Six Costa Rican tourism companies, with the support of the Institute of Tourism, participated in the World Travel Market Latin America Fair that took place at the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo, Brazil last week.

The companies Meridianos Travel Agency, Best of Costa Rica, Costa Rica Top Tours, Destination Costa Rica DMC, Destination Services Costa Rica and Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge promoted the country as an ideal destination. They also contacted wholesale tourism companies, airlines and travel agencies, among others.

Costa Rican companies have not participated in this fair since 2019 due to the pandemic. But this year, the decrease in the number of cases of covid-19 in the world and the gradual elimination of sanitary measures, allow them to see an increase in the number of trips and the reactivation of tourism. For these reasons, "the participation of the country and of national companies are important to promote their services," said Ireth Rodríguez, director of the institute.

According to the Tourism Institute, these companies achieved 30 appointments with entrepreneurs from Brazil, Argentina and the United States. In addition, during the second half of this year, training will be held for 50 travel agents from Brazil.

According to Rodríguez, the countries of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay have been part of the main tourism supplier countries. Visitors from those countries travel to Costa Rica mainly to visit beaches, national parks and volcanoes.

According to data from the General Directorate of Migration, analyzed by the institute, last year over 57,000 tourists entered by air from South America, of these about 11,500 from Brazil, over 8,000 from Argentina, more than 1,700 from Uruguay and over 4,800 from Chile.

The WTM, 94% of the tourism agencies at the fair came from Latin America. The activity was visited by 50 tourism companies, 550 travel agents and 1,000 tourism operators from Brazil.