Essential COSTA RICA continues to work hard for the positioning of the country in international markets, and as part of this work, joined the Minister of Culture and Youth, Sylvie Durán, as a member of the Inter-Institutional Committee with the aim of strengthening the cultural component in the Country Brand.
This Committee is complemented by the Minister of Foreign Trade, Dyalá Jiménez; the Minister of Tourism, María Amalia Revelo; the Chancellor of the Republic, Manuel Ventura, who recently joined; the General Manager of the Promotora del Comercio Exterior (PROCOMER), Pedro Beirute and the General Director of the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (CINDE), Jorge Sequeira.
During yesterday’s session of the Committee that protects the Country Brand, the members welcomed Minister Duran, as well as Chancellor Ventura. They also reaffirmed their commitment and support to the actions they carry out in the institutions so that Costa Rica continues to position itself as a privileged site within international audiences.
“The essential brand COSTA RICA is a country project that is becoming more solid and mature. The different institutions that protect the Brand, have been working together to disseminate and position, and we are confident that the incorporation of the Minister of Culture and the new Chancellor, will bring strengthening and continuity to the process that began almost 6 years ago”, said the Country Brand Director, Daniel Valverde.
Valverde also commented that “the incorporation of the Ministry of Culture responds to a strategy in which the elements of Costa Rican culture and idiosyncrasies act transversally in the 3 sectors promoted by the Brand: tourism, exports, and direct foreign investment. Similarly, to date, there are different cultural initiatives that have been championed by the Country Brand, such as the following festivals: National Arts, International Arts, Design International, Film International, as well as art exhibitions at different museums”.
The Country Brand was launched in September 2013 as a key communication tool to position the country and is how Costa Rica projects itself to the world through the promotion of integral tourism, investments, and exports, hand in hand with the culture and Costa Rican idiosyncrasy.
Essential COSTA RICA works under 2 criteria:
- Country positioning. By showing the characteristics that describe Costa Rican people; “Pura Vida”, charismatic, “empuchados”, specialized and talented.
- Country competitiveness. In order to fulfill the promise made to the world, it is guaranteed that the companies under the country brand represent these values; excellence, sustainability, innovation, social progress, and Costa Rican linking.
To date, 444 micro, small, medium, and large companies in the export and tourism sector are part of the COSTA RICA group.
In 2017, the international consulting firms Bloom Consulting and Place Matters, experts in assessing the positioning of countries in foreign markets evaluated the performance of the brand. The studies carried out indicated that the good perception of the country brand places it on competitors in the region, such as Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Panama. Essential COSTA RICA collaborated, in the last 3 years, to identify in the investment and trade sectors, and continues to enhance its legacy as a natural destination.
Likewise, the value of the Brand increased 12 places for tourism and 5 for commerce and investment, in the world ranking of the Country Brand Ranking 2017-2018, ranking 9th on the continent, being the brand that reported the highest growth in the Americas.