San Pedro, Belize (OPENPRESS) July 2, 2009 — Las Terrazas Resort Belize’s premier luxury resort announces their on-site dive shop, White Sands Dive Shop has received the PADI 5-star rating.

Las Terrazas is a five-star luxury Belize oceanfront resort and residential development on the island of Ambergris Caye. Located adjacent to the resort, White Sands Dive Shop is a full service PADI dive center specializing in daily diving, SCUBA instruction and snorkeling for the island of Ambergris Caye, Belize. White Sands is a PADI International Resort Association member and is licensed by the Belize Tourism Board.

By Frederik Balfour – BusinessWeek – Original here

More retirees are opting to spend their golden years thousands of miles from home, thanks to the Internet, budget airlines, and government enticements

After John Barclay sold his Glasgow-based Levis jeans franchise in 2005, he and his wife, Lorraine, knew they didn’t want to spend their retirement braving the local weather. “We always said we didn’t want to be old and cold in Scotland,” says Lorraine. “I wanted to be warm all year round.” They spent the next two years doing reconnaissance trips to Malaysia, which offered an enticing package aimed at foreigners over 50. But their plans to move to Malaysia evaporated on the strength of just one idyllic weekend in Bali. “We were blown away by it,” Lorraine remembers.

Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth, and one of the most environmentally friendly, according to a new survey by a British non-governmental group.

Although an Australian expert says the survey is flawed with “magical thinking”.

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) looked at 143 countries that are home to 99% of the world’s population and devised an equation that weighed life expectancy and people’s happiness against their environmental impact.

By Barbara Lewis – Original here

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – Costa Rica is very nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers lounging on its beaches, but for its citizens who are extremely satisfied with their lot and also have a tiny carbon footprint.

The combination has earned the central American country first place in a new Happy Planet Index (HPI) published on Monday.

While leaders of the developed world attending G8 talks in Italy worry away at economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), deflation and their implications for economic recovery, the second edition of the HPI lauds alternative standards that provide a new twist on the old adage that wealth does not buy happiness.

By: WABI-TV5 News Desk (Maine) Original here

The Dollar isn’t diving – You are

as the U.S. Dollar takes a pounding in some countries, Mexico and Central America are still loving the greenbacks. Promoting these “third-world”destinations is daunting – but do-able. The advertising slogans concocted by many tourism boards sound forced and downright silly, but one that Honduras espouses in some of its materials is simple and rings true: “One small country, three big worlds.”

While the price of traveling through it may be a steal, in this small country you can do it all – from diving great reefs to exploring ancient history – in a nation that has roughly the same land area as Tennessee.

By: L.A Times (Original here)

There are many blue holes off the coast of Belize, but the “great” Blue Hole on Lighthouse Reef Atoll is the one most visible in a flyover–and the most famous one for diving. The hole is about 1,000 feet in diameter and 412 feet deep. The Blue Hole sits on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll, about 50 miles east of Belize City.

The late Jacques Cousteau and a filming crew explored the underwater cave whose roof collapsed about 10,000 years ago.

Marriott has opened its first Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in Central America. The Residence Inn by Marriott San Jose Escazu in Costa Rica is operated under a management agreement with Caribe Hospitality.

The hotel is located approximately 15 minutes from downtown San Jose, and 20 minutes from the Juan Santamaria International Airport, less than a kilometre east of the Marriott Courtyard, in a development adjacent to the CIMA Hospital.

By: DT Regula – Examiner.com – Original here

Families with a taste for adventure can explore some of the most beautiful locations in Costa Rica by air – and the kids get to fly for free with the purchase of two adult paid tickets. From June 15 through August 30, 2009 Nature Air is offering the family-friendly deal to children up to 11 years old to all destinations NatureAir flies in Costa Rica.

Roads in Costa Rica can range from very good to very interesting, and its a sure thing that most kids will enjoy a short hop by airplane more than a few hours in the car.

By: Treatment Abroad (Original here)

The MedTrava Group, a Texan medical tourism agency, has partnered with Hospital Clinica Biblica in Costa Rica to offer patients seeking overseas health care a high-quality, low-cost health care option that is only a few hours away from the US.

MedTrava offers all-inclusive medical, cosmetic and dental packages at savings of 50-80% over the skyrocketing costs of healthcare in the US. Based in Austin, Texas, the company has assembled a network of pre-screened, internationally accredited healthcare providers around the globe.

By: Business Wire (Original here)

Costa Rica’s telecom market is one of the most advanced in Central America. Despite the economic slowdown, mobile telephony is expected to grow strongly in 2009, as the state-owned incumbent ICE prepares to face competition by cornering as much as it can of the market.

In fact, Costa Rica’s telecom industry is undergoing a sea change, following a new General Telecommunications Law (GTL) that is gradually implementing liberalisation. The GTL has been described as the most advanced legislation in Latin America in its approach to technological convergence.

State-owned ICE and its subsidiary RACSA have been the monopoly providers of virtually all telecom services in Costa Rica except for pay TV. While ICE did better than most other Latin American operators in delivering basic fixed-line telephony, it proved inefficient in the provision of mobile phone services.