Q & A with Teresa Bejarano, Deputy Director of CANATUR (Costa Rica’s National Tourism Chamber)

Costa Rica -Central America’s tourism powerhouse- is charged with the responsibility of planning this year’s Central America Travel Market, a fair created to promote and sell travel and tourism offers in Europe, Latin America and Asia from each and every country within the region. The country is already cranking up preparations for an event it will pour nearly $1 million into in an effort to gather over a hundred exhibiting companies and a similar amount of wholesalers.

Q.- Your country will play host to this year’s Central America Travel Market. What will the fair be devoted to this time around?
A.- The Central America Travel Market (CATM) is only and exclusively dedicated to the European, Latin American and Asian markets. This tradeshow is Central America’s best way to put itself on the map as a solid travel destination, as a multi-destination offer in which each and every country has charms and niceties to showcase, some specific products bound together by one solid trademark.

Q.- Does that mean there won’t be any attendants from the U.S.?
A.- That’s right. Costa Rica is abiding by the foundational policy that got this effort going in the first place and that means we’ll be focusing on Europe, Asia and Latin America, not North America.

Q.- What markets would you like to see coming on strong at the fair?
A.- We’re talking about the German and Polish markets. We’ve held some talks with Russian wholesalers that are immensely interested in getting a toehold of the Central American market. Of course, Spain is included on that list, as well as UK. Those two are major outbound markets for our region.

Q.- So far, CATM has not been known for having a massive turnout of airlines. Are you going to foster the attendance of European carriers in this year’s event?
A.- Sure. As a matter of fact, the Costa Rican Tourism Minister met at ITB with some execs from Lufthansa, Martinair, Iberia and Condor to get negotiations going and raise growth chances. For some of these airlines, this move will imply an increase in the number of seats for Costa Rica and Central America flights; for others, it’s just their big break in a brand-new market.

Q.- Where is the fair going to take place?
A.- At the Cariari Club in downtown San Jose, very close to the airport. This is a small convention center, but large enough to accommodate some 100 companies from Central America to show their products and services, and as many as 100 wholesalers.

Q.- Will TACA continue to be the event’s official carrier?
A.- We’re working with them in that sense. We recently held a few meetings with the airline’s executives so that they will summon wholesalers and news media organizations to attend the tradeshow.

Q.- What will be Iberia’s contribution to CATM?
A.- Negotiations with Iberia are going strong. The idea is to make the Spanish airline the number-one sponsor for all Europe. So far, the response has been very positive.

Q.- Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A.- This is a major event for Costa Rica’s travel industry, a way of showing how far we’ve gone and we’re willing to go in Central America. We just want to stress that Central America is a multi-destination made up of countries with things of their own to offer. We’ve found out how far the region can actually get to if we work together, yet each and every country has features and products that need a niche as well. It’s important to get that drift if we really want to move on.