Photo Credit: La Nacion/Shirley Vásquez

The Costa Rican National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) calls on the establishment of dialogue, agreements and solutions to prevent any more negative effects over the productive sectors and the economy of the country, and, of course, the provision of basic services for citizens.

According to information provided by Canatur, the general labor strike has already caused a drop of 50% on the sales of travel agencies, cancelation of tours and delays in the transportation of tourists visiting Costa Rica.

“The country is in a critical moment, in which all citizens must commit to the benefit of the country, which means that we all have to give in to certain degree. We believe these types of demands and pressures of the labor unions are not the route towards solutions, but instead, going against the society and the national economy”, commented Sary Valverde, President of Canatur.

Valverde mentioned that the situation has caused huge financial losses to the sector, and is affecting the country’s image due to the bad experiences that tourists are having.

“We believe they are not even considering how badly this affects the image of the country”, stated Valverde.

Limón is one of the areas that has been more affected by this situation, with hotels reporting close to 75% of cancellations. For security reasons commerce is closing early and therefore have reported a drop on sales of close to 30%.