‘World’s happiest goalie’ Keylor Navas hopes to attract more European tourists

Keylor Navas is the star of a new advertising campaign from the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) that that seeks to draw more European tourists here.

The Real Madrid and “La Sele” goalkeeper posted a message on his Twitter account with a link to the website “The World’s Happiest Goalie” where a teaser message over a picture of the keeper reads: “Keylor Navas is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. But, did you know that he is also the world’s happiest goalie? Find out why on May 24 and win a lifetime experience.”

A spot shows some of Keylor’ Real Madrid teammates wearing goalie gear while a voiceover —with a Spanish accent— explains how hard it is to be a goalkeeper, “but not for everyone” the narrator says over an image of a smiling Navas.

Tourism Minister Mauricio Ventura told La Nación that the spot is the first stage of a new tourism promotional strategy focused on attracting more European tourists.

“Keylor Navas is the main star of the upcoming campaign that we hope will allow us to further reach a market that is very important for Costa Rica’s tourism sector,” Ventura told the daily.

According to ICT records, Europe is Costa Rica’s second largest tourist market, just behind the U.S.

The board reported the arrival of 400,000 European travelers in 2015, with more than 300,000 of them arriving by air. That figure represents an increase of 22,633 visitors from the continent over 2014.

European tourists stay the longest here with an average visit of 17 nights. They also are the ones who spend the most, an average of $1,660 during their stay.

Ventura said that ICT expects a sharp increase in Europeans visiting Costa Rica this year, driven mainly by recent openings of new airline routes.

In the past two years airlines including British Airways, Air France, Iberia and Condor launched new routes to both Juan Santamaría and Daniel Oduber international airports.