Costa Rican companies toured Scandinavia from November 7th to 11th, 2019, to meet with 141 tourism agents. It began last Thursday in Denmark and continued in Sweden and the Netherlands.
The tour to Scandinavia was organized by the Futuropa Group Association -an organization made up of tourism companies– which considers that there are many reasons to conclude that this is a very attractive market, on which it is very important to work.
Futuropa, knowledgeable about the demands and needs of the European traveler, will seek – through Educational Seminars – to create business connections between the Costa Rican companies that travel and with at least 180 tourist agents from the cities they will visit. These Educational Seminars seek to promote Costa Rica as a tourist destination in the old continent, this being one of the main missions of Futuropa.
An emerging market
According to the president of Futuropa, Daniel Chavarría, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark can be considered an emerging market for Costa Rica. The Costa Rican mission was in Denmark (Copenhagen) on November 7, in Sweden (Stockholm) on 8 and in Holland (Amsterdam), on November 11; is considered last of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The arrival of Europeans to Costa Rica was led last year by France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany. The Scandinavian countries still do not have a strong weight in the arrivals of Europeans, but according to the Futuropa Group, it has outstanding characteristics to conclude that they can increase in the coming years if Costa Rica makes marketing efforts in this geographical area.
Among the outstanding features that Futuropa finds is that Scandinavians have many vacation days a year (between 25 days and 30 days). Between 3 to 5 times they travel in the year, and at least one departure is made to distant destinations.
Another characteristic that makes this market very attractive is that they are countries with very healthy economic indexes and the population enjoys a high purchasing power. A good part of their income is spent on leisure and vacations.
Scandinavia is in the northern part of Europe and has an inclement climate. The countries have a cold climate and long-dark winters so that their inhabitants seek to go out a lot on their vacations, just to look for the sun and warm destinations.
In addition, they have a mentality of conservation of the environment, protection of the planet and of nature, so they are attracted to a destination like ours that has been working on this theme for years. For Futuropa, the key aspect that can generate a jump in the growth of this market occurred in recent years with the arrival of new European airlines and the establishment of direct flights to Costa Rica.
What makes Scandinavia’s market more attractive is the arrival of Air France and KLM, 2 sister airlines that established flights to Costa Rica from Amsterdam and Paris. Both airlines have very good connectivity with Scandinavia.
“In at least 12 cities in Scandinavian countries, there are at least 5 daily frequencies to Paris or Amsterdam with Air France or KLM and, surely, many of these frequencies will connect with direct flights to Costa Rica”, says the president of Futuropa, Daniel Chavarría.
Holland: A growing market
Only from Holland, 32,561 tourists arrived in 2018. This tour includes this country because it is a market very similar to Scandinavia in purchasing power, weather and holiday habits and they already have a direct flight to Costa Rica. Therefore, for Futuropa, the Netherlands has a huge potential in continuous growth.
In order to reinforce the promotion and business efforts in Europe, the KLM airline has a lot of interest in establishing alliances with this business group and sponsoring them next year in the events that will take place in the old continent.
