Aiming to explore the opportunities that congress tourism presente for the development of tourism in Costa Rica and the public policies that could be generated to support this activity in the country, the Association (ADOC) with the support of the "Costa Rican Tourism institute (ICT)" furthered this discussion in the framework for the XXVI Congress of the Confederation for Congress Organizares and Allies of Latin America (COCALO) held at the Hotel Herradura Convention Center.
For the Minister Carlos Ricardo Benavides, our, country has an important potential to offer within the Tourism Congress segment and not only by the natural beauty possessed and the closeness we have with various countries of the region, but also by the quality of professio nals dedicated to this activity.
We see the 2009 'COCALO' celebration as a huge opportunity to show those seekers of such destinations the conditions that we as a country offer for events and conferences, and boasting excellent human capital at an organizational level of service and hotel infrastructure; "said Benavides.
The chief added, this segment is an important contribution for tourism development and that its pace throughout the year is not a high or loca season,. events and conventions are held throughout the year. The spending generated by a congressman is between 3 to 5 times more than a recreational tourist and 40% of the participante re-visit the destinations where they attended meetings and conferences.
Bonilla added that COCALO brings prominent representatives that will be participating in the Latin American segment, which will also have the opportunity to participate in a wholesale market and business service providers of the Expomeeting, which will cake place during those days parallel to the Cocal Reunion.
ICT studies regarding tourism meeting points demonstrate that our country has strengths such as human resources, international image, the political situation, natural resources and proper tourist infrastructure.
It is n9teworthy to point out that in the pass two years the growth of international events was 19%, whilst the activities in hotels greca by 14%. Most visitors to the country for these conferences come from Central America (46%), Latin America (17%) and USA (9%).
Costa Rica News 
