Even though flying from Costa Rica to other countries within the Central American region involves a very short flight, data from the Central American Integration Secretariat (SIECA) shows that this region is not preferred among Costa Rican travelers just the same as this country is not the preferred destination for other Central Americans.

The data provided by SIECA indicates that out of all the Costa Ricans that traveled by air in 2014 only 9% of the mobilization involved intra-regional traveling; the country where ticos travel the most to out of the Central American countries is Panama.

According to data by the Costa Rica Tourism Institute the number of visitors from Central America to the country shows a sustained decline since 2012 and through 2016.

The high costs involved in the past for traveling within the Central America area may explain this phenomenon, since vacationist prefer visiting other countries that represent a similar cost.

Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism of Costa Rica, comments, “ This doesn’t mean that Central America is not appealing to us as a market, but when we establish our priorities we channel our efforts to the markets that generate a larger number of tourists and those that generate a bigger number of prospects”.

Following these criteria, the European market has become a priority to the country, “Europeans stay in average 18 nights and spend in average $1,737 USD while a Central American will not stay longer than 7 nights and will spend under $1,050”.

“Traveling by air between Central American countries has always been expensive, it could end up costing almost the same as traveling to Europe, the disproportion is clear”, continued the Minister.

With low-cost airlines now offering more direct flights between Costa Rica and different destinations in Central America, the tourism authorities hope that the number of travelers within the region will increase; airlines now have a larger offer to travel to and from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, and the cost has become much more accessible.

The tourism industry continues with efforts to attract European visitors and in this way reduce the dependency of the North American market.