Costa Rica
Swine Flu Totals: One "Confirmed", Three
"Probable", 51 "Suspect"
Tourism Down 13% In
First Quarter of 2009
Tolls On San
Jose - Caldera Highway To Begin Saturday
Costa Rica
Seizes More Than 1.5 Tons of Cocaine
Volunteers
Wanted n Costa Rica
Tourism Down
13% In First Quarter of 2009
The World Economic Crisis is being blamed
83.000 less visitors, either for vacation or
business, to Costa Rica during the first
three months of 2009.
According to the statistics, there were
551.000 visitors arriving to Costa Rica by
way of the Juan Santamaría (San Jose) and
Daniel Oduber (Liberia) international
airports, between January 1 to March 31,
2009, compared to 634.000 visitors for the
same period in 2008.
The numbers show that tourism in the first
quarter of 2008 grew by 18%, meanwhile it
fell 13% in 2009.
The majority of the decrease is of American
visitors that make up 54% of all tourism in
Costa Rica, according to the ministro de
Turismo, Carlos Benavides.
The situation is worrisome to tourism
operators, especially hotel owners who
report lower occupancy this year than over
the same period last year.
The Cámara Costarricense de Hoteles (CCH)
says that at least 23% of the hotels polled
reported empty rooms. Pablo Solano, head of
the CCH says that hotels in San José,
Guanacaste and San Carlos (La Fortuna) are
the ones reporting most affected by the
downturn in tourism.
The net effect of the crisis is also
reflected in the behaviour of those who do
visit Costa Rica, by staying less nights and
spending less. According to the Instituto
Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) the average
number of days spent in Costa Rica by
tourists dropped from ten last year to eight
this year.The ICT also calculated that the
average daily spending by tourists in 2008
as $110. No figures were available for this
year.
Benavides, putting a spin on the decline,
said that even though Costa Rica's tourism
has dropped 13% in the first quarter, it is
relatively good compared to other tourism
destinations like Mexico, where the tourism
board in that country estimates a drop of
50% in tourism this year (before the swine
flu outbreak).
To counter the drop, Costa Rican tourism
officials have been promoting more in the
United States and have set their sights on
European visitors.
Benavides said that the ICT is currently in
negotiations with two US airlines to
increase their number of flights, following
the Continental Airlines lead in March that
began offering three, from two, daily
flights to and from Costa Rica.
The numbers are preliminary by the Tourism
board and is still waiting on official
numbers by the Dirección de Migración
(immigration service).
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