Q & A with Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Costa Rica’s Tourism Minister

Up to the month of August, Costa Rica’s travel industry has climbed a staggering 9.5 percent, way above the estimated 5 percent increase the UNWTO has predicted for the Central American nation this year. This country continues to put the smart money on the sector’s sustainable development and, as all of the region, strives in a head-on battle against sexual tourism.

Q.- You’ve been in this post for over a year now and, under your leadership, the Costa Rican Tourism Ministry has implemented a number of policies aimed at upgrading safety and security, as well as painting a brighter picture of the country overseas. How do you assess the result of those policies?
A.- We’re really very happy because the policies we’ve implemented have been paying off in a piecemeal fashion, especially one that we mapped out from day one of our tenure in office that had to do with the need to ramp up airlift toward Costa Rica, and we’ve made it in a big way. We managed to increase the number of plane seats to Costa Rica to 650,000 this year, so that will mean far more visitors than we expected by the end of the year.

Q.- What actions are you carrying out for the sake of tourist safety and security?
A.- We’ve done some efforts to beef up security through the implementation of the tourist police, and that force is currently patrolling all major travel destinations within the country. As a result, tourists now feel safer.

Q.- What’s Costa Rica doing in the field of sustainable tourism?
A.- The issue of sustainable tourism continues to be pivotal in our nationwide tourism policy. We’ve implemented carbon-free trips and we have encouraged airlines flying to the country to stick to that policy. We’re also working with a number of hotels in the country to lay out environment-friendly policies that includes the protection and preservation of rainforests.

Q.- We know that several U.S. carriers have started flying to the country. Can you mention some of them?
A.- Spirit Airlines and Frontier are two good cases in point. The latter is going to start operating in the country in November, while Spirit has been flying to Costa Rica since May. Their flights have been ratcheting up with each passing month, jumping from four flights a week to two daily operations. In the same breath, airlines like Continental, American Airlines and Delta have either increased their routes or resumed operations, and that’s welcome news for the country.

Q.- What about European airlines?
A.- As far as Europe is concerned, I’d like to highlight the arrival of Air Comet and the strengthening of Iberia, a carrier that has been flying with nonstop daily flights to Costa Rica for a number of months.

Q.- There have been accusations lately that point to Costa Rica as a safe haven for sexual tourism. Word is there are websites in the U.S. with as many as 130 pages of information on sexual services in Costa Rica. And those claims have been spilling onto other news organizations in the U.S. What do you have to say about this?
A.- I’m not aware of any accusations about that issue. I assume they must be low-key news organizations in the U.S. On the other hand, that’s the kind of information that can be tacked on any Latin America country. I must say that most tourists traveling to Costa Rica come looking for nature and top-notch services, and none of them believes our nation is a safe haven for sexual tourism.

Q.- Is the Costa Rican government and tourism authorities implementing a particular policy in a bid to stave off that image of the country?
A- Yes, we’re engaged in a head-on battle against this scourge, together with the rest of the Central American community. We reject sexual tourism and many of our hotels have even signed codes of conduct to prevent that practice in their facilities. This is a battle we’re waging together with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Q.- Can you briefly tell us your assessment of this year’s Central America Travel Market and the impact it’s had on the European market?
A.- This fair has been very important. We’ve just clung to the foundational principle of targeting only long-haul outbound markets, like Europe and Asia. We rounded up 127 wholesalers, with 90 percent of them hailing from Europe and Asia, and we also welcomed the debuts of New Zealand, Australia, Israel and the Middle East. We’re very pleased with the massive turnout to the fair and the businesses that Central American attendants have worked out with our visitors.