Costa Rica To Lure American Tourists With Discounts

Jun 18, 2009

By The Staff, SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA [Inside Costa Rica]


The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) - Costa Rican tourism board - is getting aggressive in attracting American tourists to Costa Rica, enticing "gringos" with discounts and bonuses for their visit.

American tourists account for 40% of tourism in Costa Rica and the current strategy is conquer Americans tourists in the face of the economic crisis.

The program is called "Costa Rica Plus" that includes free nights stay, extended car rental and special passes to national parks and tourist attractions as part of the enticement to attract Americans to come to Costa Rica.

María Amalia Revelo, marketing director for the ICT, called the program a "novel and practical" campaign inviting Americans to take action, Choosing Costa Rica, when making their reservations.

Revelo said that the campaign will include promotional campaigns in the US in publications like The New York Times, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and others.

All the information is contained in the ICT website www.visitcostarica.com/crplus where potential tourists can watch videos of Costa Rica, and print out discount coupons at participating hotels, car rental agencies, tours and attractions and airlines.

The discounts are obtained in three easy steps: select the company of choice, provide the ICT with name, country and email and print out the "value coupon".

Examples of discounts include a free one or two extra nights for hotel reservations; free days, GPS and upgrades from car rental companies: $20 + coupons for tours; and kids fly free on Nature Air.

The discounts are available on all reservations made between June 19 and August 31 and for travel completed before December 15.

Source: http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/june/18/cr01.htm