Emirates airline today welcomed the Costa Rican Head of State, His Excellency President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, First Lady of the Republic, Her Excellency Claudia Dobles Camargo and their delegation at  Expo 2020 Dubai.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman and Chief Executive, together with the airline’s executives: Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior VP for International Affairs, and Salem Obaidalla, Senior VP Commercial Operations for the Americas, met with the delegation from Costa Rica.

In tandem with the meeting, Emirates announced initiatives to promote Costa Rica as a tourism destination to its global customer base. This includes offering enhanced air connectivity to the central American country through its codeshare partners, and the introduction of bespoke travel packages to Costa Rica under its Emirates Holidays business.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Group said: “In 2004, Emirates established the first non-stop flight to connect the UAE with the Americas. Ever since, we’ve focussed on expanding those air transport links which are crucial to building stronger trade and tourism ties.

Emirates has seen an increase in demand from travellers who wish to connect onward to Costa Rica from our gateways in the USA and Mexico, and we’ve been in positive discussions with our interline and codeshare partners to expand travel options to serve this demand. In co-operation with Avianca, Emirates will soon be able to offer our customers connections to Costa Rica via Bogota from more airports including European points such as Barcelona, Madrid and London. We look forward to developing even further ties with Costa Rica in the future.”

HE Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of the Republic of Costa Rica said: “I’d like to thank the UAE and Expo Dubai team for the warm welcome. Today, we are celebrating and strengthening the ties between UAE and Costa Rica. Like the UAE, Costa Rica is welcoming to tourists and businesses, and we also have a very strong sustainability focus as we want to ensure that we preserve our world for future generations. We are proud to showcase a slice of what Costa Rica has to offer at our Expo Dubai Pavilion.”

Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the UAE, Francisco J. Chacon H. said: “We warmly welcome Emirates airline’s initiatives to promote Costa Rica as a destination. Our beautiful country has something for every traveller, and we look forward to welcome more people from the UAE and from around the world to visit Costa Rica.”

With 6.5% of the world’s biodiversity, Costa Rica offers an abundance of nature experiences from rainforests, lakes, hot-water rivers and mountains to beautiful coastlines. It also offers diverse cultural attractions, whether it’s food, fashion, and music, or folk festivals and carnivals.

Emirates Holidays, the airline’s tour operating arm, has recently introduced tailor-made package tours to Costa Rica. Customers seeking to experience Costa Rica’s majestic nature reserves and national parks, soak in the local culture, or relax on its sweeping beaches can customise their chauffeur-driven semi-private tours through San Jose, San Carlos, Guanacaste, the San Ramon region, and Nosara. For more information, customers can contact their local travel agent or visit: www.emiratesholidays.com

Emirates offers travellers access to Costa Rica through its interline and codeshare partners. This includes flights to San Jose from New York JFK via JetBlue, and flights to and from San Jose over Miami and Mexico City via Avianca.