Costa Rica Promotes its Tourist Offer of Experiences at the WTM 2023 Fair and City of London

From November 6 to 8, Costa Rica participated with more than 30 tourism entrepreneurs in the World Travel Market (WTM) fair in London, England, considered the largest tourism and travel trading exchange in the world, which allowed the country to exhibit its qualities and main attributes in one-on-one negotiations agreed with travel agents, tour operators, among other key partners and tourism professionals, eager to position Costa Rica as the ideal tourist destination to visit.

 As part of the activations carried out at this fair and in order to highlight the quality of Costa Rican coffee and encourage attendees to stop by the stand, there was the presence of David Mata Aguilar, a barista and coffee instructor. the Association of Fine Coffees of Costa Rica, which has 7 years of experience and is founder of the Encafeinados coffee brand, which during the three days of the event provided information about this drink so desired and appreciated in this country so that visitors can Learn more about its quality.  An interactive photobooth was also activated with a real hammock to take a photographic souvenir with the natural beauty of our country.

 The Minister of Tourism, William Rodríguez, presented one of the awards before an audience of 220 journalists and writers from the United Kingdom travel sector, being an excellent opportunity to promote Costa Rica.

Ensuring that the British market

“For Costa Rica, participation in WTM is essential to ensure that the British market continues to grow.  Europe is growing in a very important way, connectivity from the Old Continent to our country is also increasing.  Everything seems to indicate with the numbers we have to date that 2023 will be the year in which we find the numbers for 2019 by air.  Due to the above and, thanks to the participation in these fairs, together with other strategic marketing actions that we resort to, we have expectations that 2024 will be much better than this period that is about to end,” explained William Rodríguez, as part of his participation in this edition of WTM in London.

The leader concluded by indicating that participation in this global showcase is a unique opportunity for the Costa Rican tourism sector to show, not only to the British market but also to the European and global markets, all the multiple consolidated alternatives that Costa Rica offers for tourists in tourism activities. adventure, well-being, sustainability, gastronomy and others, generating unique experiences for travelers.

More positioning actions of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is also promoted during the days of the fair at the Customs House and Prince Regent train and metro stations; Both are used by people to get to the ExCeL Exhibition Center, headquarters of the fair, in order to take advantage of the train trips of the attendees, while capturing the attention of the general public, which reinforces the image of Costa Rica as one of the best tourist destinations for the next vacation of Europeans.

On the other hand, tourism sector professionals who were at the fair are able to travel in three traditional London taxis, decorated with the country’s image and brand; The idea is for the general public to take photographs and spread the content on their social networks.

Likewise, at Middle Temple Hall, in the heart of the English capital, Costa Rica had a prominent presence of its country brand at the Annual Gala of the British Guild of Travel Writers Awards, an awards ceremony that celebrates the best travel writers and journalists in the business.

World Travel Market

World Travel Market, better known by its acronym WTM, is one of the main travel and tourism (B2B business to business) fairs in the world and the most important in the United Kingdom, bringing together the international leisure travel community providing inspiration, education, sourcing and benchmarking to travel professionals, while providing exhibitors a place to do business and showcase their services to the international press.  According to data from the organizers, in 2022, WTM welcomed more than 35,000 professionals from 184 countries.

Based on the most recent visitation statistics from the ICT, in the first nine months of the year, Europe added the arrival of 319,691 tourists by air and a positive variation of 4.9% compared to 2022. Between January and September 2023, 49,780 British tourists have visited our country.