Since last April 1st, more than one hundred thousand subscribers to the YouTube channel of audiovisual producer Rob Strok can enjoy an eight-minute video in which various natural beauties of Costa Rica are shown.
In the coming weeks, the 96,000 followers of climber April Davidson could discover new mountain walls to conquer, thanks to the visit of the American to the Land of Pure Life. The arrival and creation of content about our territory by both is no coincidence. On the contrary, it is one of the “strategic marketing actions of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute”.
Niche influencers
This was explained by the director of said government department, Carolina Trejos, who added that the entity has focused on looking for “niche influencers, specialized in tourism and travel.” She stressed that they must be related to the country brand and have the capacity to impact the North American market.
“In this program of influencers, attractive profiles that have the most impact within the North American market (United States and Canada) are selected and studied, then they are officially contacted.
“Depending on their availability, they are invited to live the experience of the destination, sharing it from their point of view in conjunction with the MMGY advertising agency and the ICT Marketing department,” she explained.
Showcasing the positive momentum of the country
In this way, the institution seeks to showcase the momentum that the country had developed before the Pandemic and take advantage of the current vaccination campaign as a detail to reactivate the national tourism industry.
Precisely, this sector was the hardest hit by the economic crisis that caused the COVID-19 Pandemic. In recent months, the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) estimated the losses at about $ 3,000 million.
In addition to this, the union hopes that the pre-pandemic indexes will be recovered before 2024. This, in large part due to the drop in international travel due to sanitary restrictions. ICT figures suggest that the country could receive between 400,000 and 1.6 million visitors this 2021. Last year, just over a million people entered the national territory. This represents a 67% drop compared to 2019.
New tendencies
Faced with this situation, the sector has forged a public-private alliance between the various unions and the ICT to try to implement creative measures. Beyond these initiatives, in an institutional way, the entity has opted for new trends.
In addition to this initiative of programmed visits with influencers, the Institute has also chosen to promote the country as a wellness destination, taking advantage of the desire of many people to reconnect with nature after a year of Pandemic.
At the beginning of March, at the ITB Berlin Now 2021 fair, that was the trend of the Costa Rican offer. This activity is one of the most important at the international level, with regard to tourism.
Viral on c Networks
In recent months, the country has gone viral on various social networks. At the beginning of the year, the Spanish youtuber and photographer, Kike Arnaiz, was surprised by a tapir and her calf in the Corcovado National Park. Both the video recorded by the influencer and by others present had a great reception.
Recently, the Lonely Planet portal made a publication on its Instagram account about the advantages of visiting Costa Rica. As an image, they used a baby sloth hanging from a tree. In less than 24 hours, the image became the one that has generated the greatest number of reactions during this 2021. The portal account has more than two million followers.
Finally, the American magazine National Geographic chose the country as the setting to launch its Tik Tok channel. Now, with Strok’s visit and his video “Costa Rica, the best place to travel in 2021”, the country adds yet another production with the potential to go viral. In a week, the video has more than 13 thousand views.
