The Costa Rica Tourism Board is looking to hire a PR firm to attract visitors from the U.S. and Canada.

The two-year contract is budgeted at $360K, with an option to renew for another pair of years. The Board has allocated $20K yearly for presentations on strategies and work sessions in Costa Rica.

The pitch is to position Costa Rica as a leader in sustainable tourism, while promoting the country’s value and competitive advantages over other Caribbean/central America vacation spots.

The winning firm will have least 10 years of travel experience and will handle the Costa Rica work in a city that contains the country’s best traveler prospects.

Those locales include Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Washington and Florida. The Board may seek PR in other target markets, including England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, which would require an additional budget.

According to the RFP, a “sworn statement” is needed from the PR firm attesting to its ability to conduct PR in those international markets.

Bids go to mzaldiva [at] ict.go [dot] cr and mgranado [at] ict.go[dot] cr. Deadline for English submissions is Sept. 10. Spanish languages bids will be accepted until Sept. 17.

Burson-Marsteller is the incumbent on the Costa Rica account.

View the RFP (DOC, sub req'd)

(Photo: Costa Rica Tourism Board)