QCOSTARICA – The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Costa Rica’s Tourism Board – is working to attract US airlines to increase the number of cities with direct connection to Costa Rica.
The Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, made the remarks Monday morning on the Nuestra Voz radio program, where he announced that they are holding talks to establish a direct connection with at least six new cities.
Washington, Boston, Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia, and Tampa, would be some of the destinations that could have direct flights to and from Costa Rica in the near future.
“There are a lot of cities that have a high concentration of ideal tourists for Costa Rica, which are in cities where we do not have direct connections,” Segura explained.
As mentioned by the Minister, these actions are part of the recovery process that is being carried out in the tourism sector, which, according to him, is already beginning “to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
By June, 59% of the airlines that flew to Costa Rica before the pandemic had returned, a figure that increased to 66% in July.
In addition, Segura mentioned other projects with which it is working to strengthen tourism such as the initiative called “RED SOFIA“ (SOFIA Network), which is a joint effort of ICT and the National Institute of Women (INAMU) that aims to offer a safe destination for female tourists traveling alone.
It consists of a voluntary training program for companies in the tourism sector interested in implementing best practices for serving foreign visitors.
The minister stressed the importance of this type of initiative, especially now with the approval of the digital nomads project, which will cause more women to visit the country in the coming months, according to ICT estimates.
He also took the opportunity to remind of the project that exists to attract international film production to the country, which would generate great publicity for Costa Rica.
Finally, the Minister took the opportunity to make a call to continue supporting the tourism industry in this stage of the sector’s recovery.