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How to choose a Costa Rica Tour Operator Online

If you type in the keyword “Costa Rica Tour Operator” in Google (without the quotation marks), there are 122,000 results listed in Google. But how do you choose the best and the most legitimate one to plan your vacation?

To help you pick out the legit Costa Rica tour operators from so much deceptive and misleading information in the Internet, follow these steps:

1.) Make sure you are looking at a professional and consistent web design

Although they all say, “Do not judge a book by its cover,” it is best (and safer) for you to do so with websites. A serious company, regardless of the business, will strive to get the best-looking, professional and consistent website design that is easy to navigate through.

2.) Find the company’s general information

Find a link that says ‘About Us’ or something similar to that. Find information on the owner of the company, partners, sponsors, their physical location and address, contact details such as phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses. Find out their history, philosophy and goals too. All good businesses should provide all this detailed information.

3.) Find the licence by the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism

All reputable tour operators in Costa Rica have to possess a valid licence issued by the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism. Try and find out if this is mentioned on their website or if you see a logo saying it is licensed.

4.) Find out about cancellation policies

An established company will define a very clear cancellation policy.

5.) Communicate with their past travellers if possible

If you can find a section in their website where guests or travellers can provide feedback to the company, it is a good way to communicate with them and ask them for their past experience with the tour operator.

If you find a company online that seems quite legit to you but does not have all of the above, it does not necessarily mean you are dealing with a scam. But still, a website that does not have two or three elemets above should be a red flag signal to you.

by Elisheva Wiriaatmadja.

If you would like more information about Costa Rica, you can check out the CIA Costa Rica page.