COSTA RICA: A DESTINATION THAT HAS EVERYTHING… AN AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE

MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER OF TOURISM

Welcome to the happiest country in the world, where we advocate for peace, education, democracy, and sustainability. Our dynamic environment relies on a proactive approach and modern management based on the application of updated knowledge, on the search for effective tools to face new challenges, and on the appropriate coordination with diverse instances, such as the Active Administration, the Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica, and other parties interested in the activity and its results.

In the name of the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) I am pleased to welcome you to Costa Rica, a country with many destinations and diverse products distributed throughout its 51,000 km². It is a land with abundant natural treasures, so fertile it can produce our daily sustenance, distinguished as a place of sustainable tourism around the world. Ours is a nation of warm and inviting people who are ready to offer distinguished tourism products and services for your vacation or for your pleasant business trips.

I hope you live an authentic life experience during your stay in Costa Rica, and you always remember the pleasant experiences you lived in an unforgettable trip, where the natural, cultural, historical, and gastronomical riches become sensations cherished in your memories.

Nearly two decades ago, Costa Rica defined a tourism development model consistent with our history; this has helped us become a sustainable destination with solid tourism infrastructures, and an important balance between social, economic, and environmental development.

We are committed to the protection of our environment and the natural and cultural wealth of our communities through the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) addressed to tourism companies who wish to obtain it. This certification has placed us in the public eye of global tourism.

We work to promote healthy tourism, so we encourage accommodation companies in Costa Rica to commit to the Code of Conduct to Protect Children and Adolescents from Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, an initiative acknowledged by the World Tourism Organization and other organizations.

Come discover Costa Rica! A small land that, thanks to that natural wealth, shelters 5% of the existing biodiversity of the world, and shares it with its visitors so they can enjoy the best travel experience. I invite you to stay a few days, or to come back soon, so you can enjoy our country, relax without depriving yourself from the comforts of the modern world, and live an experience that will encompass your senses; in total balance with nature and with the resources the land has to offer.

You are invited to feel Pura Vida and vibrate with the energy of our land.

Mauricio Ventura
Minister of Tourism
2014-2018