By Wendy Anders

Costa Rica is working to attract more European tourists to their verdant country, said the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), as the agency winds up their participation in the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Spain.

Mauricio Ventura, Costa Rican Minister of Tourism, held meetings with airlines while at FITUR, including with the President of Iberia airlines, to analyze their operations and assess opportunities for expansion, said the ICT.

“Without doubt the European continent represents one of our priority markets, which has shown important growth; … we have given ourselves the task of strengthening our position in Europe through different marketing strategies, including participation in the second largest tourism fair in the world, joined by 42 Costa Rican tourist companies,” said Ventura.

Europeans tend towards sustainable tourism; they have high purchasing power and are well-educated, said Ventura, who added that European’s stay an average of 17 nights when they visit Costa Rica, one of the highest of all visitors.

In 2015, an estimated 300 thousand Europeans entered Costa Rica by air, and 2016’s estimates are around 350 thousand. Most of these came from Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Spain

Some of the marketing activities being employed by the ICT to strengthen Costa Rica’s positioning in Europe include hiring a public relations agency for the European market, and conducting studies to better understand market potential and current and potential customers.

Currently there are direct flights connecting Costa Rica to and from five different European destinations: Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and, most recently Switzerland (on Edelweiss airlines).

President of Iberia, Luis Gallego, in discussions with Ventura said he will be evaluating the possibility of expanding their operations in Costa Rica.