COSTA RICA: Attracting More European Tourists

The average european tourist plans trips less than a year in advance and searches and books tour packages via the internet, without using intermediaries.

A study by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute to identify best prospects found that "generally Europeans decide on their holiday destination less than a year in advance and in most cases organize their trips independently i.e., without using intermediaries. It was also found that the most used methods of finding information include recommendations from friends, search engines and online travel agencies and websites promoting the destinations.

Among the key factors considered when deciding on where to go on holiday are the climate, cost of travel, security, tourist attractions and experience offered by the site.

Among the kinds of experiences sought on holiday trips are visits to coastal towns, visits to cultural sites, enjoying traditional food, visiting natural areas and protected reserves. According to these studies, the top reasons for considering Costa Rica as a vacation destination are its attractions and tourist activities, climate and good comments."

Viajes El Corte Ingles will be selling tourism products in El Salvador in its sales network in Spain and carrying out a promotional campaign from March 15 to October 31.

The agreement aims to increase the number of Spanish tourists visiting the country, which in 2015 was around 20,000. The promotion will be done through the marketing channels of the agency and will be reinforced by a campaign that will run until October 31, 2015.

The programe of Viajes El Corte Ingles for El Salvador will kick off with flights operated by Iberia -on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays-, which will stop in Guatemala. However, no agreements with other airlines have been ruled out depending on future demand.

Viajes El Corte Ingles has its own program of trips to El Salvador, 9 days, and with a combined program including El Salvador and Honduras. it also sells products for this destination run by other tour operators .

Using the Pura Vida Wellness concept, Costa Rica intends to take advantage of a global market valued at $563 billion, with tourists whose average spending exceeds 130% of global average tourist spending.

The aim of the Costa Rican Institute is to develop this segment, which has great market potential, in order to diversify and consolidate the country's tourism supply. Global wellness tourism grew by 11% between 2013 and 2015, according to data from Global Wellness Tourism Economy.

From a statement issued by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute:

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), launched the Country Strategy Pura Vida Wellness, with the objective of positioning Costa Rica as a well-being destination with Tico branding.

Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism explained that the development of this new product is part of a strategy for diversification and consolidation of tourism, with the aim of incorporating the products with the greatest potential such as wellness tourism, which from 2013 to 2015 grew by 10.6%, according to the Global Wellness Tourism Economy.