Last year of the total number of tourists who arrived in Costa Rica by air, 27% arrived through the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, according to the candidate for Deputy for Guanacaste in the Christian Democratic Alliance Party (ADC).
Through a press release, Castro, who served as Minister of Tourism in the 2002-2006 government period and has served as president of the National Chamber of Tourism, stated that “breaking down the figures for 2021 (a year still affected by the pandemic) we see how the Juan Santamaría airport receives 880,000 passengers and just over 388,000 international passengers enter the Daniel Oduber, which represents almost 27% of the tourists who visit the country”, through the air terminals.
A strategic role
“Ignoring the strategic role that the Guanacaste International Airport plays in this entire operation is to ignore the reality of the local economy and condemn the province to underdevelopment, unemployment and the vertical growth of the poverty lines,” Castro said in the bulletin.
For the former Minister of Tourism, this economic activity produces 4 billion dollars that are distributed throughout the country, mainly in the coastal regions; it generates 8.2% of GDP and nearly 600,000 direct and indirect jobs that represent just over 20% of the country’s total labor force.
“The commitment is absolute with the economic reactivation of Guanacaste. Tourism has the ability to generate links and produce wealth between communities and businesses (large, medium and small), which is why we recognize that this activity, if carried out in a serious, intelligent and responsible manner, is the ideal vehicle to achieve it in the shortest term possible”, affirmed Castro.
On the other hand, Castro indicated that Guanacaste must solve problems such as water supply. The applicant cited the survey “Management and use of drinking water in Costa Rican households”, prepared by the Regulation, Innovation and Environment (Queen) project of the International Center for Economic Policy of the National University (Cinpe-UNA) of the year 2019, where it is shown that the existing gap in access to drinking water between urban and rural areas is 96.4% and 84.4%, respectively.
