Picture yourself on a white sand beach in the glaring tropical sun listening to the waves crash on a crystal blue sea while you recline on your beach chair sipping a tropical rum punch. 

Sound nice? 

Well it’s a perfect setting to enjoy in a place like Cancun or Cozumel, where the resorts are large, luxurious, and, of course, “all-inclusive.”

But that’s Cancun or Cozumel…

NOT Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is one of the most bio-diverse locations on earth.  It’s full of virgin rain and cloud forests that are home to a mind-boggling array of animal life.

Generally the all-inclusive resort is large and contains more hotel rooms by far than the average Costa Rican hotel, many of which are small boutique hotels with less than 50 rooms.

I would imagine that the economic model of the all-inclusive requires high density.  But in order to build high density resorts Costa Rica’s tropical forests have to be cut down.  As a result its bio-diversity is lost.

In short, Costa Rica loses what makes it such a unique tourism draw.

Large hotel chains like RIU in Spain and Four Seasons have brought the all-inclusive to Costa Rica.  Most of the Costa Rica all-inclusive resorts are in Guanacaste, where the land is flatter. Also this area of the country is unique in that a larger degree of the beachfront property is “titled,” or not subject to concession, which otherwise is the only way to build anything within 200 meters of the high tide line (Costa Rica’s Maritime Zone Law).

But even in Guanacaste, the all-inclusive concept has caused controversy.  Take the example of the 700 room Hotel Riu in Playa Matapalo.  There have been law suits and protests because in order to build the Riu a mangrove forest was allegedly illegally cut down.

All-inclusives are great for vacations where the prime objective is to eat, drink and lay back to soak up rays. And Costa Rica can provide that experience for those who want it. But that experience of Costa Rica is really no different than you would get in any highly commercialized tropical beach destination.

In order to do that, you have to go to places where all-inclusives are forbidden.  Forbidden because building them there would destroy the reason to visit in the first place.

I am of the firm belief that every time an all-inclusive is built here, Costa Rica loses a bit more of its unique appeal.

At Package Costa Rica we will put our customers in all-inclusives on demand…however…

CAUTION: We will try to persuade you otherwise.

In our opinion, it’s just not the best way to experience what this country is all about.

We feel all-inclusives are by nature “un-sustainable” and therefore not consistent with the overall green and sustainable message of Costa Rica.

Note: This post is about all-inclusive mega-resorts, not all-inclusive eco-lodges located in remote places where if they weren’t all-inclusive the guests would go hungry (no restaurants)…just a point of clarification.

Oh, and yes, we love the eco-lodges!

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