Costa Rica: Awaiting an Increase in Tourism
Copyright 2001 Inter Press Service
December 18, 2001
By Nfer Muoz
SAN JOSE, Dec. 18 - With its quiet beachs, mountains, jungles and quaint villages, Costa Rica hopes to become the prefered destination for United States citizens seeking respite from the constant reminders of terror and war since Sept. 11.
Costa Rica already stands out as a leading tourist destination in Central America, accounting for 25 percent of the 4.4 million arrivals to the region in 2001. Tourism contributes more than $ 1 billion to the country's gross domestic product (GDP), and is the chief foreign exchange-earner.
The beaches, mountains, jungles and quaint old towns and villages of this country of 3.8 million were visited by 1.1 million tourists this year, 80 percent of whom came from the United States. Crist Inman with the Costa Rica-based Central American Business Administration Institute (INCAE), a leading private center of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, said the influx of tourists in 2002 would be unusually large because many people from the United States are opting for quieter, safer and closer destinations for their annual vacations.
Inman, a U.S. economist, based his predictions on statistical projections and on INCAE's own studies of Costa Rica's booming "smokeless industry."
Inman cited a poll carried out in the United State by Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brown, one of the world's leading travel and leisure advertising agencies, which found that many respondents preferred to take shorter flights to close-by countries.
Costa Rica is attractive to U.S. citizens who want to vacation in quiet places that demand little travelling time, said Inman, who pointed out that it takes less than three hours to reach this country from Miami and just four hours from Houston and Atlanta.
Inman also said Costa Rica would accidentally be one of the biggest "beneficiaries" of the fears triggered by the Sep. 11 events, due to the country's proximity to the United States and its well-designed tourism policies and promotion strategies that draw U.S. and European travellers.
The Costa Rican government's publicity campaigns put a particular emphasis on ecotourism, under the motto "no artificial ingredients" -- a profile that is very profitable in the long term, said Inman.
"Costa Rica practically invented ecological tourism," said the economist.
Furthermore, nearly half of every dollar spent by tourists remains in Costa Rica, compared to a mere 10 cents in conventional tourist resorts like Cancun, Mexico or Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Ulises Rodr guez, the manager of the Monta a Monteverde hotel, said the great success of Costa Rica's tourism industry was the "democratization" of the sector.
"What abounds here are small hotels, and the market is very well distributed," said Rodr guez. "We believe it is not good for the country to promote mega-tourism projects, rather than the more personalized ecological tourism."
Inman's optimistic estimates coincide with those of another U.S. economist, his colleague Lawrence Pratt, a Yale graduate at the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS).
Statistics provided by CLACDS, a research center that forms part of INCAE, indicate that sand and beach tourism is growing globally at just four percent a year, compared to the 25 to 30 percent growth of ecotourism.
While ecotourism accounts today for just five percent of the global tourism industry, it moves nearly $ 200 billion a year. "The direct benefits for Costa Rica could be felt in the next two or three years," said Pratt.
Inman and Pratt say Costa Rica should avoid a mushrooming of hotels belonging to large international chains, and continue to foment the emergence of small installations that target the ecotourist.
Costa Rica is one of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of biodiversity. Scientists estimate that more than 500,000 species of flora and fauna inhabit this country of 51,000 square kilometers.
Reports by the governmental Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) note that the fall in the influx of tourists seen after the Sept. 11 attacks has begun to be checked.
Costa Rica's high season stretches from December to April.
The number of visitors fell 11.3 percent in September, 7.7 percent in October and 5.1 percent in November, with respect to 2000 levels.
Tourism Minister Walter Niehaus said the government was implementing a plan to mitigate the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks, which includes a tourism package offered jointly with Cuba.
Niehaus pointed out that Costa Rica offered the marvels of biodiversity, which Cuba complemented with its sun and beaches.
Tourism promotion campaigns in several different languages, including Hebrew, Polish, Japanese and Portuguese, have also begun to be carried out abroad.
But the optimism of Inman and Pratt contrasted with the cautious approach taken by the president of the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals, William Rodr guez.
Rodr guez was hesitant in predicting a strong season, pointing out that the flight arrivals scheduled for the coming tourist season in the Daniel Oduber international airport in the northern tourist town of Guanacaste averaged only seven a week, compared to 17 last year.
"Ecotourism remains a small part of the tourism industry in Costa Rica, where the great majority of visitors come for the sun and beaches," he said.
But Olga Valverde, the head of the reservations department at the Selva Verde hotel, which targets ecotourists, said the upbeat projections of the INCAE economists were already coming true.
The Selva Verde hotel offers hikes through old-growth tropical forest, boat rides down rivers, butterfly-watching and horseback riding, said Valverde.
"At first we believed that the terrorist attacks were going to have a terrible effect on us, but to our surprise it was just the contrary. We are all booked up for 2002, and are already accepting reservations for the 2003 tourist season," she added.