Добро пожаловать! The preceding Russian expression, which is often pseudo-phonetically written as dobro pozhalovat, means “Welcome!” When properly spoken, it sounds warm and inviting, and it is an expression that the tourism industry of Costa Rica should be practicing now. According to Marvin Barquero of national newspaper La Nacion, Russian passport holders will soon be able to visit our country without a visa.

Around the same time Russian soldiers were amassing forces in Crimea and along the Ukraine border, the Board of Tourism (Spanish initials: ICT) was enticing tourists from the Russian Federation to visit Costa Rica and learn more about the Pura Vida.

In late March 2014, the Directorate of Immigration and ICT asked the administration of President Laura Chinchilla to allow Russian passport holders to skip the visa application when coming to Costa Rica on vacation. The official approval is expected to be made in mid-April.

According to research reports issued by ICT, the median annual earnings of Russian tourists are greater than $125,000. Their average vacation stay in warm Latin American destinations lasts 11 days, and they spend between $2,500 and $5,000. This is far more than what North American tourists have been spending in Costa Rica lately. As recently reported by The Costa Rica Star:

foreign visitors to Costa Rica are spending less, particularly those who land at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia (LIR).

CANATUR president Isabel Vargas told La Nacion that, as a tourism business operator, she has first-hand experience with this frugality by foreign visitors to Guanacaste, particularly among those who arrive from the U.S. and Canada.

Alvaro Conejo, president of the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism, explained that Russian tourists have not taken much interest in Costa Rica in the past. In 2013, only 4,146 Russians arrived in our country as tourists. Still, Mr. Conejo is well-aware of the sheer growth of tourism from Russia around the world.