Costa Rica was selected to host the World Social Tourism Congress in October 2024, a decision made unanimously by the Board of Directors of the Social Tourism Organization (ISTO), during a meeting held this morning in Brussels, Belgium.
The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) presented our country's candidacy before the ISTO board of directors, which unanimously approved the holding of this event at the Costa Rica Convention Center, from October 23 to 25, 2024.
For Alberto López, general manager of ICT, “the decision to select Costa Rica as the venue for the Congress is based on active participation since 2015, including having hosted the 'Social Tourism Meeting of the Americas in 2019', year in which the 'Social Tourism with Integrity of Costa Rica' program was also launched, which this year evolved into a more robust program called 'Tourism for all people'. We believe that ISTO has valued Costa Rica's efforts for almost a decade in understanding, applying and evolving the concepts of social tourism in an attempt to provide opportunities for populations with economic and physical limitations to enjoy the right to tourism, as well as the successful organization that we had in 2019 of the 'Social Tourism Meeting of the Americas',” López explained.
The World Congress of Social Tourism is held every two years and to date there have been twenty-eight editions, of which five have been held in America, distributed as follows: two in Quebec and one in Montreal, Canada ; another in Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
In 2024 the first will be held in Central America and only the second outside of North America.
The last time it was held on the American continent was in Brazil in 2014 and it was precisely at this congress that Costa Rica participated for the first time with the idea of evaluating the convenience of becoming an ISTO partner. The assessment was positive and since 2015, the ICT has been an active partner of ISTO Americas and currently holds a position within the Board of Directors of ISTO Americas.
The World Congress of Social Tourism seeks to address the most relevant topics on the subject, both in an attempt to update the most recent trends and to learn about success stories in the presentation of programs that favor the possibility of exercising the right of all people. to tourism.
For the event in Costa Rica, at least 300 people from the three continents in which ISTO has a presence are expected to attend. A large participation of representatives from America is projected, due to proximity issues, as well as Costa Rican organizations and companies, who are currently part of the “Tourism for all people” program.
The International Social Tourism Organization (ISTO) was founded in 1963 and is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
This organization bases its work on the thematic axes of accessibility, fair trade, environment, solidarity and quality of life. Furthermore, its objectives are based on “promoting the development of tourism for all and making vacation trips accessible to the greatest number of people (tourism for all) and on promoting and supporting tourism that is at the service of people, of communities and territories, and is identified with terms such as responsible, supportive, fair or community tourism (responsible tourism).”
It has a presence in 46 countries and has 179 partner organizations, including the ICT and three more from Costa Rica: UNED, Costa Rican Accessible Tourism Network and Funcavida Foundation.