Guanacaste Tourism Reaches New High, Chamber Stats Show

April 23

By Helen Thompson
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Tourism in Guanacaste reached a new high in the first three months of this year, as more than 150,000 people flew into the region via the Liberia airport.

The new figures confirm that Guanacaste has become the principal tourism destination of the country, with many tourists so satisfied with their experience that they keep coming back for more, said Mauricio Céspedes, director of the Camara de Turismo Guanacasteca, at a press conference Tuesday.

The Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Obuder has become very popular since it opened to international flights in 2002 as a way to avoid long car or bus journeys from San José to popular beaches such as Tamarindo. This years statistics represent a 13 percent increase on the number of tourists who flew into the airport during the months of January to March in 2007.

Surveys of tourists flying into the airport have given the Camara detailed profiles of the people who spend their vacations on Guanacaste's beaches.

Unsurprisingly, 74 percent of the tourists were citizens of the United States, while almost all of the remaining tourists were Canadians. A very small percentage — somewhere around 1 to 2 percent — came from other areas such as Europe.

It was also obvious that tourists coming to the area are affluent and often well educated, with most having a university education and earning between $70-300,000 per year. This was reflected in the accommodation chosen, with
70 percent staying in hotels, 23 percent in private residences, and none at all staying in cabinas or bed and breakfasts.

Of Guanacaste's attractions, lounging on the beach was the activity that drew 61 percent of the tourists, and they spent the most time in Papagayo, followed by Tamarindo, Conchal and Flamingo. Playas del Coco, however, snuck into the top three for the beach that tourists most enjoyed during their stay, along with Tamarindo and Papagayo.

Representatives of the Camara de Turismo Guanacasteca were eager to point out that each year, the percentage of tourists who are returning to the area has grown. This year, 48 percent of the tourists had been to Guanacaste before.

“There are not many places in the world that people keep on going back to,” said Céspedes. “They often go once in their whole life. Guanacaste is an exception, and it shows that tourism here is very successful.”

Visitors also make recommendations to their friends after coming to the area, with 46 percent of tourists claiming they heard about Guanacaste through a personal recommendation. Over 96 percent of those leaving the country said they would also recommend the area to a friend as a tourist destination, with less than 1 percent saying definitevely no.

In an average holiday of around seven days, tourists would spend $2,251 excluding flight costs, meaning income of millions of dollars for those working in hotels, vehicle rental companies and small local businesses, said Céspedes.

The first thing on the list of complaints was the quality of the roads, along with signposting and telecommunications.