Bill seeks to incentivize local tourism and counteract the economic impact suffered by COVID-19.

In order to encourage local tourism by creating long weekends, the remaining holidays of this year and all those of 2021 would be moved to the next nearest Mondays.

The bill was presented today in the Assembly and was unanimously approved in the first of two debates, then passed to the agenda of the President, Carlos Alvarado, for his signature and finally to be published in La Gaceta.

The deputy who proposed the initiative was Roberto Thompson, who reported that the idea is to provide an incentive for more nationals to go out and enjoy different regions of the country and thus gradually reactivate tourism, which has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also noted that a decrease of $2 billion is expected this year compared to the previous year in tourism.

Previously, we had conducted a study based on documentation from the Central Bank with alarming figures in the field of tourism up to the month of March.

New studies by the Central Bank on the economic activity index (IMAE), regarding the tourism sector, detail a year-on-year drop of 55.4%, a very worrying figure and rarely seen before.

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero