The company Celebrity Cruises made the decision of canceling the arrival of cruise ship Infinity to Puntarenas scheduled for this Monday; this due to security concerns resulting from the labor strike that is going on its 8th day and has affected mainly the provinces of Limon and Puntarenas.

The ship will continue its itinerary straight to Panama without making the scheduled stop in Costa Rica, informed Juan Ramón Rivera, Executive President of the Costa Rican Institute of Ports of the Pacific (INCOP).

Road blocks have caused a lot of problems for tourists and tour agencies in the country who have reportedly been stuck at times for hours in some regions.
Infinity was arriving with 3,000 passengers on board; this represents another important loss for tour operators and commerce in this province. According to information offered by tourism authorities, each cruise tourist spends in average $100 each on their stop in the country, between restaurants, souvenir shopping, and local tours.

The Costa Rican National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) reported last week a drop of close to 50% on travel agencies’ sales. In addition to this, the cancelation of tours and reservations as well as delays in transportation and in general bad experiences for the tourists.

Tourism is Costa Rica’s main economic activity.