Costa Rica’s Institute of Tourism (ICT) is working to increase the number of European airlines that will serve the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (LIR) in the city of Liberia, Guanacaste.
The province of Guanacaste is Costa Rica’s hottest spot for tourism development–and the airport itself is credited with sparking the boom.
Ninety percent of the service to the Liberia airport is currently provided by US carriers, including Continental Airlines, which operates nearly 20 flights a week, American Airlines, Delta, Northwest, US Airways and United. A number of Canadian airlines also serve the airport, largely on a seasonal basis, along with domestic and Central American flights operated by Nature Air, Grupo Taca and Mexicana.
Costa Rica relies heavily on US tourism and investment–a fact that’s not likely to change any time soon–but as the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, told La Nación, the nation’s leaders are also aware of the value of diversifying its markets.
First Choice Airways is the only European airline currently flying into Liberia, with a weekly flight to and from London. The ICT is presently negotiating with charter operators in the leading European markets in hopes of increasing European traffic to Guanacaste by late 2008 or early 2009. The head of the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism noted that there is also interest in exploring the possibility of regularly scheduled commercial flights to the province from European destinations, particularly in England and France.
