- In the segment Business Tourism, Incentives, Congresses, and Conventions both provinces occupy positions 11 and 24 respectively in Latin America, according to the supplier network Cvent, one of the main quantification tools of prospect cities.
July 29, 2019. Guanacaste and San Jose were included on the list of the best cities in Latin America to carry out events in the business tourism and congresses market, according to the world supplier network of this niche, known as Cvent, a tool to measure the localities with more projection and ideal characteristics in the segment known as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Congress, and Events).
In Cvent’s most recent ranking published this month, Guanacaste occupies the 11th position and San Jose the 24th on the list The Best 25 Destinations for Meetings in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019. San Jose appears on the list for the first time. Taken into consideration is the number of hotels suitable for meetings and events, as well as the quantity of rooms available, among other characteristics.
The list of the top 25 cities that Costa Rica has been competing with are consolidated destinations that include Nassau in Bahamas; Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas, Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta in Mexico; Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic; Montego Bay in Jamaica; Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands; Palm Beach in Aruba; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Bogota in Colombia; among others.
For Rafael Quesada, Head of Advertisement of the ICT and coordinator of the MICE promotion strategy, having Guanacaste and San Jose on this prestigious ranking is the result of the efforts of the ICT on the promotion strategy and advertisement of the destination on the mail markets of MICE segment. “The ICT has made relevant efforts to position Costa Rica as a solid destination in the business tourism, congresses, events, and incentives segment in the last years by working together with the private sector.
The recent opening of the Costa Rica Convention Center adds more high-level venues to San José specifically. There has also been a great tourism investment in Guanacaste with hotels that offer the ideal characteristics to hold events of great magnitude,” concluded Alvarado.
Breakthroughs in the Business Meeting Strategy
The ICT’s strategy for the promotion, as well as complimentary actions for the development of business tourism, is still current and is under development on the frame of the National Plan for Tourist Development 2017-2021. The meeting industry represents 22{30dd3214b74d4cf0e57e5e890f1c17b34234794e50f8b5c977f8eb8df4eb7a78} of the tourism globally, and those who participate have a high purchasing power and invests from 3 to 4 more times than a traditional tourist;
this is a repetitive tourism or client. Also, the importance of this niche has increased because it represents a change in the season’s components, as the high season for congresses matches the low season in the remaining tourism segments in our country, boosting the local economy, particularly because many of the service providers are small and medium enterprises.
For supervision of the business tourism strategy relies on a strategic partner: the Costa Rica Convention Bureau. In addition, the ICT has an action plan that includes advertisement in specialized media, participating in the segment’s specialized fairs with the private sector, the participation of consolidated organizations of the industry such as ICCA, specialized press trips and with potential buyers, training programs.
Also, one of the main actions in the strategy is the accompaniment in the process and candidacy presentation, where there is an investigation on the associative market to locate the congresses with an open date to present the candidacy for Costa Rica to be the next venue. With this action, the consolidation of the ambassadors plan is underway, in which we have internationally renowned professionals in their respective associations.
Cvent is a provider network that has the largest database for hotels, destinations for special events, conference centers, congresses, restaurants, audiovisual companies or catering providers, among others, with a record of over 200,000 venues and 20,000 providers globally.
ICT Constact Information:
Alejandra Fernández, email: [email protected], phone: 8387-7025/ 2299-5732
Luis Jara, email: [email protected], phone: 8341-4521 / 2299-5762
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