INTERVAL INTERNATIONAL SPONSORS COSTA RICAN TOURISM INVESTMENT SUMMIT 2006
Miami, FL, March 08, 2006 — Interval International, a leading global vacation exchange company, was a sponsor of the Costa Rica Tourism Investment Summit 2006, which was held recently in San Jose. The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), KPMG, and the Costa Rica Tourism Board organized the two-day event.
The objective of the summit was to provide a forum where participants can analyze business opportunities in the tourism sector in Costa Rica and meet hospitality executives, developers, tourism officials, and representatives from financial institutions. The agenda for the conference featured renowned speakers who addressed attendees on important topics relevant to investment in the tourism and hospitality industries.
"We are proud to be a sponsor of this inaugural investment conference whose objective is to foster foreign investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors in Costa Rica, the enhancement of the quality of services, and the increase of the number of tourism arrivals," said Marcos Agostini, region director for Latin America for Interval International. "We recognize the importance of supporting a sector that has such a significant impact on the local economy."
As indicated by CINDE, the development of new tourism projects in Costa Rica has not kept pace with the large growth in demand, resulting in attractive investment opportunities. In fact, statistics provided by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) demonstrate the impressive growth of the tourism sector, which grew 17.3% during 2003-2004 and is currently the second largest source of foreign currency revenue for the Costa Rican economy. The ICT projects that four million tourists will visit Costa Rica in 2012.
Interval International is celebrating its 30th year leading the vacation ownership industry as the exchange company of quality and innovation. Interval has a global network of more than 2,000 affiliated resorts in over 75 countries, and serves its developer clients and nearly 1.8 million member families, worldwide vacation owners, through 28 offices in 19 countries. The company provides a variety of exchange services and year-round travel-related benefits to enhance members' vacation experiences. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Interval International is part of IAC, which operates leading and diversified businesses in sectors being transformed by the Internet, online and offline. Other IAC companies include Ask Jeeves, Citysearch, Entertainment Publications, HSN, LendingTree, and Ticketmaster.
