by Rod Hughes, from local news reports and the Web

The British Airline First Choice is offering special travel packages starting this month on direct flight from Gatwick Airport in London to Costa Rica, a step that the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) hopes will bring in 6,000 well-heeled European tourists by the time the offer is set to expire in October. The flights will land at the International Airport at Liberia in Guanacaste province, near such beaches as Tamarindo.
Studies show that the average European tourist earns $57,000 per year and the average family income is around $100,000, the news service ACAN-EFE reports.
According to the First Choice Web site, the offer begins at a week per person with no accommodations included and progress to two-week family plans including hotel. Their Web pages quote the prices in pounds sterling and not Euros.
Of the 235,000 European tourists who came here in 2006, only 28,000 were British, according to ICT figures. Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides says he hopes the First Choice offer of weekly direct flights with room for 258 passengers will open the market wider in Britain for more traffic to Costa Rica.