After Selina opened its first establishment in Antigua, Guatemala, the international chain announced that next year plans to open five new hotels in different parts of the country.
The chain's representatives informed that for the opening of the new hotels, which will be in the departments of Solola, Escuintla, Guatemala, Alta Verapaz and Peten, an investment of approximately $6 million will be made.
This year 11 new hotels are expected to open, adding 696 more rooms in different parts of the country, with an estimated investment of $149 million.
Details from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) show that there are 11 establishments in the process of completing paperwork with the entity to declare themselves of tourist interest.
Three out of four hotels reported not having shown an improvement in their operations in 2015.
Results from the study "Tourism sector 2015, challenges to overcome, "prepared by the Association for Research and Social Studies (ASIES), underscores the need to modernize industry, improve strategies for promotion and attracting tourists (50% of the hotel respondents claimed to have no website).
Up to December 2015 2.559 hotels with 47,452 rooms were registered in the country, of which 70% are located in the city and at the beach.
Market figures have not yet reached the levels recorded before the crisis of 2008, when the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels counted 2,599 hotels in operation, spread across different areas of the country, but are instead concentrated in the large metropolitan area and coastal areas.
60% of hotels operating in the country have less than 30 rooms, in a market with oversupply in certain areas and a demand that is not growing.
Of the 2,515 hotels reported by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, more than half are small establishments and family-run structures, while the others corresponds to large chain hotels, with a greater number of rooms.