EscucharSAN JOSE - Breaking away at last from the bad weather that has recently kept Costa Rican tourism grounded, January and February's high season flights arrived at full capacity.
After almost three years of struggling, the country experienced an 11.18 percent increase in the arrival of visitors during the two months mentioned above, compared with the same period in 1997.
Through a very simple campaign, Tico-style, ``Costa Rica, No Artificial Ingredients'', the country was able to attract tourists anew and to place itself as the ``most unusual'' destination for 1998, as defined in a report by the American Society of Travel Agencies published in Travel Weekly.
Costa Rica places 8 percent above destinations such as Turkey, Australia, China, Cuba, and Russia.
On top of this the U.S. publication Recommend, who carried out a survey of 61,000 travel agencies, classified this Central American nation as the leading international ecotourist destination.
Therefore it is no wonder that the arrivals of visitors from the United States and Canada have increased by 20.75 and 14.50 percent respectively.
The impact of these figures is better understood by comparing with late 1996, when the tourist industry, Costa Rica's primary source of foreign currency, showed a -0.4 percent growth.
Marketing
``Costa Rica! Costa Rica!'' Fixing that name in the minds of tourists with the same force achieved during previous successful high seasons is the outcome of what the private sector has defined as a wise promotion campaign, which involved a $7-million investment.
``There are two elements that must be credited with the success attained: first, the promotion was a key and it proved that it works, and second, the close cooperation between the public and private sectors to plan the tourist strategy,'' said the President of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR in Spanish), Mauricio Ventura.
The former Minister of Tourism, Carlos Roesch, believes that by the end of 1998 the average increase in the arrival of visitors will be no less than 10 percent.
``Investing,'' he said, ``in the promotion of the country in such an aggressive way was a success, that is a fact, as was the joint work with the private sector.''
This joint effort has resulted in $1.2-billion income for the country, the availability of more than 27,000 hotel rooms as of December 1997, business investment of more than $30 million, and the arrival in Costa Rica of some of the biggest names in hotels: Marriott, Occidental, Best Western, Hampton Inn, Intercontinental, Sol Meliá, Radisson, Choice Hotels, and Alegro Resorts.
The new President of the Costa Rican Board of Tourism (ICT in
Spanish), Aida Fishman, acknowledged Roesch's performance, particularly his close work with the private sector. She promised to continue the aggressive campaign to bring visitors to the country.
More is needed
Even though the tourist industry is satisfied with the course it is following, and with its expansion in several areas -- for example, Marriott is to open a hotel at Herradura Beach in November next year --, the poor conditions of the country's infrastructure remain the major obstacle to further process.
``The bad infrastructure and the high cost of services are the two major threats to tourism in Costa Rica,'' Allan Kelson of Marriott Hotels pointed out.
Agustín Monge, of the national hotel chain Hoteles Marta, agrees and says that regarding roads, ports, and airports ``we are in the Stone Age.''
However, tourism in Costa Rica has again taken off, and the industry expects to keep it flying high for at least the next three years. The thanks is due to the continuing efforts to bring a growing number of visitors to the country.
