Costa Rica Maintains Its
Tourist Attraction
Costa Rica continues to
be a magnet for foreign
visitors shown by an
accumulated growth of
9.18% to August over the
same period last year,
according to the Cámara
de Turismo (Canatur).
The announcement was
made by Canatur
president, Gonzalo
Vargas, in celebration
of the World Tourism Day
that occurs each year on
September 27th.
"We are talking about a
sector that is in
constant growth. We have
seen a growth of 9.18%
in visits during the
first eight months of
the year and 28% growth
in August over last
year", said Vargas.
Since 1980, September 27
is celebrated by the
World Tourism
Organization as World
Tourism Day. It was
established at the Third
Session of the UNWTO
General Assembly in
Torremolinos, Spain, in
September of 1979. The
purpose of this day is
to display awareness
that tourism is vital to
the international
community and to show
how it affects the
social, cultural,
political and economic
values worldwide.
September 27 is
important since on that
day in 1970, the
Statutes of the WTO were
adopted. The adoption of
the statutes is
considered to be a
milestone in global
tourism.
Costa Rica is a country
that had become highly
dependent on tourism,
evidenced by the fact
that every one dollar of
five that comes into the
country is from tourism
activities, according to
Canatur figures.
The total number of
visitors for the first
eight months of 2007
totaled 1.3 million,
generating some us$1.2
billion dollars in
revenue.
"The variety of tourism
products offered in
Costa Rica allows us to
compete on a high
level", said Vargas.
The Canatur head
expressed pleasure in
the results and added
that it is encouraging
as the coming months are
in the "high" season.
Canatur says that the
tourism sector employees
some 110.000 people
directly and another
550.000 indirectly, of
which some 50% the jobs
are filled by women.
The total number of
visits in 2006 was 1.6
million.
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