Costa Rica Is Interested In Russian Tourists

1300 Russian tourists visited Costa Rica in 2008, Olman Hernández of Costa Rica Tourist Board ICT told RATA-news at MITT exhibition.
This Latin American country receives over 2 mln tourists in total annually, of which 60% come from the USA and Canada and 20% from Europe. Tourism is the top second industry and accounts of 8% of GDP and 20% of the country’s export. Mr Hernández said that it was Costa Rica Tourist Board ICT’s first official participation in MITT. Last year Costa Rica was represented by tour operators at the exhibition. Mr Hernández confirmed that Costa Rica Tourist Board ICT planned to take part in similar events at least once a year.
In the near future, the tourist board plans to provide the Embassy of Costa Rica in Russia with promotional tourist materials, and to publish brochures and guides in Russian. “Russia is a huge market with a large number of affluent people,” said Mr Hernández. “Our recommendation to the government will be to cancel visa requirement for Russians”. Mr Hernández added that until recently, Costa Rica used to be a visa-free destination for all the countries. In 2007, before the introduction of the visa regime, 1500 Russian tourists visited the republic. Condor, Luftgansa and Iberia operate direct flights from Europe to Costa Rica.

Source: RATA-News