Costa Rica Adopts Anti-Terrorism
Law
Próspero Fernández
Gets Clean Up Whit Closure of Illegal Exits
Costa Rica
Leads Tourism in Region and Latin America
Baby Blue Whale Caught on Film -- Youngest
Yet
'Green Novel' Pits Man Against Big Oil,
Set in Costa Rica
Work on 27 de
Abril and Playas del Coco Roadways Continues
Annual Inspection Of Fishing Boats Begins in
Guanacaste
Costa Rica
Leads Tourism in Region and Latin America
Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the
most attractive environments for developing
the travel and tourism industry, according
to the third annual Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report, published by the
World Economic Forum. Costa Rica
ranked 42nd, the highest
ranking of any Latin American country in the
report.
Costa Rica scored ranked 44th last year.
For 2009, Costa Rica earned a score of 4.42
putting it ahead of Mexico (51) in tourism
infrastructure, education and training
within the travel and tourism industry.
Costa Rica is ranked 4th in the region,
ahead of its neighbours Panama (55)
Guatemala (70), Honduras (83), El Salvador
(94) and Nicaragua (103).
The country gets excellent marks for its
natural resources (ranked 6th), with several
World Heritage sites, a high percentage of
nationally protected areas, and its very
diverse fauna.
Given the importance of the natural
environment for the county’s tourism
industry, it is notable that it ranks a high
27th overall for environmental
sustainability, an area of measurable
improvement since last year.
However, safety and security remains a
concern (72nd). Further, although its
tourism infrastructure is well developed
(33rd), with a strong presence of major car
rental companies and abundant hotel rooms,
ground transport infrastructure requires
significant upgrading (103rd), particularly
roads and ports, making travel in the
country somewhat difficult.
Among
the top ten, France, Canada, Sweden,
and Singapore, post improvements in
the report released this week.
The rankings are based
on the Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which
measures the different regulatory
and business-related issues that
have been identified as levers for
improving travel and tourism
competitiveness in countries around
the world.
This year’s report, published under
the theme “Managing in a Time of
Turbulence”, reflects the
difficulties the industry currently
faces, which must be overcome to
ensure strong sectorial growth in
the future. |
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This is particularly captured by the
topics covered in the analytical chapters,
exploring issues such as the impact of oil
prices on the tourism industry, the
importance of price competitiveness for
attracting tourists and the extent to which
the Index explains differences in travel
intensity between countries.
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