Costa Rica To
Participate In
International Tourism
Fair
(Infocom) — A group of
16 Costa Rican companies
will travel to Buenos
Aires, Argentina, to
represent the country at
the Latin American
International Tourism
Fair (FIT), which is
considered the most
important event of its
kind in the region.
Tour operators, hotels
and car rental
businesses will set up
their displays in the
South American capital
Nov. 1-4, vying to draw
the attention of
international
wholesalers and travel
agencies. For the past
12 years, FIT has
gathered representatives
from the Latin American
tourism industry and
other parts of the
world, becoming a key
platform to maximize the
capacities of its
participants.
This year, there will be
nearly 1,800 exhibitors
at the fair, with the
novelty of having South
Korea, Taiwan and the
People’s Republic of
China joining the event
for the first time.
“FIT is an attractive
tool that allows to
reach several key areas
of the industry,” said
Gonzalo Vargas,
president of the Costa
Rican Chamber of Tourism
(CANATUR). “It offers a
space for sharing the
current options of the
tourism industry,
leading to the
negotiation of new
deals, making valuable
investments and learning
about trends in the
market.”
Vargas explained that
Costa Rica’s
participation in this
fair is very important
due to the current
global economic
recession. “At this time
it’s essential to
strengthen our
business,” he said. “Our
presence at FIT is part
of our strategy to seek
better positioning of
Costa Rica as a tourist
destination by
increasing our
visibility. It’s also an
opportunity to target
the South American
market, the Latin
American region in
general, and even the
European market, on
which we are focusing
our efforts to
counteract the effects
of the financial crisis
in the United States.”
According to CANATUR
data, the South American
market is very important
to Costa Rica. Only in
2007, nearly 110,000
tourists from this
region visited the
country, most of them
from Colombia, Venezuela
and Argentina.
Delegations from Latin
American countries and
from nations around the
world attend FIT every
year, exchanging
experiences,
contributing new
products and services,
and coming together to
analyze trends in the
international tourism
market.
The fair attracts
airlines and ground
transportation
companies, banks,
financial entities,
hotels and alternative
lodging, rent-a-cars,
private and
state-sponsored tour
operators. Two types of
visitors attend FIT:
professionals involved
in the tourism and
travel industries and
the general public, who
is anxious to get to
know about new
destinations and tour
options.
The 1,760 exhibitors
that attended FIT last
year represented more
than 50 countries, with
some new faces in the
crowd such as Thailand,
the Seychelles Islands
and Namibia. Dominating
the exhibit area were
MERCOSUR (South American
Common Market) nations
such as Uruguay and
Brazil, which offered
visitors a myriad tour
packages and other
novelties. |
