According to the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), poor port, airport and road infrastructure and expensive prices are the main problems that tourism is facing in Costa Rica.
Pablo Abarca, CANATUR’s director, explained that the fact of being the most expensive country in Central America should encourage Costa Rica to improve the tourism sector for those who are willing to pay for it: European and American people.
Information from Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) indicates that the arrival of tourists throught different routes rose up from 2,500,000 in 2014 to 2,660,000 in 2015. Abarca states that prices of public services should be changed.
The competitiveness of Costa Rica is an advantage. We are by far the most expensive country in the region, but the first step is to accept it. We have specialized on a market whose members want to pay for, but obviously we must check this competitiveness,
said Abarca.
The potential market needs better options:
American and European people are almost breaking a record on visits in our country. It means we are doing it very well,
stated Abarca.
According to the president of CANATUR, the security issue cannot be considered as an important factor.
I honestly believe that the country has the best security system in the region, we should not neglect it, but it’s not a priority.