Your Excellency, MP Carmen,
Your Excellency, Mr. Pro Imagen, President of the Costa Rica Tourism Association,
Your Excellency, Mme. Zhang Mei,
Dear participants,
Good afternoon!
Today is the seventh day into the Chinese Lunar New Year. First of all, wish you a very prosperous and healthy year of the Ox!
I am very honored to attend today’s meeting and listen to your suggestions on how to strengthen tourism cooperation between China and Costa Rica. As the Chinese saying goes, seeing is believing. Tourism cooperation can not only generate economic values, but also enhance mutual understanding among people of different countries and facilitate people-to-people exchanges. As the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica, we welcome more friends from Costa Rica to China and would like to see more Chinese tourists in Costa Rica. I believe in the huge potential of tourism cooperation between the two countries.
On the one hand, there is huge demand in China for outbound tourism. As is known to all, China is the second largest economy in the world and has been one of the largest driving forces behind the growth of the world economy. Last year, despite the impact of COVID-19, the GDP of China maintained a growth rate of 2.3%, becoming the only major economy that has maintained positive growth rate, accounting for 17% of the global economy. The growth rate of China is expected to reach 8.5% in 2021.
China has a population of 1.4 billion and a middle income group of 400 million. With the rise of living standard, more and more Chinese tourists would like to travel abroad for “poem and the distant land”. In 2019, the number of outbound Chinese tourists reached 155 million, accounting for 10% of global outbound tourists. Among them 16847 Chinese tourists visited Costa Rica, accounting for 0.5% of foreign tourists in Costa Rica.
On the other hand, Costa Rica boasts rich tourism resources. With its uniqueness, Costa Rica has great potential to attract more Chinese tourists. With 0.03% of land area in the world, Costa Rica accounts for 6% of global bio diversity. It is reputed for its bio tourism and tourism sites for adventures. Here in Costa Rica, tourists can enjoy the picturesque costal scene of the Caribbean, the magnificent volcanoes, adventures in the tropical forests, surfing on the Pacific coast, the delicious coffee at the coffee plantations, the relaxing spas, bird-seeing, and unique flora and fauna of Central America.
I have served as the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica for nearly 4 years and have visited almost all the provinces. I very much enjoy the pleasant clime, the bio diversity and unique natural sceneries. Many friends who have been to Costa Rica told me that they would like to come back again sometime in the future.
So how can we align the tourism resources of Costa Rica with the demand of the Chinese market and bring more Chinese tourists to Costa Rica? Distinguished guests present today are all experts in tourism industry with rich experiences. I would like to put forward some “non-expert” suggestions for your consideration.
First, accurately identify the target client groups through adequate market research and tourism promotion. Currently, the Chinese tourists know quite little about Costa Rica. Likewise, the Costa Rica side does not know much about the preferences and demand of the Chinese tourists. The demands of Chinese tourists are quite diversified, including both those in the middle aged to the elderly age group who prefer a more sedate type of tourism, but also those young people who like to challenge themselves with adventures and extreme sports as well as animal-watching tourists with advanced equipment. Besides, the Chinese tourists have strong purchasing power. In 2019, the total expenditure of Chinese tourists overseas reached US$245 billion, accounting for 16% of global overseas expenditure, about double that of the second-ranking US. Relevant agencies of Costa Rica could conduct detailed market research on the Chinese tourists, increase input in tourism promotion, give publicity to the features of Costa Rica through new media and internet VIPs to accurately identify target groups, fully release the potential of the tourism resources in Costa Rica and enhance the brand awareness of Costa Rica tourism.
Second, promote the facilitation of visa and transportation and lower the threshold of the flow of personnel. The threshold of visa affects the willingness of tourists to a large extent. The current complex procedures for attaining visa for the holders of ordinary passport have dampened the enthusiasm of quite a number of prospective tourists. According to survey, the top 10 destinations of Chinese tourists are Japan, the ROK, the US, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, France, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Costa Rica could draw on the experience of these countries and appoint certain travel agencies to issue group visas and gradually accumulate experience and facilitate visa applications. We are happy to note that Costa Rica has simplified visa application procedures for residents of Beijing and Shanghai. We believe that it will attract tourists from these two cities to Costa Rica. To travel to Costa Rica, one has to transfer in the US, European or Latin American countries such as Mexico. The cost is quite high. To tap into the complementarities of other European or Central American countries and the US, the design of some “Costa Rica +” routes could well add more value and make it more cost effective to travel to Costa Rica.
Third, travel agencies of the two sides could strengthen exchanges, experiment and innovation. Tourism associations and agencies of the two countries could step up contact, and establish effective cooperation mechanisms. The two sides could prepare mutual visits once the pandemic is over. Costa Rica could invite more Chinese tourism agencies to conduct field studies and design certain featured or high-end tourism programs that conform to the capabilities of the tourism sector in Costa Rica and cater to the interests of Chinese tourists, such as “eco-tourism”, “coffee tourism”, “spa tourism” and “surfing tourism”.
Dear friends,
This year marks the 14th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Costa Rica. Bilateral cooperation in various areas has yielded fruitful results. Since last year, in particular, the two governments and people have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19, writing a fine chapter of cross-ocean friendship that withstands the trying times. China regards Costa Rica as an important partner for Latin America. Looking ahead, China is ready to promote deeper and more pragmatic cooperation between the two sides in various areas. We hope that with joint efforts, tourism cooperation will become a new growth point in bilateral cooperation and that more and more Chinese will fall in love with this beautiful country and bring more jobs and greater development opportunities for Costa Rica.
Thank you all!
