COSTA RICA NEWS – Costa Rica reported more than 2.5 million arrivals by all ports of entry in 2014. If broken down by type of arrivals, by sea reflected the greatest dynamism for that period: with an increase of 11.8% compared to the previous year.
According to the Immigration Service (Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería – DGME) and the Tourism Board ( Instituto Costarricense de Turismo – ICT), a total of 9.461 people entered the country in 2014 by sea; 1.002 more than in 2013.
Despite that arrivals by sea represents only 0.4% of total arrivals, compared to 68% by air, Rodolfo Lizano, director of Planning at the ICT, says one cannot ignore the growth of recent years.
The ICT does not conduct studies on arrivals by sea, as it does by air and land, however, concludes that the most of the arrivals are by sea are of luxury tourists, arriving on yachts and sailboats.
Ashley Bretecher, director of marketing at Los Sueños Resort, told El Financiero that many of the customers using the marina are owners of condominiums in the development. Los Sueños is located in Playa Herradura, north of Jacó, on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.
The marina has 200 berths in water and 116 in dry dock for boat sizes ranging from 9 to 30 metres, with an all year round occupancy rate of 100% in 2014.
“Boat owners usually have a full-time captain and sail to Costa Rica. In other cases, owners hire a shipping service to transport their boats through the Panama Canal, with Los Sueños their destination. We also have national customers,” said Bretécher.
Travelers entering the country via cruise ship, are not included in the ICT entry statistics.
