Local Tourists Prefer Guanacaste
For Summer Vacation
InfoWebPress – Despite the
difficult economic situation, Costa Ricans are planning to go on
vacation this coming summer and the province of Guanacaste remains
their favorite destination.
Those are some of the outcomes of a survey conducted by the
University of Costa Rica’s School of Statistics for El Financiero
newspaper. The study found that beaches are the favorite places to
visit for Ticos, with Guanacaste in first place followed by
Puntarenas and other places on the Pacific coast.
Of the 34 percent of respondents who said they had plans to visit a
tourist destination within the country, 26 percent said they would
go to the beach, and 27 percent said they would go to Guanacaste
specifically.
The survey also found that 38 percent of Costa Ricans go on vacation
3-4 days, 20 percent do it 7-8 days, and that 64 percent go on
vacation along with 2-4 family members. Of the survey participants,
60 percent responded that they would stay in cabins, hotels or
villas (in that order of preference) while 20 percent said they
would stay in a relative’s home or a borrowed home.
Regarding transportation, most Costa Ricans said they prefer to use
their own vehicles (65.9 percent), while 25 percent said they would
get to their destinations by public transportation or in private
excursion buses. Eight percent said they would be renting a car this
summer.
Another poll was conducted by the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR)
between Dec. 2-9, 2008, regarding the “Perception of tourism
businesses about the effects of the current economic recession on
the national tourism sector.” Some 86 businesses — including tour
operators, hotels, travel agencies and rent-a-cars — participated in
the survey, which yielded important data about the expected behavior
of the tourism industry in 2009.
“The survey’s goal was to learn about the effects of the current
economic crisis on the employment, reservation levels and occupancy
for the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009,” said
Gonzalo Vargas, president of CANATUR.
Regarding reservations for the first quarter of 2009, more than half
of the respondents (57 percent) said they fell by more 24. 5
percent, compared to the same quarter in 2008. Meanwhile, 9 percent
of business owners said their reservations are actually greater (by
26.5 percent) compared with the first quarter of last year.
Responding about their expectations for 2009, almost half of the
businesses (47 percent) said tourism activity would be higher by
approximately 23.8 percent this year.
Regarding sales to the national tourism market in the last trimester
of 2008 (compared with the same period in 2007) responses were
mixed. Some 33 percent of the respondents said their sales declined,
32 percent said they were the same, and 22 percent said they
increased. Three out of 10 business owners who said their sales went
down saw a decline of about 28.3 percent, while those who said their
sales actually grew reported an increase of 17.8 percent.
“We know that this year will present many challenges to the sector.
It will a year or rearrangements that will require concrete action
and will force this industry to continue to work together to
maintain the health of this economic activity,” Vargas concluded. |
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