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Number of Tourist coming to Guanacaste, Costa Rica continues upswing.

The influx of tourist in Costa Rica continues to increase, and it appears that it will do so for quite some time, according to data from the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) comparing the first half of 2007 and the first semester of last year.

CANATUR figures indicate that 832,604 tourist entered the country during the first six months of this years, while  728,346 did so during the same period in 2006. That accounts for an increase of little more than 50,000 visitors, or 6.42 percent.

Tourism sector authorities are optimistic, as the increase surpassed the 5 percent projected in the National Development Plan.

The data is an estimate of the number of tourists arriving through the country’s two international airports, San Jose’s Juan Santamaria and Liberia’s Daniel Oduber.

Of the total of tourists arriving this year, 595,405 came through Juan Santamaria, while 237,199 flew to Daniel Oduber. Nontheless, the Liberia airport has experience the biggest growth, as it saw a 15.66 increase while Juan Santamaria only grew by 3.14 percent.

In addition, the growth at the Liberia airport was sustained throughout the six months, while in San Jose the number of tourists only increased in April, May and June.
The high increase at Daniel Oduber is particulary significant, as it demonstrates that the terminal is an important economic development engine for Guanacaste province.
Gonzalo Vargas, president of CANATUR, said that even though the data is not official, it does provide a good idea of the tourism industry’s behavior and current trends.

Vargas also indicated that the increase in the frequency of flights by airlines already flying to Costa Rica and the arrival of new carriers in the market have been a significant factor behind the upswing in tourists. He highlighted the role the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) ha splayed in achieving the current increase, especially as numbers fell last year.

“No doubt this rate of recovery is due in large part to ICT’s efforts managing to attract new airlines to the country, as well as increasing the number of flights of carriers already flying here”, Vargas said.
Currently, tourism is the economic activity that generates the highest profit for the country: $1.6 billion in foreign currency, which represent 8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. It also represents 23 percent of total exports, surpassing traditional crops such as coffee and bananas.
Tourism also generates approximately 110,000 direct and 550,000 indirect jobs.