lot of our processes and therefore liberate the time of our personnel to be more dedicated to taking care of tourists and doing a better personalization process on our services. And I think that’s going to be good, might help us. I mean, we’re competing even though, I mean, Costa Rica is so well positioned as a brand. We’re competing even without, with a price. And that’s the excuse the government is using is, oh, people will buy it, they’ll pay for it because it’s such a good product. Yeah, right.
Richard Bexon: To an extent.
Bary Roberts: To an extent, no.
Strategic Advice for Tourism Businesses
Richard Bexon: So, I mean, if you are a hotel vacation rental owner or tourism business owner, I know that you do a lot of consulting. Barry, what would, what would be your advice for them? I mean, what would, what would you say their strategy should be for 2025?
Bary Roberts: Well, I think that the problem is where you’re going to be, what your channels are going to be, because depending on the channels you’re using, you’re going to be getting to the market segments of one type or another, and the market segments will respond to your type of product. And so if, if you’re an Airbnb, you shouldn’t just be going in and competing with all the other short term rentals on Airbnb because there’s too many. And you don’t, you’re being seen by all the different levels, you know, you’re not seen by, by people who can get to you. So you should start looking for more specific. I mean, take advantage of technology. Take advantage of the fact that you can market directly to a lot of market segments in different ways. There’s many different places and even relative to your product and relative to where you’re located. Because see that, that’s something. For example, if you’re on a really good surfing beach, then you’ve got a whole bunch of surfers. If you’re on a very good fishing area, you have all the different fishing associations, etc, that you can directly channel your product to. But if you’re just going out, oh, beach, you know, anywhere, anything, you know, you’re, you’re shooting with a shotgun instead of shooting with a rifle. And that, I think is something that you have to look at. And I think you’re going to have to accommodate prices. And I think you’re seeing that already prices are going down. Yeah, and, and the bubble is over, you know, the party is over.
Richard Bexon: Well, Barry, I mean, I mean, I think that that is, look, it was pretty easy to make money over the last couple of years, like everyone was doing it, if that makes sense, with just it. And so, I mean, look, I mean, as the government says here, you know, there’s time for fat Cows and time for thin cows, if that makes sense. You know, we’ve had quite a bit of a time for fat cows. Now it’s time for a little bit of thin cows and to an extent, you know, kind of shave the herd a little bit, Barry, if that makes sense. Because, and I’m not saying that in a bad way, I’m just saying here is that like there are some unscrupulous and like not good product out there as well that probably shouldn’t be there as well. And a downturn is going to help kind of, you know, filter that out as well. But I completely agree with you if like you’re going to have to put like you’re going to have to work now if that makes sense. Not that you’ve not been working before, but like now you’re really going to have to work. Like it’s like you’ve been hiking up a mountain in summer, but the rain and that, like winter’s coming.
Bary Roberts: Yeah, no, no, absolutely, Richard. And, and though I do think that it’s, you know, we can’t start by looking at things that. Okay, we’ve had too long of a fat cows period.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: Because if we can continue to have fat cows period, why are we not going to do so? That’s what’s sad about this. I mean, I believe, I believe we need to be a lot more careful in scrutinising it and cleaning out the, the herd of those that aren’t the good cows and the bad, you know, keep the bad ones out. Etc. That I agree with. 100 but I think that we should do that on, in a natural way and not necessarily concede to the fact that we, we could have had 10, 15, 20% more occupation and we’re not getting it. So, so just deal with it, you know, it’s okay. It’s all right. You know. No, I don’t, I don’t believe in that. I don’t, I believe we need to maintain always excellence as our top priority, quality of services and the rest. And I, and as a country we need to push that and that’s what we need to convince our business people to do and our people to work that way. I mean it’s, it’s, it’s senseless to do it otherwise. So I’m, I’m very sorry that this is really the case that’s happening.
Costa Rica’s Unique Appeal
Richard Bexon: Well, I mean, look, if you ask tourists, you know, what was the greatest thing about Costa Rica? I mean, they’ll talk about wildlife and stuff, but they say the people, it’s the biggest asset that this country has. And I don’t think people. People understand until they come here of, like, they’re just so friendly. It’s crazy.
