ICT To Launch Aggressive
Promotional Campaign in
the U.S.
The Instituto
Costarricense de Turismo
(ICT) wants to attract
more tourists to Costa
Rica and to that end
will launching next
monthan aggressive
promotional campaign
that should see positive
results for the coming
"summer" season.
The campaign includes
ads in magazines, buses
and upper scale
restaurants in the U.S.,
according to Carlos
Ricardo Benavides,
ministro de Turismo.
Magazines like National
Geographic, Smithsonian
and Conde Nast Traveller
will all have ads
promoting Costa Rica as
an excellent vacation
spot.
Buses in San Francisco
and New York will be
show ads about Costa
Rica, that included
photos of the Volcan
Arenal, la Lapa Roja,
beach and countryside
scenes. Diners in New
York and San Francisco
will also be bombarded
Costa Rican ads,
Benavides said.
Benavides assures that
the country has to spend
on promoting itself in
foreign markets to keep
its lead in tourism in
the region and North
America is the primary
market, as some 60% of
he 1.69 million tourists
this year are from the
United States, mainly
from the states of
Florida, California,
Texas and New York,
where multiple daily
direct flights to Costa
Rica are available.
According to ICT
profiling the typical
tourist is between 25
and 54 years of age,
stays in Costa Rica an
average of 12 days and
has a combined family
income yearly of more
than us$140.000.
The ICT this year will
also be working with
private industry, like
tour operators, to
promote the country. An
ICT estimate is that the
private industry will
spend about half of the
ICT budget promoting its
products and Costa Rica.
|
