Tourism companies are being called on to take part in Expotur on May 11th- 13th at the Centro Kolbi Parque Viva, in Alajuela.
The 32nd edition of Expotur, the main tourism marketing fair in Costa Rica, will be held from 11th to 13th of May this year in the Centro Kölbi Parque Viva in Guácima, Alajuela, and will highlight the cultural component within the tourist experience.
63% of wholesalers who were participants at the tourism fair held in Costa Rica were there for the first time, and 79% received at least 5 contracts during the event.
A statement from the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (ACOPROT):
On 13 May, Costa Rican businessmen will meet at a business forum in which they will study strategies to position Costa Rica as a destination for the European market.
From a press release by the National Chamber of Tourism of Costa Rica (CANATUR):
Under the theme "Tourism from a New Point of View: Redefining Strategy," the Congress will be held on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 September at the Costa Rica Marriott Hotel.
A statement from the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) reads:
Some 220 international companies from 37 countries and 300 national entrepreneurs will present their tourist packages.
"The work done in recent years has resulted in approximately 100,000 tourists annually, which allows us to indicate that EXPOTUR has brought more that $ 600 million to Costa Rica, and contributed to job creation between 120,000 to 150 thousand positions," said Yadyra Simon, president of Acoprot to Nacion.com .
During 2010, tourism revenues were $7,341 million, of which $2552 were generated in Panama, $1961in Costa Rica, $1378 in Guatemala, $650 in Honduras , $518 in El Salvador, and $281 in Nicaragua, .
According to a preliminary report by the Central American Tourism Integration Secretariat (SITC in Spanish), tourism revenues in the region grew by 0.9% compared to 2009 and the number of visitors increased by 3.8%.
This year El Salvador will attend the OAS’s Inter-American Congress. The main theme is to develop business competitiveness as a tool for tourism development.
The OAS announced the following on its website:
The XIX Inter-American Travel Congress to be held in San Salvador, El Salvador, on 29 and 30 September, 2011 will focus on the following theme "Tourism, a challenge to poverty." Other important issues, such as the importance of public-private partnerships to promote investment and development for the tourism sector, tourism and cultural heritage, social responsibility of enterprises in the tourism industry and the challenges for sustainable tourism will also be discussed in plenary sessions.
Yadira Simón, head of the Association, argued that the event is used by tourism operators from Europe, Asia and America, to find new destinations for their customers.
3.762 business meetings between wholesalers and businessmen in the region took place.
The event featured participation of 158 wholesalers and tour operators from 41 countries, 155 exhibitors from the region and 91 international media.
Laprensagrafica.com published, "This year, seven out of 10 participants attended the fair for the first time, this will open the doors to new business contacts, said Roberto Robles, director of the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT). Next year's fair will take place in Panama."
The fair will begin on Monday October 18th with participation of 245 tourism wholesalers.
Countries like China, India, Japan, Russia, Turkey and New Zealand among others will attend the seventh edition of the Central America Travel Market (CATM), which will take place in Antigua Guatemala from the 18th to the 20th of October.
From June 10 – 14, the VII Central American Small Hotel Forum will be held in Panama, bringing together more than 150 hoteliers.
The goal is to propose strategies to strengthen tourism integration in Central America so that it will become a single destination. The Association of Small Panamanian Hotels (HOPP), in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) and the active participation of the Central American Federation of Small Hotels (FECAPH), organized the forum.
Representatives from the region look to unite so that the economic benefit from tourism will be greater.
"Tourism is the industry that provides the most economic benefit to the region's population. We should unite so the economic benefit derived from tourism in our countries will be greater," declared the Director of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism, Guillermo Novielli, during the IX Summit on Tourism Development and Integration in Central America and the Dominican Republic that was organized by the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) and which ended yesterday in Panama. He also pointed out that they are taking the first steps to raise the awareness that together they are a more attractive destination than as individual countries.
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