Tourism leads the service exports in the second trimester of this year, registering an amount of 48.8% of the total service account, this consolidates this activity as the one that contributed the most in the recovery of the growth rhythm of the service exports in the first semester of 2016 in comparison to the same period of 2015.

This information is given in the trimester Analysis about the evolution in exports of goods (3rd trimester) and services ( 2nd trimester) in Costa Rica, released by the Foreign Commerce Promoter (PROCOMER), which shows that traveling exports (tourism) has grown by 15.8% by the end of the second trimester of 2016 and in comparison with the same period of 2015.

Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism, ensured that this results consolidate the positioning of tourism as an engine for the development of the national economy, a dynamic industry that promotes the generation of endeavors, motivates the creation of supply chains and constitutes an ideal tool to power the development and progress of our country.
“Both the numbers of PROCOMER and those of Costa Rica’s Central Bank confirm the importance of the touristic activity and its major weight in our economy. Thanks to this activity more than 600 thousand people have direct and indirect jobs in tourism, which represents 27% of the total work force of our country, in addition, no other industry has the impact that tourism has, by democratizing the income, being that we offer a very diverse touristic product that is distributed throughout the national territory”, highlighted Ventura.

The new numbers of the gross domestic product given by Costa Rica’s Central Bank, gave as a result the distribution of the GDP among the productive sectors, putting into evidence that the service industry went from representing a 10% of the country’s production in 1966 to a 40% in 2012, becoming the most important activity, while agriculture and manufacturing lost relevance.

The Ministry of Foreign Commerce estimates that a little less than half of that 40% corresponds to tourism. Just last year this activity generated more than 2800 million dollars in foreign currency.

This report attributes the grown of the touristic export services to the raise by 12.3% of international arrivals to the country through all different ports during the first semester of 2016 in comparison to the same period of 2015. The Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia had a growth of close to 40%, contributing with the boost of tourism mainly in Guanacaste, which coincides with the National Homes Survey through July of 2016 which highlights that the Brunca and Chorotega Regions are the areas with more advance in poverty reduction, with 9.6% in the last two years.