Guanacaste Marketplace
Opens With New Business
Expectations
(Infocom) — The
Guanacaste Marketplace (GMP)
fair held last Nov. 4-5
at a Gulf of Papagayo
hotel was a bit
different this time
around.
A tourism productions
commercialization event,
GMP is geared toward
product development
through the
international
distribution system.
Through this fair,
international buyers and
sellers negotiate their
services with the goal
of being included in
brochures and offers
during the next season.
The Guanacaste
Marketplace is organized
by the Costa Rican
Tourism Professionals
Association as a way to
respond to wholesalers’
interest in getting to
know specific tourism
destinations in the
country. However, this
year the activity had a
slightly different twist
due to the real estate
crisis facing the United
States. On this
occasion, the fair
allowed the
participation of local
buyers, while
traditionally the event
attracted only foreign
companies.
Reformatted to emphasize
the promotion of tourism
packages to and within
Costa Rica, as well as
to various destinations
in the Central American
region, the event sought
to offer wholesalers and
clients more diverse
products, while
providing the
opportunity to renew
their product offerings.
This year, Costa Rican
wholesalers also had the
chance to acquire
products being offered
by sellers, so that they
could be later developed
into tourism packages to
be sold to their
clients, travel agencies
and tour operators — as
well as to
interanational buyers
that take part in this
event.
GMP has as one of its
strengths the support of
the region’s government
and private sectors,
which actively seek
international
wholesalers to develop
promotional campaigns.
Such support could
become a launching pad
for sales efforts of
tour packages to Costa
Rica and Central
America.
Despite the popularity
of GMP, this year
several companies were
absent as they argued
that the U.S. financial
crisis kept them from
coming here. Despite
that, the fair still
attracted some 40
tourism business that
operate in the province
of Guanacaste, which
were able to set up
business meetings with
some 20 North American
wholesalers as they
tried to place their
tourism products and
services.
In addition to exhibits
highlighting the many
tourism products
Guanacaste has to offer,
the GMP also included
seminars that discussed
the problems facing the
North Pacific region of
Costa Rica; payment of
environmental services
as a financial
instrument to protect
water resources; and the
development plan for
Guanacaste that the
central government is
implementing
(presentation by Raquel
Barrientos of the
Ministry of Planning).
There were also training
sessions about how to
market the Chorotega
region’s tourism
products more
effectively in
international markets —
this as a way to find
new alternatives to the
U.S. travel market,
which continues to be
the main source of
visitors who arrive in
Guanacaste. |
