Back in November 2, 2016 the first direct flight from Air France landed in Costa Rica, this is the plane with most capacity to land at the Juan Santamaria International Airport, and with it Costa Rica confirms the good moment the tourism sector has been having.

The news of the beginning of operations of the French airline represents one of many good news the industry had in 2016, which generates more employment and productive chains.

According to the official numbers, in average, a tourist spends 13 nights in the country, one of the longest stays in the world, and spends around $1,400.00. During 2016 the arrival of tourists via air travel increased, in a 16% just in the first trimester, and it maintains a growth tendency.

By April Costa Rica was already in the map of routes without stops on flight from British Airways. With a frequency of two flights a week during summer time and three a week during winter season. It is the first time that the country has a direct flight to the United Kingdom.

British Airways operates a Boeing 777-200 with capacity for 277 passengers, while Air France works a Boeing 777-300 with 468 available seats.

Edelweiss also announced a direct route San Jose-Zurich, aboard an Airbus 340-300 with capacity for 314 people.

In total there will be five airlines offering non-stop flights from Costa Rica to Europe, Iberia flies to Madrid, Spain and Condor to Munich, Germany.

According to the Tourism Minister, Mauricio Ventura, in the last two years the country has attracted eight new airlines, and other eight increased the frequency of flights and 11 new routes were created.

“In 2015 we received almost 400 thousand Europeans, and that was very low, which is why we decided to focus our efforts in that continent. Part of the strategy was contracting an public relations agency in Europe that helped us position the name of Costa Rica, and we are already seeing an impressive increase of over 50% of tourists arriving just from the United Kingdom, comparing the data from January through August of 2015 and the same period of 2016”, mentioned Ventura.

Official data states that this economic activity employs around 600 thousand people, 150 thousand directly and 450 thousand indirectly. Tourism represents today 27% of Costa Rica’s work force.

As it was explained by the Tourism Minister, the tourism sector is going through an “unprecedented moment” which is supported by numbers: 5.4% of the gross domestic product and 29.6% of the total exports correspond to the tourism sector, which also represents a 40% of the service exports, surpassing other service activities such as communications, construction, insurance, financial services and information.