Sun and beach, followed by ecotourism, adventure, and the pursuit of well-being, make Costa Rica a desired destination worldwide. During 2018 of the 3,016,667 tourists who visited Costa Rica, 90% went for personal reasons such as vacations, leisure, health or education and 9.5% entered for business or professional reasons.
According to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) data, visitors from the United States accounted for 44% of the total, followed by Central America and Europe, mainly. This behavior is due to the arrival of new airlines and the increase in the frequency of travel by others.
Tourist arrivals grew in 2018 by 1.92%, foreign exchange from tourism grew by 3%, keeping the export share at 35% and the GDP grew by 0.44%. Those figures also have an impact on the Rent-a-Car industry that has occupations on average of 70% and more than 160,000 days-rent, according to the Costa Rican Association of Rent-a-Car, ACAR.
“Precisely because of this increase, we grow to respond to a growing demand of more demanding and informed customers. We have already opened a new headquarters at Juan Santamaría Airport and soon we will be expanding geographically with the aim of being closer to our users”, said Pablo Bogantes, General Manager of Avis Costa Rica.
Avis wins tourist certification
Last Friday, September 27th, on the “World Tourism Day”, Avis Costa Rica received the Tourism Sustainability Certification (CST) by the ICT. This recognition is only given to companies that collaborate with the improvement of the quality of life of the communities, in addition, they must contribute to development at the national level. For ICT, the tourist sustainability condition is essential to be able to compete and provide excellence in the face of tourists’ needs.
In addition, this rent-a-car also won, for the 2nd consecutive year, Costa Rica’s Leading Car Rental Company 2019 award for the World Travel Awards. This recognition is given by professionals in the field of tourism and aspects such as the excellence of the service they provide, customer and employee satisfaction, product innovation and business performance are valued.
The World Travel Awards also rewarded our country as the leading destination in Mexico and Central America, thanks to its vast biodiversity. In addition to Avis Rent-a-Car, 8 Costa Rican companies received the precious award, reinforcing Costa Rica within the region.