Attracting more tourists from South America would help revive the country’s battered tourism economy.That is why Costa Rica participated in the X Edition of the World Travel Market Latin America (WTM) fair, which is considered the main event of the travel and tourism industry in our continent.
In addition to showing the country as a destination committed to sustainability and an ideal place to reconnect with the essentials of life, the national tourism authorities established contacts with professional buyers from wholesale companies, airlines, travel agencies and luxury products, among others, so that they offer Costa Rica as a destination to their clients.
Costa Rica had not participated in this event since April 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so the edition held between April 5th and 7th represented the return of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) to a Latin American tourism fair.
“The decrease in the number of cases of Covid-19 in the world and the gradual elimination of measures, allow us to see an increase in the number of trips and the reactivation of tourism promotion events, for this reason the participation of the country and of national companies exposing their services”, said Ireth Rodríguez, head of ICT Promotion.
Priority market
The priority markets for Costa Rica’s tourism industry in South America are Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, according to the ICT. “These countries have been part of our priority markets in Latin America, prior to the pandemic we had flights in connection with Avianca, Copa and Latam and during the health crisis, despite being still far from recovering the existing air connectivity in 2019, we observe a growing flow of tourists from that market, for which it is important to continue carrying out actions and attract them and increasing the number of visitors from that region,” Rodríguez added.
While Argentine tourism views Costa Rica as a sun and beach destination that allows you to combine other activities; the Brazilian market is attracted by surfing, beaches, visiting National Parks and volcanoes.
According to data from the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, during 2021 almost 58 thousand tourists entered by air from South America, of which 11 thousand came from Brazil, more than 8 thousand from Argentina, 1.7 thousand from Uruguay and almost 5 thousand from Chile.
Close to nature
The national authorities intend to expand Costa Rica’s position as a place with multiple outdoor activities, without crowds and in permanent closeness to nature.The ICT indicated that during the second semester of this year a training will be carried out for 50 travel agents from the Brazilian market on Costa Rica.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Costa Rica has maintained the presence and promotion of the destination in virtual and face-to-face fairs such as the ITB Berlin Now 2021 in Germany, the World Travel Market (WTM) in London 2021, IMEX America in Las Vegas, USA. 2021, Fitur in Madrid, Spain in the years 2021 and 2022, and the Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami, Florida, in September 2021.
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