According to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the country’s touristic image remains intact, despite the wave of violence and the plane crash that killed 12 people, including 10 Americans.
In fact this week, Costa Rica once again stood out as an international tourist destination. The country is part of the group selected by “The World’s Ten Best Ethical Destinations 2018”. This study ranks the top 10 countries that highlight human rights, social welfare, and environmental protection. Costa Rica’s name stood out along with nations such as Belize, Benin, Chile and Colombia.
The ICT even expects that at the end of the high season of tourism the country will reach a record number of visitors (three million).
This was acknowledged by Victor Ramirez, head of ICT Tourist Service, added that the figures show 10% of jobs are linked to tourism so this highlights the importance of this sector for the country.
However, the positive line of tourism is threatened by the wave of violence in the country and accidents such as the plane crash that occurred on December 31st in Nandayure.
The events were regrettable, with international repercussions, but we have done a monitoring with our agencies in Europe and the United States and there has not been an alarm warning tourists not to come to Costa Rica because it is dangerous,”
said Ramírez.
However, national authorities are also making efforts to reduce assaults on tourists visiting the country. On average 200 foreigners are killed each year.
Regarding security standards, the director of the Public Force, Juan José Andrade, explained that an important effort has been made in the reinforcement of tourist areas. In fact, this month, the police reinforced the coastal zones with a thousand officers.
Isabel Vargas, president of the National Chamber of Tourism, asked the authorities to strengthen the safety of tourists in the country with preventive and corrective actions.
While we were recently cataloged as a safe destination to travel by the United States Government, we cannot neglect the perception that has characterized us worldwide,”
said the hierarch.