How to Profit From the Path of Progress
By Ronan McMahon
PostedFebruary 8, 2011
Verdant green tropical forest sweeps down to golden-sand beaches washed by the rich blue Pacific. It’s some of the most outstanding coast I’ve ever seen. This stretch of northwest Costa Rica—Peninsula Papagayo—is a chic, up-market destination where the jet-set goes to stay in world-famous resorts and multi-million-dollar houses. It wasn’t always so. Forty years ago, this was a hard-to-reach farming region. But Peninsula Papagayo was in the path of progress. Costa Rica’s government had a vision: To make this little country a major force in resort and residential tourism. It planned a new international airport in Liberia and road infrastructure to make the coast accessible. Further road improvements and more local flights saw tourist numbers rise steadily. Then something big happened…