Surfing Costa Rica - Costa Ricans will be able to contribute ideas to support the tourism sector.
“Rediscover Costa Rica” will try to revive the tourism economy.
There is no doubt that the global crisis generated by COVID-19 has greatly affected different sectors of the Costa Rican economy.
We have seen growth rates near zero or even, in many cases, negative figures. This pandemic has left many people unemployed, and regardless of social class, it has affected everyone directly or indirectly.
Taking into consideration all these numerical data on economic impact, the concern and uncertainty is very great, and for this reason the Costa Rica-United States of America Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA), with the support and advice of the National Learning Institute (INA), the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the Costa Rican Coalition of Initiatives for Development (CINDE) and the private sector, have developed a small investment program, focused on promoting the economic reactivation of tourist areas located outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM). 
The program has been named “Rediscover Costa Rica”, where the aim is to boost the tourism economy based on proposals from Costa Ricans, identifying potential ideas and financing them for their implementation.
“We are looking for initiatives that encourage creativity and innovation in the tourism sector for its economic reactivation, for example, linking technology with training in the design, use and monitoring of health protocols; incorporating sustainability criteria, optimizing the use of water or energy; and developing applications to take advantage of data analysis for the marketing of tourism products,” said Flora Montealegre, executive delegate of CRUSA, to national media.
The initial investment by the CRUSA Foundation is $150,000 and the submission of proposals will be open until July 31.
How can I participate in this program?
- Register your organization at CRUSA, it's quick and easy, it only takes 5 minutes of your time.
Step 2
- Depending on the characteristics of your organization, we will invite you via email to participate in the Challenge Identifier and/or the Solutions Contest.
Step 3
- Follow the instructions provided in the email, and stay tuned for announcements we will be providing throughout the year.
Proposals can be made in several categories and a pre-selection will be made between August 3 and 17 to resubmit proposals, the finalist proposals will be selected on August 25 and the winning solutions will be announced on September 2, where they will have a maximum budget of $10,000 to make them a reality.
This idea was born out of a desire to mitigate the impact on the tourism sector; therefore, we encourage people who have ideas to support the industry to join the initiative.
Official website of “Rediscover Costa Rica”:
https://crusa.cr/redescubrecr/
Written by: Enrique Hernández
General Management: Marco Montero
