Rural tourism will be a key product for Costa Rica in 2019, offering travellers an intimate glimpse into the country\u2019s pastoral heritage and communities.<\/p>\n
Costa Rica\u2019s new minister of tourism, Mar\u00eda Amalia Revelo Ravent\u00f3s, said: \u201cMost of our hotels and accommodation options are small and medium sized hotels so really Costa Rica has developed its tourism based around these; the European market is looking for authentic and very personalised experiences, something that will permit them to have contact with the locals and there is where rural tourism starts to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such experiences include working alongside local farmers, tasting traditional foods with Costa Rican families, hiking into unspoiled natural landscapes and more. Ravent\u00f3s added: \u201cIt\u2019s very important for sustainability within the destination. When we talk about sustainability we’re not only talking about nature, we’re talking about the economy, the people, the Costa Ricans and the Costa Rican way of life. So rural tourism is coming into place particularity where we can really rescue a lot of our authentic experiences and give them the value they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, the Costa Rica Tourism Board will be developing its tourism products throughout the country to encourage visitors to discover the national parks and towns that still remain hidden gems. Ravent\u00f3s said: \u201cWhen somebody comes to Costa Rica it\u2019s not that they’re looking just for a beach vacation, it\u2019s beach plus adventure, plus nature, plus volcanoes, plus zip lining, plus hot springs and relaxation. Costa Rica has such diversity and in such a small territory, that if you arrive at San Jose on average you will visit five different regions. We have five million inhabitants and three million tourists, but the good thing is that these tourists aren’t staying in an enclave – they really visit all the areas and have the opportunity to take advantage of the full diversity that the country has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visitor numbers from the UK during the first half of 2018 were up 2.5% compared to the same period in 2017. From January to\u00a0June 2018<\/span><\/span>, a total of 40,907 visitors from the UK travelled to Costa Rica, compared to the 39,915 from the same period last year. This has been helped with British Airways operating flights from Gatwick twice a week during the low season and three times a week in high season.<\/p>\n Going forward the tourism board will also be developing its niche markets and promoting the\u00a0activities that can be done during the off season\u00a0such as\u00a0whale watching\u00a0and bird spotting\u00a0in the months of September and October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rural tourism will be a key product for Costa Rica in 2019, offering travellers an intimate glimpse into the country\u2019s pastoral heritage and communities. Costa Rica\u2019s new minister of tourism, Mar\u00eda Amalia Revelo Ravent\u00f3s, said: \u201cMost of our hotels and … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1469,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions\/1469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puravidauniversity.eu\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}