Costa Rica announced today 20 measures for the relief and reactivation of tourism, among which stand out gradual opening to the Chinese market, tourism infrastructure, support for small and medium-sized companies and transporters.
Credits in rural territories, actions to lower costs in restaurant and hotel stores, and promotion of national tourism through cumulative days, teleworking and a bill to create Father’s Day a holiday in 2021 are other measures revealed by the Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura.
Joint effort
In a press conference with President Carlos Alvarado, the Minister of Tourism stated that the sector needs the assistance of all state institutions to rise up and continue to be the engine of the national economy.
Segura also pointed out that the actions complement the Road Map that the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the private sector drew up for the recovery of perhaps the economic branch most affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, which has retraced the so-called “industry without chimneys” in Costa Rica to 1998 figures.
Hard hit sector
In this regard, the Costa Rican President assured that the tourism sector is the most affected in our economy because of the Pandemic and, recognizing this reality, we have adopted as a Government, with the leadership of the ICT and other institutions, a group of measures to push the reactivation of tourist activity.
Official data show that before COVID-19, tourism generated 225,000 direct jobs and 83,000 indirect jobs in Costa Rica. Likewise, while the Gross Domestic Product of this country decreased 4.5 in 2020, tourism did so by 40.7 percent, according to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica.
