Costa Rica Sets
Sights On Latin
American
Tourists
Costa Rica will
be focusing on
tourism from
Latin America,
as
representatives
of the sector
ready strategies
to participate
in five tourism
fairs in the
region this
year.
The first of the
fairs will be
September in
Lima, Peru and
in Mexico. The
other fairs will
be in Guatemala
and Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
in October, with
the last in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina in
December.
Currently
visitors from
Latin America
represent only
17.65% of all
visitors, with
Mexico in the
lead, followed
by Colombia and
Central America.
The strategy
includes
attracting
arilines to fly
to Costa Rica,
according to
María Amalia
Revelo,
marketing
sub-director of
the Instituto
Costarricense de
Turismo (ICT).
In 2009, some
44.000 Mexicans
headed to Costa
Rica by air
(down from
55.000 the year
earlier),
followed by
29.000 visitors
from Colombia,
26.000 visitors
from Guatemala,
20.000 visitors
from El
Salvador, 19.000
visitors from
Venezuela,
17.000 visitors
from Panama and
16.000 visitors
from Argentina.
Cheap flights
and deals
offered by
Mexicana and
Taca were
responsible for
the high number
of Mexican
visitors.
The ICT says
Mexicana will
spend us$300.000
to purchase
advertising in
Mexico's radio,
television and
print media and
such to attract
customers for
Costa Rica. In
Colombia, the
Colombian
airline Avianca
(now in
partenership
with TACA) will
be spending
us$500.000 to
promote Costa
Rica as a
destination in
Colombia, Brazil
and Argentina.
The trick in the
bag is that
Costa Rica does
not require a
visa for
Mexicans,
Brazilians and
many other Latin
American
countries, as
the United
States, Canada
and Europe do,
making Costa
Rica a more
attractive
vacation
destination.
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