For several decades, the global tourism market has begun to segment itself in search of new niches to diversify the options available to domestic and international visitors.
Today, several clearly established trends exist, ranging from the organization of sporting events to options that offer healthy lifestyles such as yoga, chemical-free gastronomy, and the conference and meeting industry.
Currently, the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee is discussing a bill (No. 24,458) aimed at promoting the development of culture as an active component in the growth of tourism.
The initiative, which has already received an affirmative opinion, “aims to guarantee spaces for artistic, artisanal, and culinary expression for cultural workers with a Costa Rican identity in hotel and marina businesses, who will acquire, for the first time, the benefits of the Tourism Development Incentives Law, with the goal of offering our customs and traditions to national and international tourism.”
In this field, the province of Guanacaste has great advantages to offer, given its recognized contributions to the formation of the national cultural identity in a wide range of areas, such as traditional dances, music, culinary arts, and the production of theater and musicals, among many others.
A plan of this type, in addition to stimulating the innate talent of the people of Guanacaste, would be a foundation for offering a boost that would strengthen the province in national and international markets, generating a significant wave of expansion that would benefit the entire region.
The aforementioned project contemplates allowing municipalities to create an artistic fund to compile a registry with information on cultural workers. This action would provide a clear and precise understanding of this sector in terms of the formation of groups, the nature of their activities, and the potential requirements they need to develop their creative work.
The implementation of this proposal should receive the support of Guanacaste’s 11 local governments, given that the seal of culture has always been imprinted on the Chorotega heart.
