Building Tourism Industry Support for US-Central America Free Trade Agreement Costa Rica

What

A concentrated effort to build public and tourism industry support in Costa Rica for the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

SW Associates was commissioned to assist the Government of Costa Rica (GOCR) with its efforts to build public support for the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The SWA tourism and trade specialist spoke on trade issues at meetings with industry leaders and seminars sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (COMEX) in conjunction with the National Tourism Chamber.

SWA presented on the following topics:

Online Marketing

• How online marketing can benefit the tourism industry/company.
• Expanded online travel sales as contributors to the Costa Rican economy.

Small Tourism Businesses: Tools that tourism SMEs can use to grow. Importance of business management (marketing, sales, customer service, among others) for SMEs

Business Management

• Importance of customer service for tourism businesses
• Importance of technology in tourism service marketing.
• Requirements for efficient management of tourism businesses

Rural Tourism

• Rural Tourism as an economic activity/income generator
• Marketing of rural tourism
• Effects of tourism on rural and deprived zones