Published Monday, February 24, 2020

La Fortuna community on the top
of tourist progress, says an index



By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

La Fortuna in San Carlos in the northern zone of Alajuela Province provides the best well-being for its residents of 32 tourism destinations evaluated.

That comes from  the Costa Rican Tourism Institute and the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development, a division of the INCAE Business School.

The evaluation was an effort to measure social progress.

According to the tourism institute, the evaluation index is the first comprehensive model to measure human development that does not include gross domestic product or other economic variables but complements them. It is a measurement tool that seeks to understand  the well-being of society and, at the same time, generate a practical agenda of priorities to promote social progress, it added, noting that the index could assist decision making of the authorities to promote social progress and economic growth in the communities.

La Fortuna, the gateway to Lake Arenal and the volcano of the same name,  received the top score in the index evaluation with 77.88 points out of 100, the Tourism Institute reported.

The index put in second place the community of Monteverde, in Puntarenas Province, with 77.74 points followed in third place by San Vito in Coto Brus near the border with Panama with 77.69 points.

In the last places in the index are the communities of Conchal Beach in Guanacaste Province with 64.65 points and Sarapiquí  in the eastern zone of Heredia Province with 66.55 points.

According to the institute, the importance of this index lies as a new method to measure the sustainability of the tourist destination consistent with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.

In addition, the tool creates knowledge to stimulate the participation of the local community and allows the generation of a roadmap of actions and interventions to strengthen the role of the tourism sector as a tool for development, the institute said.

“This is a very innovative project that provides knowledge and field methodology to understand indicators that fit the integral and multidimensional nature of tourism adapted to the specific needs of each development center and its sustainable orientation,” said María Amalia Revelo, minister of Tourism and president of the Tourism Institute.

According to the institute, the communities in the tourist development centers have better social progress results than the cantons where they are located.

"This validates the social and economic importance of tourism, as well as the possibilities of integral development that they present for their inhabitants, mainly in areas far from the center of the country," said the institute.

The first social progress index was created in 2018.

The work of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute to develop tourism communities was recently recognized in the FDI Intelligence magazine report of the Financial Times journal.



Last week, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency, CINDE, announced that the country has been recognized as the second-best destination for foreign investment in tourism.

"Having 6.5% of the world's biodiversity amazes more than one from the moment you set foot on Costa Rican soil," CINDE said in its statement. "Precisely, natural resources are one of the aspects that most impressed the jury that evaluated Costa Rica among 51 countries, ranking it as the second-best global destination for attracting foreign direct investment in tourism, preceded only by Australia."

According to CINDE, the results come from the most recent ranking published in “The tourist destinations of the future of FDI 2019-2020” of the FDI Intelligence magazine of the Financial Times journal. The rankings were published in the December-January edition.

The evaluation also recognizes Costa Rica's sustainability practices, training schemes, as well as the work of the Costa Rican investment promotion agency, to attract investment in the country.

Costa Rica also stands out in the specialization and customized awards, a series of awards in different categories.

The country shines in nine of the categories: activity tourism, wildlife, connectivity, education and training, incentives, hotel development and investment, accelerated growth, sustainability, incentive tourism, conferences and exhibitions.

"Those who visit Costa Rica can enjoy horse riding, river rafting and parachuting," the magazine said in its activity tourism review. "They can also cross the forests through the Monteverde suspension bridges and the cable car."

“We are honored to recognize that the country has been making coordinated and efficient efforts to promote itself as a suitable destination for foreign tourism investment with respect to the authenticity, values and cultural traditions,” said Revelo.

Regarding the education and training category, the ranking noted that CINDE works closely with academics and communities to develop talent. "The agency develops working groups and forums to identify gaps in the market, helps foster academic alliances between local and international universities and drives the creation of personalized training programs."

In the category of incentive tourism, conferences and exhibitions, Costa Rica shares this recognition with Ukraine and Colombia. The publication highlights the construction of the Costa Rica Convention Center, which has been operating since 2018, with an investment of $35 million and that "boosts the country's competitiveness as an international destination for business tourism."

In February 2019, the institute signed an agreement with CINDE as part of a five-year strategy for the search and promotion of tourism infrastructure investment projects, which include hotels, entertainment, corporate sites, thematic or sports properties, and port or airport infrastructure supporting the tourism sector, the agency said in its statement.

The FDI Intelligence ranking methodology was measured based on data from 51 destinations, with statistics from the FDI Benchmark and FDI Markets instruments. The 51 sites were required to have a minimum gross domestic product of 10% generated by tourism and countries with at least 10% tourism projects.

According to CINDE, the ranking also used data from the U.N. World Tourism Organization.

The complete Tourism Location ranking can be reached at FDI site.


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Where other community should the institute develop more tourism areas?
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