The Costa Rica Tourism Institute (ICT) has been clear in its interest to strengthen the promotion of the country as a wellness destination; with this in mind the project Wellness Pura Vida has selected seven areas in the country that have potential in this field.

An area like Nicoya, Guanacaste which at this point has very few tourism attractions, is actually a blue zone, so this particular characteristic will be used to develop a plan that will make it into a wellness spot that will bring together relaxation, culture, longevity and gastronomy.

The concept involves evaluating the existing offer in each area and exploring those factors that can be exploited; so besides Nicoya, the other six areas are:

Nosara: Yoga, meditation, culture, retreats and gastronomy.
Santa Teresa: Yoga, gastronomy and sports activities.
La Fortuna: Hot springs, spas, gastronomy, earthing, forest bathing, culture, stargazing.
Orosí and Ujarrás: Outdoors activities, sports, rest, gastronomy, earthing, forest bathing, culture and visits to historic locations.
Caribe: Yoga, meditation, birding, culture, contact with indigenous territories, medicinal plants.
South Pacific: Spas, yoga, rest, gastronomy, earthing, forest bathing, contact with indigenous territories and medicinal plants.

By promoting these areas as wellness tourism destinations the Costa Rica Tourism Institute expects that the commercial offer will develop alongside.

Wellness Pura Vida is a project that is still in its beginning stages, it has at least another two and a half years before it can officially launch, it is in a phase where it needs to work on the strategy the regulation so that the county can offer services that live up to the international standards, it has to work closely with the communities and groups of companies that are interested in being a part of this initiative.

By promoting wellness tourism, the country attempts to ensure a constant flow of visitors based in four interests: nature, adventure, conventions and wellness.