The effects of the coronavirus on the economy of the country and worldwide are inevitable and began several days back, in Costa Rica, it is obviously the tourism sector the most affected, with borders closed as of today and for almost one month in the best case scenario the economic landscape is certainly not looking good for the hundreds of thousands of people that depend on this industry and for the country in general.

Today, Clemencia Palomo, director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Restaurants, stated that this sector already has approximately 5,700 people sitting at home without being able to work.
“Many of the employers are reporting problems to cover payroll payments and their monthly overhead, employees are concerned about losing their jobs (…)”, said Palomo.

This Chamber and the National Tourism Chamber along with the Chamber of Commerce requested immediate actions by the Government to alleviate the effects of Covid19, these industries report a decrease in their sales of as much as 80% and 70,000 room reservations (nights) have been cancelled.

Even though the different sectors understand and agree with the measures taken by health authorities, they also ask for assistance to be able to survive the crisis.

Bars, Casinos and Dance Clubs remain closed and therefore generate zero income, yet, their bills continue to come.

Today the Hyatt Andaz Costa Rica Resort located in Papagayo, Guanacaste announced the temporary closure of its facilities effective Friday, March 26 and through June 30th. Nine employees will be let go and contracts finalized with 100 high season collaborators.

The Government has presented several proposals to alleviate the situation, among these the possibility of delaying the payment of different taxes, better credit conditions, and the possibility of temporarily changing labor contracts to avoid massive layoffs (which as of March 20th has been approved). These projects however are still just proposals and it will take some time to implement them.