A Convention Center is infrastructure that will stimulate meeting tourism and promote encounters among people of different backgrounds and cultures, who meet one another with the aim of building and maintaining connections that allow them to share their experiences.

The National Conference and Convention Center (Centro Nacional de Congresos y Convenciones) has been designed with the purpose of providing different environments for many kinds of meetings. The rooms are comfortably furnished and suitably equipped for these events, boasting areas for exhibits and expositions. These facilities will provide visitors with complete, high-quality service.

This infrastructure represents an opportunity for Costa Rica to diversify and explore new tourist offerings. It will be ready in early 2018.

These facilities are a national project whose benefits will spread throughout the country. It is sure to be a catalyst for the tourism industry, as well as providing jobs, promoting real estate development, and creating productive linkages. It will be a major improvement to the country's image as a well-established tourist destination.

The construction of a world-class Convention Center, whose size meets all of the industry's needs and which functions as a visible figurehead for the country, will attract ever-larger events and raise the profile of the country to organizers and sponsors. This will not only bring meetings to the Convention Center, but will also attract activities of various sizes to other places all around the country.

Dimensions of the Project: Main building with an area of 15,600 square meters, located on a 10-hectare campus.

Maximum capacity: 4,600 people in a plenary session.

Cost: $35 million

Location: 8 km from the Juan Santamaría International Airport and 10 km from downtown San José, with direct access to the General Cañas Highway.

Sustainable design: The architecture and surroundings are in harmony with the country's image, with reflective roofs, re-use of rainwater, taps with automatic shutoffs, high-tech air conditioning systems, sun shades that mitigate heating, internal lighting using LED systems, external lighting using solar panels, internal and external tree plantings using native species, motion sensors for turning lights on and off, use of a wastewater treatment facility, etc.

Services: Area for expositions, entrance halls, restrooms, convention rooms, parking areas, open-air exposition and provisioning areas (loading and unloading and storage), etc.

Benefits: This facility does away with the seasonality by reinforcing the green season and attracting tourists that tend to spend three times more than a leisure tourist during their stay, and that go on tours before and after the event. It reinforces the destination by competing in the meeting niche, and allows multiple events to be held simultaneously while meeting global standards. The center will stimulate the local economy directly and indirectly through infrastructure, services, employment, attracting investment, generating positive linkages, and distributing tourist dollars.

For more information, please visit www.costaricapuremeetings.com