Bary Roberts: Well, you know, it’s. It’s true. And it’s. It’s a very interesting point that you bring up, Richard, because why are Costa Ricans friendly? We are so accustomed to seeing the nature that we live in that we don’t realise the subconscious, internal, emotional, spiritual impact that this nature has on us.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: Makes us friendly. And so when the tourists come, this impact hits them as well. They don’t even understand it. They think it’s all because of the people are friendly. But the reason we’re friendly is because we live in a country that makes you friendly because nature is such a blessing to all of us, you know, and the rest. So that’s something that’s very interesting and that’s something that we have, but we don’t. We’re not the only ones who have nature.
Richard Bexon: I agree. Well, I agree, but like, you go to Panama, you go to Nicaragua, you go to Colombia, the people are very different, okay? Very, very different. Costa Ricans are just servicial, nice, passive. And I think it has to come from a point, Barry, of like, the country has never really suffered, if that made sense. Like, they haven’t had dictators, they haven’t had civil wars. They’ve not been invaded. They don’t have bark. Like, Costa Rica doesn’t have any of that. Like, it’s fertile land. If I want to go out tomorrow and grab a banana, I can do. I can get two harvests a year. Like, it’s never really suffered. Suffered, if that makes sense, Barry.
Bary Roberts: Absolutely. And that explains very clearly why we have the political situation we have right now. Yeah. The fact that this guy who’s in power right now wants to become a dictator and wants to keep on going. And he’s saying it very clearly, but he can’t.
Richard Bexon: He’s only got four years.
Bary Roberts: Well, but he’s trying to. He’s going. He’s thinking about resigning in June to become a people dao and then change the laws from the. And come back in.
Richard Bexon: So, you know, you know how this works, Barry. Good luck, buddy.
Bary Roberts: Yes. Yes and no. Look at Trump. Trump came back in a. In a very strong way that a lot of people never believed would happen.
Richard Bexon: But there’s two political.
Bary Roberts: I think. Yes, but here, there, here, there’s 50. And that’s part of the problem.
Richard Bexon: But that’s. I say it’s part of the problem, but it’s also part of the solution, if that makes sense. Like the, like I was explaining to someone this morning, they were like, well, I hear you guys have got like a presidency coming up, electoral year. And they were like, great. Well, who are you guys? And I’m like, I got no idea who they are. Like there’ll be 20 of them and we’ll have no idea who’s going to win. But also is there’s going to be 20 or 50 parties. No one’s going to probably have a majority. So even if someone wanted to change the constitution here to change that, it’s going to be so difficult.
Bary Roberts: Yeah, it will be. It will be. But it’s, it’s not impossible. The fact that. No, it’s not impossible. And the fact that he dreams he can do that is a reflection of what you are pointing out. We’re not used to having to fight for our democracy. We’re not used to having to fight for our freedom. We take it as a granted. We believe Costa Rica is just blessed and everything is fine.
Richard Bexon: But Ticos will fight. They will push back. Like if you push the right buttons, they will fight back.
Bary Roberts: Lord, make you a prophet, my friend. I hope so.
Richard Bexon: Well, I mean, look, I mean, you see it here. I mean like they try to put up speed cameras in Costa Rica. Fought back. I mean, speed cameras. You’re not talking about freedom. So, you know, I mean, you want to see, well, guys and people in the street and blocking. I mean, if you push Costa Ricans enough, they will do that.
Bary Roberts: Yeah, no, that’s true. So we’re talking figuratively anyhow, but that’s correct. That’s right, correct.
Centro de Estudios Turísticos (CET)
Richard Bexon: I mean, let’s change things. I mean, you had mentioned here, you know, we talked a little bit about the central tourism or CET here. Barry, can you explain a little bit about what it is kind of where it came from and what use it, you know, and what use you think it will play going forwards?
