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Pro Imagen Group reinforces the promotion of Costa Rica as a tourist destination in Canada

A group of tourism entrepreneurs led by the Pro Imagen Group Costa Rica, in collaboration with the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), visited Canada to promote Costa Rica as an attractive destination for local travelers.

Costa Rican business professionals visit Montreal and Toronto to show off the diversity of products and experiences offered by their country.

A group of tourism entrepreneurs led by the Pro Imagen Group Costa Rica, in collaboration with the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), visited Canada to promote Costa Rica as an attractive destination for local travelers.

The group of Costa Rican entrepreneurs held business meetings with travel agents and local wholesalers in Montreal and Toronto. In both cities, they conducted a presentation about the country, a trade show where they provided information on the various tourist product options, and a dinner for the participants.

This promotional mission, which was held this year on Oct. 23 in Montreal and Oct. 24 in Toronto, is part of the public-private effort in which Pro Imagen and ICT unite their analysis, experience and resources to reach the most important tourist markets in North America.

Precisely, Canada is the second most important tourist market for Costa Rica after the United States. According to data from the ICT, in 2017, around 200,000 tourists from Canada entered Costa Rica, representing 6.8% of total arrivals and 13.4% of arrivals from North America.

“Montreal and Toronto have concentrated most of the best prospects in recent years; and according to the analysis carried out between Pro Imagen and the ICT planning team, we have located emerging markets that have strongly attracted our attention for future actions, such as Vancouver and Calgary,” explained Silvia Vargas, president of Pro Imagen.

Travelers are attracted by culture, adventure and ecotourism

The greenness reflected in the richness of the flora and fauna of the Costa Rican territory represents the main attraction for tourists from Canada who prefer to visit Costa Rica for their vacations rather than other destinations.

Potential Canadian visitors also highlight the attraction of having authentic experiences that allow them to directly relate to the local communities of the destinations they visit; 65.7% of travelers show a strong interest in cultural tourism, and 58.5% want to do activities related to adventure tourism and ecotourism.

These revelations are part of the study on the tourism market of the East Coast of Canada, presented by ICT to members of Pro Imagen Costa Rica just before the promotional tour.

The statistics also indicate that 38% of Canadian travelers are between 35 and 50 years old, and a quarter of them are between 18 and 34 years old. The vast majority travel with their partner or their family and are attracted by the enormous diversity of flora and fauna that exists in the country.

“The promotion of our country in Canada is essential, because it is the second most important tourist market for Costa Rica after the United States. This market concentrates a total of 3.4 million best prospects of travelers eager to visit our country,” said the president of Pro Imagen.

According to Vargas, the potential of the Canadian market is “huge and growing,” as well as having the advantage of excellent air connectivity between its main cities and the two international airports of Costa Rica.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

Most tourists from Canada hope to enjoy in Costa Rica some of these experiences:

  • Explore small towns and rural areas
  • Buy agricultural products in the markets
  • Observe animals in their natural habitats
  • Travel by boat or by train
  • Go shopping