The second meeting was in regards to tourism. The tourism sector offers 260 million jobs in Costa Rica. Ecotourism is the largest type of tourism focusing on sustainability. Again, sustainability is the development that meets the needs of today's generation while preserving the needs of future generations. Europe brings 51% of the tourism to the country. Tourism effects the population both directly and indirectly. While Costa Rica is a major tourism place in today's economy it was not always that way. It once was only a secondary place of tourism. It was not until 1978 that it was viewed as a destination of tourism by well educated people who could see the beauty and importance of Costa Rica. In 1984, they introduced soft tourism AKA ecotourism. However, it was not until 1987 when they won the Nobel Peace Price that it became a major attraction due to the publicity it received in the states.
These meetings were followed by a great lunch! We began with a tomato and basil soup which was delicious & of course the bread was my favorite! After soup, we had a buffet style lunch with the best tasting Maui Maui I've ever had!! And to top it all of we had dessert which had a rich caramel flavor & this light whipped topping! Our break was short but much needed to return to another 2 hours of lecture.
Our first lecture back introduced us to the trade protection in Costa Rica and I must admit this was my favorite speaker and topic for the day and the explanation is to come! Our speakers was from the Export Agency Institution which is part of the public sector and not necessarily under the government. They use 7 steps to help companies become internationalized in four sectors (agriculture, food, industrial, and service). The EAI has many locations thought the world with only 2 people in the small business office. To give some insight of how well this program works we can now talk about some of the most interesting parts. Costa Rica is home to the manufacturing plant for Intel processors - yes that's correct the processors we have in our computers and phones - we can thank Costa Rica! The extremely soft and well made leather that are in most of our luxury cars are made right he. Costa Rica. Now to my favorite part - if you know me you'll understand my enthusiasm right away ...
The Rawlings baseballs are hand made in Costa Rica. Yes, that is correct - the ball you get to take home from home runs and foul balls have been made by hand here in a factory at Costa Rica!!
Our last meeting of the day was with Estrado de la Region (State of the Region). They produce the social, economical, and educational research for 15 years. Their first publication in 1999 highlighted positive balance of product performance. In 2003, it covered the large groups of populations that were still behind on current opportunities. In 2011, it covered the most risky and complex situations that Costa Rica had in the last 20 years. Costa Rica is responsible for less than .5% of greenhouse gas emission. While Costa Rica is a strong community it does have a weakness in its infrastructure. Although, I'd much rather deal with infrastructure weakness as oppose to being in Honduras with the largest homicide epidemic.
While today wasn't that much fun it was educational and by writing this blog overt drinks made it even better!!
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