Name of your website?Paddle Costa Rica
Your name?
Joey Hitchins
Your Location (city, etc)
Manuel Antonio
We are your comprehensive source for bus and van tours and vacation travel in Costa Rica.
We are your comprehensive source for bus and van tours and vacation travel in Costa Rica. We offer many adventure activities here including, whitewater kayaking, sea kayaking, beach kayak surfing, board surfing, snorkelling, scuba diving, canopy tours, atv tours, volcano hikes, national park tours, mountain biking, rafting, sailing, deep sea fishing and much much more.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We love Costa Rica and noticed that there is much room for our business here. We specialize in transport and adventure vacations and activities.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was http://www.liquidskills.com our kayak school based in Canada. I launched this site about 5 years ago.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Our primary specialty is whitewater kayaking, our first client trip here was with whitewater kayaking so naturally we decided to stick with our passion and call it Paddle Costa Rica.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Well, we are able to offer everything, we own our own 24 passenger bus for large groups and also a smaller 12 passenger bus for smaller groups. We are able with our own transportation to offer all of the activities we love to do and know that people on vacation love to do as well. We are different because we can manage all of these activities with one simple interaction with our clients, we make it easy and simple just like their vacation should be.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We intend to keep PCR forever and build a lodge with beautiful cabins and a pool and a jacuzzi and all the other ammenities that people love to have when on vacation. Our lodge should be built and finished by the end of the August 2008.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Well its a little scary to be honest, all investments are and especially in the tourism industry, its no doubt a gamble but one that we are willing to take. We love Costa Rica and feel that we will have a unique enough product to allow us to grow and create amazing adventure vacations and memories for our clients.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Not much really, More land to develop an entirely self sustainable property. We are planning to use hydro electricity to get off the grid and provide ourselves with our own eco-friendly power. We would educate people on our site and hopefully there are enough green people out there to come and support our conservation ideas.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, of course, media solutions are my specialty. http://www.msjh.ca
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Taxes, laywer fees, hidden vehicle fees when purchasing here. Thats about it though and we were albe to get beyond all of these hurdles with some good hard work.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Purchasing land from someone that actually owns it and not just says they own it, be very weary and creful when looking into land here in Costa Rica. The land ownership deeds is the end all be all at the end of the day. P.S. Make sure you get a laywer involved right from the start if you are serious, the details are paramount and a laywer will make sure of this.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
word of mouth, brochures and simple solid business, people like to deal with solid people.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
None what so ever, with a solid marketing plan, most things should fall into place just like a business plan.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The site has been active for about 1 year and will be active forever.
Do you love Costa Rica?
YES YES YES
What is your website address?
Paddle Costa Rica
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