Costa Rican added-value-based sustainability is part of the country’s global brand

A recent study examining Costa Rica’s digital footprint and the positioning of the country’s brand was carried out by Bloom Consulting.  The results highlighted four conclusions derived from searches carried out by people around the world.  The most striking revelation is that queries related to Costa Rican added-value-based sustainability drive the country’s brand.     

According to the study, Costa Rica is the country with the most searches about ecotourism globally, the third in the world and first in Latin America in terms of national parks, the fourth in the world, and the first in Latin America for searches related to surfing.  Additionally, Costa Rica ranked fifth in searches globally and first in Latin America for diving.  It also placed seventh in the world and second in Latin America for bird watching, eighth in the world, and third in Latin America for beaches.  

Likewise, according to the Bloom Consulting study, Costa Rica is an international benchmark in environmental, sustainability, and added-value issues. For instance, it placed first in Latin America and the world for searches referencing the term “carbon neutral. ”  Also, interestingly, it came in first in Latin America and third in the world for renewable energy searches, as well as third in Latin America and 29th in the world in medical devices.  Costa Rican added-value-based sustainability is characteristic in each one of these areas. 

Another important conclusion of the study indicates that Costa Rica is attractive due to its political stability and stable growth rate. This is the case even though the country and its leaders must still work on actions that allow expansion in investment and export trade.   

As a third conclusion, the Bloom study revealed that Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the tourism sector of the economy and a moderate effect on investment and exports. While tourism searches fell by 50% as of March 2020, queries addressing investments and exports decreased by 2.5% and 4.8%, respectively.

The final conclusion reached by the study presented in the B2B Forum of Essential Costa Rica framework indicated that the country’s overall digital footprint has a high degree of dependence on web searches originating in the United States. For example, almost half of the tourism searches originate in the US, while the percentages for queries for “investment” and “exports” are 30% and 36% from this audience.

Several organizations tout Costa Rican added value-based sustainability

Pedro Beirute Prada, President of the Inter-Institutional Committee (ICT) of Essential Costa Rica, highlighted that the Bloom study serves as a guide to formulate strategies that support promotional efforts.  They will be carried out by the ICT, CINDE (the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency), and PROCOMER (the government’s export promotion arm). “The study shows us not only the great inter-institutional work that we have been carrying out with the help of the Essential Costa Rica organization for the last eight years.  Additionally, it allows us to sharpen the pencil to trace the route that we need to take to ensure the country’s future economic health. Costa Rican value-added sustainability enables us to continue our products and services differentiation internationally.  Our exports are a fundamental engine for economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and international markets have recognized the quality of our production.  With the support of the Essential Costa Rica organization, we will continue our efforts to promote the advantages of the country, and Costa Rican value-added sustainability, in particular.”

Jorge Sequeira, CEO of CINDE, commented, “Costa Rica’s value proposition based on people, planet, and prosperity allows us to position the country as an international benchmark in productive sustainability to encourage an FDI environment that contributes to global corporate investment strategies.  Today, Costa Rica is home to more than 350 services, life sciences, and smart manufacturing companies. In addition, it allows us to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Our country has become a laboratory for customer-centric solutions where sustainability is essential to everything we do. As a result, we are continually achieving worldwide recognition in this area and positively impacting the nation’s and its citizens’ development.”  

In its study, Bloom Consulting also points out that the organizations that include Essential Costa Rica, CINDE, PROCOMER, and the ICT are well positioned to continue working together with a unified country brand strategy. In addition, the firm  has also made additional recommendations such as:

• Studying the digital identity of Costa Rica and, from there, defining a content strategy that optimizes its online presence.  
• Building a digital legacy along the way by generating relevant and useful content.
• Paying particular attention not only to the “Everything” section in search engines but also to “Images” and “Videos.”
• Creating content in the language of the target audiences.
• Building the digital identity of Costa Rica not only by the institutions that make up the Essential Costa Rica promotion agencies but also of other public entities and local and international companies. Therefore, promoting Costa Rica on the digital landscape must be an effort of all stakeholder parties.