Bary Roberts: Well, very simply, it’s a think tank that’s set up to be able to generate or power tourism with data and make it that it be reliable academically and scientifically proven data. And that is totally apolitical so that we don’t have any kind of confusion in that sense. And why is this? It’s because in, in tourism we don’t have anything like that. We don’t have, we don’t have any place to find the proper stats. Our Ministry of Tourism doesn’t even know how many hotels there are. They don’t know how many beds they are, they don’t know how many. I mean, you know, there’s really. Even the data that they do give us is, Is in a lot of ways guesswork. Yeah or, or intelligent analysis, but not because we really know. And the same thing happens in the central bank and it happens all over. So we don’t have proper information to make strategic, intelligent, strategic decisions for both the public and the private sector. And so a group of us got together and we decided to start this thing and we’re starting to do studies for different, for different things. For example, right now we’re obviously, we’re working on the security factor and the exchange factor is a big one but we’re also looking very seriously at the short term rental and the impact it’s having on the country and things like that because nobody knows, nobody knows how many places there are. What’s happening. The government hasn’t wanted to charge the taxes on it, et cetera. But we’re also doing one. They were putting through a law that equalised all the water sources and that included the turbo waters from our hot water springs and stuff. And this law would kill the business. And this is a very important part of business in Costa Rica. The hot water springs are a very important part for Costa Rica, the wellness factor, et cetera. So we’re having to do a study that shows exactly the impact that it has on the communities and why it’s different than an another than the other set, etc to get it to be set up in a different. So that they can push for a different law or changes in the law that they’re proposing, things like that. I mean we’re trying to get, you know, advice for investors how they can overcome the different barriers that we have and all the bureaucracies and things like that. But it’s basically we’re going to. One of our main key factors is going to be to. To help provide a dashboard of key statistics for tourism and make it available on the website so that people can come in and see it and know what it is and find out things and keep it updated and the rest. So we will start working in that way. We’re doing things to help different destinations and groups, but only like we’re working with the, which is the Sports Fishing association to develop the data that shows how important sport fishing is for Costa Rica and the impact it has on the communities and the rest so that they can get much more respect from the government, like to get the proper laws for the ports and get more development of piers and docking facilities and Things like that. And these are things that we believe are necessary, but also we’re very concerned on trying to get the sector of tourism to involve itself a lot more with artificial intelligence, to bring down costs, to. To make things more automatized, to get it working. That. That’s an area that we think we can really. We can really put up a lot of support to a lot of people. And on planning, we don’t have anybody here planning for the future. And we’ve been caught with our pants, with our pants down very hard in the three things in the past four years, the COVID the exchange rate and insecurity. Nobody was ever ready for it. Nobody even planned for it. Nobody even foresaw it. So we want to be thinking, you know, futuristically to be able to understand what are our prospects. We can’t predict the future, but you can plan for it as best as possible and know what to do in different cases. That’s what we’re trying to help. So that’s basically what we’re doing with set.
Collaborative Approach to Development
Richard Bexon: Well, good for you. And again, if I can help in any way, let me know. Because I’m constantly putting towards, you know, data on my side here from different, you know, I have to kind of pull it together. And I’ve got guys manually getting that data and stuff.
Bary Roberts: Well, well, we have been asking you for data and you’ve been sharing it with us, so we’re including it.
Richard Bexon: Well, I mean, you know, for me, it’s just, it’s. I always say that, like, you know, I’m trying to drive kind of bring tourism and development kind of together because we have these two different worlds here where sometimes developers just go out and build stuff without the thought of tourism. And I’m like, no, no, no, no, no. You need to think of, like, as a development, you need to think of tourism because that’s who your clientele is going to be. I mean, just people having a house or a hotel or that like. Or a hotel with a house. Like that house sat there, should not sit there like, you know, it should be used as part of a hotel and run, like, with the services of the hotel. So think about that when you’re developing something.
Bary Roberts: Well, this is very interesting point. And that’s why one of the main things that we’re promoting from SET is the national tourism policy.
Richard Bexon: Yep.
Bary Roberts: You know, where we make all the different entities have to include in their strategic planning the KPIs that are important for tourism so that they prioritise airport, fixing roads, bridges, ports, security, health, all These things for the areas that we’re developing with tourism, because tourism is the most strategic economic tool that the country has. It’s the one that generates the most jobs, the quickest, it’s the most democratic dollar, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So this is, this is what you’re pointing out is very clear, is to have a macro perspective. Tourism is not a sector or an industry. It is an activity. Because it involves everybody.
Richard Bexon: Correct.
Bary Roberts: Everybody gets affected by tourism one way or the other. And so when, when people in building, in real estate start producing without taking that into consideration, like you’re very rightfully pointing out, then we get a problem where you get, you know, situations of projects that just don’t go because they’re not properly focused.
Richard Bexon: Yeah.
Bary Roberts: And people lose a lot of money that way, you know.
Richard Bexon: Correct, correct. Yeah. And I mean, I mean, as you said, their tourism touches everyone from the shopkeeper to the policeman to everyone. I mean, we’re all in tourism one way or another. Because in Costa Rica, there is no way you will not bump into a tourist.
Bary Roberts: The enters. Absolutely, absolutely. You know, that’s key.
