Feb. 13, 2013--New hotel projects soon will help expand Costa Rica's hotel capacity by 1,309 rooms, with openings scheduled from December 2013 to November 2014, the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) announced.

At the end of 2010, Costa Rica had 43,715 hotel rooms. The figure rose to 44,307 in 2011 and reached 45,531 in 2012, an increase of 1,816 rooms during that period, according to the ICT.

Hermes Navarro, head of tourism management at ICT, said the outlook is very good, and tourism officials are pleased to see a positive performance by a group of boutique hotels.

However, the president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels, Ruben Pacheco, said the news isn't all positive. "Despite the growth in large hotels, some 20 small hotels closed in the past two years in the country," he said.

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