Costa Rica: Number of Tourist Arrivals Drops

There were 12.275 less tourist arrivals tourist arrivals by air in the third quarter of this year over the same period in 2010.

Official figures by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) shows that the number of arrivals for July, August and September for this year was 312.659, 12.275 less than for the same period last year.

In fact, the quarter ended with a deficit in visitor arrivals compared to the third quarter last year.

"The tourism industry is the largest generator of foreign exchange and the sector that better distributes income; and for this reason, we need to compete in new markets to ensure the sustainability of the activity, trusting that in the long term it leads to significant percentages in tourism from the United States and Canada", said Juan Carlos Ramos, head of CANATUR.

Furthermore, it is important to attract tourists from other destinations such as Russia, China and Brazil.

The arrivals by is is the largest means of tourists arriving to Costa Rica.