Investment Recommendations
Richard Bexon: Yeah, well, Barry, I mean, you know, I mean, we have a bit of a, I wouldn’t say pessimistic out view on 2025. I don’t think it’s optimistic and it’ll be good. It’s just not going to be as good as, as it’s been, if that makes sense. If you were looking to invest in Costa Rica because a lot of people listen to this podcast are kind of, what advice would you give them if they’re looking to invest in 2025 based on, you know, what, you know.
Bary Roberts: Well, I think that they, they really need to look at, at two different aspects. One is definitely is the project that they’re investing in, is it really grounded properly in the culture and society where it’s going to develop?
Richard Bexon: Well, yep.
Bary Roberts: Are we, are we really incorporating the local communities and their needs and benefits in what we’re doing so that we’re part of the community and growing together and benefiting from that as well? And also we need to look at it from the development of our technical standpoint. I think that anything that you invest in, in developing more artificial intelligence tool in tools for tourism will be a very big thing here in Costa Rica because very few people are doing it. Yeah, there’s no, there’s a lot of room for growth in that area. So I would, I would invest, if I had a certain amount of money, I would probably invest in, in a, in An AI oriented product to, to help develop the, the country and make money as you’re doing it.
How Would You Invest $500,000 Inheritance in Costa Rica?
Richard Bexon: Yeah, well, that was my question for you. I mean, it’s always my last question. If you had $500,000 to invest into a business already setting Costa Rica, what would you invest it in?
Bary Roberts: So I would probably go down something like that, you know, go down that area because there’s a lot of people who, who are doing the houses and the, you know, the vacation rentals and, and the rest. Big hotels require a lot of money, but there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of. I mean you can get so much pleasure out of doing something small that involves a community and see the community, the community grow with you and you make money off of it as well. And that’s a magnificent feeling when you experience that and you see that and you’re being the proper steward of nature and the local community and the rest. So you’re feeling very good about what you’re doing and how you’re providing for other people in the same way. So I would think that that would be one of the very key factors that I would look into is how much integration there is to the local communities.
Community Integration and Gentrification
Richard Bexon: Well, because we keep seeing, you know, the gentrification thrown around quite a bit, which has happened. You know, I was in Santa Teresa, I flew to Santa Teresa today. And there’s a lot of gentrification happening there in those areas, you know, in nosado, et cetera. So I think in, you know, and people always say, well, how do you, I’m like, you need to integrate the community and the tide needs to rise for everything. It can’t just be good for you.
Bary Roberts: No, absolutely. But that’s, those are areas, for example, where, where you could develop, if, if you could get incentives for, for hoteliers and stuff, projects to develop low, low level housing for employees and stuff like that in areas that they, that they could do, then you would be able to solve a lot of these problems. And, and that’s not the only thing, but I mean it’s, that’s an important factor that could be taken into consideration. And then if you, if you get more participation in terms of security and things like that, then, then you can have an interesting, an interesting combination that would make people a lot more comfortable with it and they would feel a lot less marginalised and kicked out of their own homes. I think that that’s part of the problem if I’m having to kick you out of my, of your home because I want to take it over yeah, there’s a problem. I mean, that’s not, that’s not the right way to look at business, you know, that’s not the right, that’s not the long term factor. So you’re doing business for the long term. You’ve got to deal with this. If you’re, if you don’t give a damn and you just want to make quick money, then you can, then you can do that, but then you’re going to pay for it one way or the other and maybe we’ll get you.
Richard Bexon: Well, making quick money in Costa Rica is not that easy either. I mean, like, it’s not, it’s just running a business and making money is not easy anyway. And it’s definitely not in Costa Rica, which is why I love it. Because then only good stuff normally, I say normally happens.
Bary Roberts: Yeah, no, you’re right.
Richard Bexon: Well, Barry, it’s an absolute pleasure and an honour to have you here on the podcast. I appreciate you taking the time and anyone you. I’ll put all your contact details down in the description.
Bary Roberts: Thank you very much. And thank you so much for what you’re doing, Richard, and pushing these things and making people aware of the information that’s important and, and the, and the true stuff, the stuff that hasn’t been told or isn’t being told by other, by other people and in other ways. Most people will just tell you all the good things. You’re willing to look at all the different sides and that’s an important factor. So congrats and a lot of success to you.
Richard Bexon: Thank you, sir. Have a good day.
Bary Roberts: Take care.
Richard Bexon: Bye.
