Tourism

The Tico Times recently wrote an article on the lack of effort Costa Ricans are putting fourth towards tourism. This article was named Grim Tourism Outlook has Silver Lining and was written by Patrick Fitzgerald.

According to Fitzgerald, tourism accounts for more than 500,000 jobs in Costa Rica. With the economy the way it is and tourism being one of the key factors to enhancing economic growth, the Costa Rican Government should be focusing on this issue more.

Costa Rica has always had a reputation of being a relaxing, breathtaking, environmentally friendly escape from everyday life. However, Costa Rica is not keeping up with the environmentally friendly part of it. Fitzgerald mentions how Tamarindo has been having sanitation problems. They are also becoming overdeveloped.

“Some of the smarter countries are stepping up. If we stay back, we're going to lose out," Bary Roberts said. This is true, there are many other developing countries that have a lot of beauty to them and if they are smart about it Costa Rica could fall behind and these countries could become the new relaxing, breathtaking, environmentally friendly getaway.

What they really need to do is improve their e-commerce and start to market online more. It is reported that 58% of Costa Rican tourists purchase their travel packages online. This is more than half of the people that are traveling there. I am even thinking of traveling to Costa Rica this summer. I have been doing a lot of research about vacations in Costa but I have not found a huge amount of advertisments. As a college student I am unable to purchase an all-inclusive, 5 star hotel stay. I need something a little less expensive but still desirable. They need to advertise this!