Costa Rica is doing it again by showing its capacity to adapt to the new way of doing travel through innovation and creativity! While most of us travel industry people are beginning to adjust to on-line sales, learning, and business models affected by the worldwide pandemic, Costa Rica wants to show you what is it made of and made up of for tourism however distant a plane ride might be at the moment.
Costa Rica while small in size loves to play in the big leagues when it comes to tourism and 2020 isn´t the exception.
After many successful years of hosting the annual EXPOTUR in the country, with the borders closed, airplanes parked, and travel coming to a standstill in many countries, tourism has been severely affected. Costa Rica is not the exception and while international travel has begun again, and the tourism sector is beginning to savor the old times with more and more travelers coming to visit and experience this fantastic destination, the numbers are still way off from the very positive projections.
So, what is EXPOTUR
EXPOTUR is an annual tourism EXPO that is coordinated by the Costa Rican Tourism Professionals Association to promote B2B business opportunities between international and national companies.
The Association or ACOPROT for its initials in Spanish is the official organizer of the event and works in conjunction with the Costa Rica Tourism Board. It is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide the continued support and professionalization of the tourism sector through training programs, investigation, and the famous EXPOTUR.
How does EXPOTUR 2020 look?
This year, ACOPROT had the difficult task of redesigning the traditional event structure which brought hundreds of interested buyers from all over the world to visit the hundreds of stands and local Costa Rica hoteliers, tours, rental cars, restauranteur, and other tourism-focused companies.
As with so many other activities, this possibility was not viable so with absolute conviction and organizational skills, the Virtual EXPOTUR Costa Rica 2020 was imagined and born. While visiting Costa Rica is the best thing, this innovative marketing platform is the very next best thing.
Authorized buyers have the possibility of reserving 20-minute appointments prior to the event which allows them to organize their schedule during the six days of the event. The appointments will be then held on the platform with audio and video meetings with the 300 or so local sellers eagerly wishing to show the buyers the fantastic products and services available.
This is a fully online EXPO and a first in the region and we wouldn´t expect anything less from Costa Rica.
Key Information:
- Dates: Monday 16th – Saturday 21st November 2020
- Sellers: Around 300 tourism or tourism-related local companies
- Buyers: Around 250 buyers from 26 countries all around the world.
- Cost: It is free for international buyers
Message from the Costa Rican Tourism Minister
This important event has pulled multiples forces together to ensure the EXPOTUR Virtual Costa Rica 2020 will be a huge success.
This includes the Costa Rican Tourism Institute and its associates around the world to guarantee that all potential buyers can be part of the event and that tourism will return bigger and better for 2021 and beyond.
To see a fantastic message from the Costa Rican Tourism Minister, check out the link to a promotional video that he has made:
- English: https://youtu.be/zDZ9fln9Dw0
- Español: https://youtu.be/e0gI6BSbGbw
What will happen next year?
As things stand at the moment, 2021 will see a return to the original EXPOTUR in person. It is clear that this may change depending on the pandemic situation, but Costa Rica is confident that it will welcome back international buyers and that next year will be full of smiling faces and fantastic new business.
If you a buyer and would like to know more about what Costa Rica offers as an amazing tourism destination, feel free to contact: comercial@acoprot.org.
Congratulations to Costa Rica for adapting to these exceptional times and the ongoing innovative products and services that it offers as an amazing destination!
