The start of the new Tourism Cluster for the Central Pacific Region this past week at the facilities of the Tourism Promotion Board in Puntarenas, would improve the competitiveness of the sector in the post-COVID-19 economy. This was indicated by the Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, during the formal ceremony in which the official launch of the cluster took place.
“This effort to form the productive cluster is about generating a dynamic between the different actors to stop talking about potential and start talking about results. The Central Pacific Region is a fundamental element of the Costa Rican tourist offer but with challenges to insert itself better in the economy, create more and better jobs and improve the linkage to other sectors that provide services -agriculture, transport, logistics, etc. To take this possibility of recovery of our economy in the post-COVID-19 era and attract more tourism, this work of coordination between sectors is essential”, added the Minister.
Representatives of the local business sector, the National Technical University and the University of Sciences and Art, the president of the Agency for the Development of the Special Economic Zone of the Central Pacific (AZEEPC), William Barrantes, the Executive President of the Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports (INCOP), Juan Ramón Rivera and the Vice Minister of the Presidency, Silvia Lara, all participated in the event, which followed strict sanitary measures
Essential activity for the country
Tourism is the fifth cluster in the region, now joining the Marine Industry, Manufacturing, Agroindustry and Logistics clusters that already operate in the area. This is an integrating effort that is being developed in the region and which aims to improve production chains and value chains in the logic promoted by the Government of the Republic, to promote development in a territorial key in the Pacific.
The president of INCOP, Juan Ramón Rivera, stated that “the integration by the active forces of the productive sector in the Pacific has the capacity to develop innovative actions to eliminate obstacles and create strategic associations between the productive actors, not only tourism, but also of nourishment and systematized with the other clusters that are already working in the region to advance in job creation. This development strategy includes some of the proposals that emerged at the territorial dialogue table”.
What is a cluster?
A cluster is a model of cooperation between companies in the same geographical area, educational institutions and the public sector. In this model, a strategic vision of the region is integrated, the identification of productive opportunities and linkages is optimized and it allows to invest resources in a better way.
