Costa Rica Convention Center Promotes Specialized “Meeting Tourism”

The Costa Rica Convention Center (CCCR), with the support of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), continues to make an important effort to position Costa Rica as an ideal destination for holding MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions tourism) industry events.

These events range from meetings of corporate companies, incentive trips for work teams, congresses, exhibitions or fairs, which contribute significantly to visitors and buyers, making these efforts one of the most effective tools to make the country visible and to implement direct sales strategies in the international market.

In recent weeks, the CCCR has participated in important spaces for the sector. On May 11th and 12th of this year, the “UFI LATAM Conference” was held in Argentina, an event designed for the meeting of specialists seeking professional updating, networking spaces and innovation in the development of the MICE industry.

Between the months of May and June, the IMEX international fair was held in Frankfurt, where buyers from companies from all over the world are placed in front of service providers that also have global representation.

Finally, the second 2022 edition of FIEXPO Latin America, which took place in Panama City between June 13th and 16th, where representatives from various destinations were able to generate valuable meetings with different suppliers specialized in the Meetings Industry.

At IMEX and FIEXPO, direct contact with buyers from around the world and the region constitutes a window of opportunity for the country and specifically for the CCCR, since these one-by-one spaces allow a more comprehensive presentation of what Costa Rica can offer to international visitors who attend these types of event.

For its part, the UFI LATAM Conference was an exhibition space, in which Costa Rica opted for the role of reference in the region, sharing good practices, and revealing the expectations that can be had when visiting our country.

Maximiliano Chacón, Marketing and Sales Manager of the CCCR commented that the main message of these events is that there is a basic human need to meet, to have spaces to share knowledge, experiences, recreation, which are latent.

“At the moment there is a great offer throughout the world of companies throughout the supply chain of the meetings industry, be it transportation, hospitality, convention centers, leisure activities, that are waiting for the opportunity to serve these people, and start building new experiences in all areas.

Costa Rica in general, and the CCCR specifically, are no exception, and it is interesting to see how, despite the distances, cultural differences, or any other type, we have a very similar reading of the situation in the industry”, highlighted Chacón.

Main trends in the sector

The two main trends that are marking this market of the Meetings Industry at the moment are two: everything related to sustainability, in the world, is gaining new momentum, and it is beginning to become a “deal breaker” when contracting services.

Sustainability has become a transversal pillar in the management of the industry, contributing to the well-being of the environment, including weighty aspects with a real contribution, examples such as compensation of the carbon footprint, use of clean energy, correct disposal of waste and unused food, among others.

Integration of technology

And the other important line is the integration of technology in the provision of services associated with the realization of MICE events, but not only to facilitate the development of these, but to generate experiences that mark the memory of the attendees.

These are some examples of what companies and organizations are looking for more actively today, and they are practices that are becoming more and more relevant in the contracting processes for holding corporate and congress events.

Therefore, given the behavior of the sector and these new trends, the experts anticipate reactivation times, implementation of new practices, adaptation to customers with new consumption habits, new technologies and new demand cycles.

Unprecedented milestone

“We are going through an unprecedented milestone, and the changes that the industry will undergo at the hands of technology will reach that same degree of transformation,” Chacón stressed.

Chacón emphasized that after this time of pandemic, the industry is on a reactivation route, on a modernization path, and on a line of better understanding of its entire environment, which, like in other industries, has changed, and is still in a stabilization process.

The CCCR considers that the meetings industry in CR is in a process of maturation in which in many sections it begins to walk with a firm step. In addition, our country has reached an important level of recognition worldwide, and has many elements that are valuable for international attendees in this type of industry, citizen security, political stability, air connectivity, not to mention our character as a sustainable country, as well as nature.