Airlines Played Key Role in Rebound of Costa Rican Tourism

The arrival of new airlines and the offer of luring travel packages at very low prices have been key to the comeback of Costa Rica’s travel industry in 2004, a sector that this year will grow by 20 percent.

Stats provided by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute indicate the country will close 2004 with over 1.4 million travelers, a fifth of a million more than the previous year. Those tourists forked over $250 million more this time around and there are 140 more flights than in 2002.

Air Canada, BIWI West Indies, West Caribbean Airways, Germany’s Condor, Air Madrid, US Airways and American West have been operating in and out of Costa Rica since 2002.

Delta Airlines has just announced daily flights between San Jose and Atlanta beginning in January, while United Airlines will also start flying nonstop between the nation’s capital and the city of Chicago. Beginning in February, US Airways will have a new connection between Florida’s Ft. Lauderdale and San Jose.

In the course of the past two years, the flights of commercial airlines between Costa Rica and the United States have ramped up a walloping 43 percent.

For its part, TACA Group, the local air carrier, will rely on 26 new Airbus jetliners in 2005 as part of a contract inked with the aircraft maker in the light of the increasing demand for commercial flights in and out of Costa Rica.

TACA expects to move as many as 20,000 Costa Ricans by the end of December, up 10 percent from December 2003. Miami continues to be the top travel destination for Costa Rican travelers, followed by Lima, Buenos Aires and Los Angeles in that order.