In an increasingly competitive international tourism landscape, destinations are looking to refine how they present themselves to travelers. At ITB Berlin, Costa Rica unveiled a new stage of its promotional strategy: its first unified European campaign. Titled “Live. Life. News”, it offers an approach that goes beyond a simple catalog of places to visit, emphasizing instead the experiences travelers can live during their stay.
A Common Concept for Six Strategic Markets
The announcement was made on the opening day of the 60th edition of ITB Berlin, held at Messe Berlin. The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) presented a campaign built around a single creative concept for the entire European market, while allowing adaptations specific to each country.
According to ICT data, 419,820 European visitors arrived in Costa Rica by air in 2025, confirming the country’s role as a major long-haul market. The campaign targets six priority countries — Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the Netherlands — and will run from March to November 2026 through a multi-channel approach combining broadcast and digital TV, cinema, digital radio, urban signage, press, and social media.
From the Destination to the Traveler
The strategy is based on studies of European traveler behavior. It revolves around four pillars: transformative travel, connection with local communities, a more conscious relationship with nature, and generating a lasting impact during the stay.
The central idea is simple: Costa Rica is best understood by experiencing it. As Silvia Rodríguez, Head of Brand Strategy and Communication at ICT, explains:
“It is an invitation for European travelers to discover something they will not experience anywhere else in the world. Something they will only believe and understand once they have lived it themselves. Something even we Costa Ricans sometimes find hard to describe. But it is real, it exists, and it awaits every traveler.”
Local Production and Territorial Diversity
The campaign was entirely produced in Costa Rica. Filming took place over ten days and more than 2,500 kilometers, with sequences shot in San José, Bajos del Toro Amarillo, Alajuela, the southern Caribbean, Poás Volcano, and the southern Pacific coast.
A total of 48 people were part of the technical team, including 40 local professionals. Creative direction was provided by the Spanish agency Newlink, in coordination with the agencies supporting the national tourism office in European markets.
This choice reflects a desire to showcase territorial diversity while highlighting local participation, in line with the tourism model the country has promoted for decades.
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With this campaign, Costa Rica is not only seeking to increase its visibility in Europe. It is also aiming to convey in its international communication an idea already central to its positioning: a journey where nature, communities, and personal experience take center stage.
Photos: ICT
