Costa Rica participates in world’s most important cruise fair in Miami, Florida

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – From September 27 to 30, Costa Rica participates in the Seatrade Cruise Global 2021 in Miami, Florida, the most important event and the leading exhibition of the cruise industry in the world.

Seatrade brings together all players in the business, including cruise lines, suppliers, travel agencies, destinations, and partners from Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, the United States, Central and South America, and Mexico.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Costa Rica

“Costa Rica’s presence in Seatrade Cruise Global communicates that we are ready to receive cruise ships in the 2021-2022 season inaugurated last September 1. We are a safe destination with sanitary protocols,” mentioned Gustavo J. Segura, Minister of Tourism.

Segura emphasized that maritime tourism generates employment in the coasts of the country, particularly when passengers disembark for tourist activities, benefiting carriers and guides, local tour operators, artisans and gastronomy, among others.

Due to the importance of promoting this tourism segment, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute was accompanied to this fair by representatives of the Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports (INCOP) and the Board of Port Administration and Economic Development of the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica (JAPDEVA).

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During the fair, meetings will be held with cruise line executives to present the biosecurity protocols developed for the care of cruise ships, their passengers and crew, as well as meetings with representatives of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Federation (FCCA) and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Costa Rica has an exhibition stand in a physical space of 100 square meters in which it offers general information about the country on cruise tourism, characteristics of the ports, tourist attractions, facilities, entry requirements, sanitary protocols and the measures that have been taken for the restart of the 2021-2022 season.

Since September 1, Costa Rica has reopened the maritime borders for the reception of cruise ships in the Caribbean and Pacific after 17 months of closure due to Covid-19 and received the first of the vessels in the port of Golfito on September 2.

Costa Rica allows the entry of cruise ships with passengers with the complete vaccination scheme against Covid-19 for 95% of the crew and 100% of passengers of vaccination age.

The country traditionally received around 250,000 cruise passengers annually. In 2019, the cruise industry generated an economic impact of more than US $29.2 million and created more than 10,000 jobs in the country’s port cities.

Seatrade Cruise Global convenes more than 140 tourist destinations and more than 80 cruise lines, representing at least 74% of the executives who make the decisions to establish the destinations where cruise ships will arrive.

The event was suspended due to the pandemic in April 2020 and April 2021, resuming again this September at the Miami Beach Convention Center.