Local hotels, adventure tour companies and transportation services filled several rooms at the Ramada Plaza Herradura conference center in Cariari, a northwestern San José suburb, yesterday for the first day of EXPOTUR.

The tourism conference, organized annually by the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (ACOPROT), runs through Sunday. Some 260 businesses set up stands for more than 100 travel companies.

Exhibitors yesterday held 20-minute meetings with potential “buyers” – travel agencies and tourism groups from the United States, Canada and Latin America.

“One of the most important (things) about being here is improving relations with clients, and making some new ones,” said Felipe Chacón, sales manager of Savegre Hotel, a bird watching hotspot famous for quetzals in San Gerardo de Dota. “Seeing (clients) face-to-face…helps to improve relationships.”