When Princess Cruises’ 1950-passenger cruise liner Dawn Princess arrived in the port of Puntarenas in Costa Rica it signalled the dawn of the new cruise season for the country.

Cruising forms a major source of tourist dollars for Costa Rica. It accounts for 18% of the 2.1 foreign tourists Costa Rica receives every year. Most major cruise lines arrive at the ports of Limon on the Caribbean Coast and Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast.

During the 2009/10 cruise season no less than 264 cruise ships docked in the country, bringing with them a total of more than 385,000 foreign visitors. This was the highest figure in 15 years and an increase of 5.4% over the previous year.

Allan Flores, Tourism Minister for Costa Rica, says that despite a decline in the number of cruise passengers worldwide, his country remained in a strong position with a steady growth in the number of cruise passengers. He added: “The start of the new cruise season brings us the opportunity to promote our country in this market. We are doing everything possible to ensure that the cruise market in Costa Rica continues to grow and be competitive.”

The Costa Rica Tourist Board announced at the same time that it had joined forces with other Central American countries in an attempt to develop attractive new cruise itineraries that will take in the region’s vast number of tourist attractions. They are also investigating possible new cruise ports that will open up a larger part of the region to the cruise industry.