The Minister of Tourism, William Rodríguez López and Arnaldo Nafrdone Osorio, legal representative of FIEXPO, signed the contract that confirms Costa Rica as the venue for the FIEXPO Latin America fair during the years 2025, 2026 and 2027.
The signing took place this Tuesday, August 23rd, within the framework of the international event, ICCA Costa Rica Summit (Association of International Congresses and Conventions) that takes place this week at the Costa Rica Convention Center, with the presence of authorities and members of the private sector related to the tourism segment of meetings, incentives, congresses and events.
“Costa Rica is proud to host one of the most important business and networking roundtables in the industry in all of Latin America for three consecutive years. Fiexpo also constitutes one of the largest platforms for meeting tourism businesses that exists in Latin America for the promotion of South America, Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico as receiving territories and organizers of conventions, congresses, meeting incentives, both business and associative”, said William Rodríguez López, Minister for Tourism.
Fairgrounds, congress centers, hotels, event organizers, travel agencies and suppliers of products and services of the segment participate in FIEXPO, with the aim of showing their commercial offer to professionals from all over the world.
It is also the fair that represents Latin America and the Caribbean in the global meetings market, making it an unmissable event for countries that want to show their potential in this market. It is characterized by the presence of high-quality hosted buyers, who participate in order to find new destinations for their events, with the ease that they are invited by the organization with all their expenses paid.
Generating high-level tourist chains
Costa Rica expects a potential increase in business by 2025 and the promise of continuing its excellent contribution to the meetings industry for the entire continent, benefiting our country in business and image projection, as well as generating high-level tourist chains.
With the official signing of this contract, the promotion and display of the Esencial Costa Rica country brand begins in all FIEXPO distribution materials, an advertising and brand presence that will cross all borders, contributing to the positioning of our country as a destination under development in the so-called MICE segment.
From today we open the doors of our country so that the FIEXPO Latin America fair is an unforgettable event, worth repeating and recommending, where they can live the transformative power of pura vida, which generates experiential experiences that improve the quality of life of those who visit us ” expressed the executive director of the Costa Rica Convention Bureau, Tatiana Orozco.
Rotating locations and validation of the strategy
The fair is characterized by the rotation of host countries, as established by FIEXPO’s constitutive statutes, requiring rotation through different cities in Latin America and the Caribbean every three years.
Some past editions were held in the following countries: 2011-2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay; 2014 to 2016 in Lima, Peru; 2017 to 2019 in Santiago de Chile, Chile. In 2020, it was not held due to the Covid-19 pandemic; 2021 Cartagena, Colombia; 2022 to 2024 Panama City, Panama and from 2025 to 2027 San José, Costa Rica.
In this year’s edition (June 2022) Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Bolivia and Aruba participated. It was attended by 820 specialized suppliers from 17 countries in relation to the organization of events, who connected with the most prominent buyers at a global level.
8,700 business meetings were held, there were 1,957 visitors and 253 hosted buyers. There was also the participation of world experts with extensive international experience in the MICE industry (Meeting, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibitions, for its acronym in English) or business tourism.
For the ICT Marketing area, the signing of this contract that confirms the editions of FIEXPO Latin America for three consecutive years consolidates the strategic actions to show Costa Rica as an excellent alternative for the organization of meetings, events, congresses and incentives.
As part of the efforts of the meeting tourism strategy, an annual action plan is carried out, which includes: an advertising plan in the main specialized media of the meeting tourism industry, specifically in the markets of the United States, Canada, Latin America and the United Kingdom.
In addition, the participation in high-level, specialized world-renowned events, among which IMEX Frankfurt (Germany) stands out, as well as IMEX America (Las Vegas) the participation in the editions of FIEXPO Latin America and now the organization of said event for three years consecutive from 2025.
Costa Rica stands out
Our country stands out in this segment due to air connections, a strategic location, unforgettable experiences, quality of service, an excellent tourist platform, the infrastructure for holding events, as well as a high level of education, the diversity of activities that can be carried out in the destination and sustainability, as a transversal axis of the tourism development model.
According to data collected by the ICT, the meeting industry represents 22% of tourism worldwide and the participant has high purchasing power, spending 3 to 4 times more than a traditional tourist.
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