In 1993 ARA Tours began operating with a small international team. The young specialized agency organized German and English guided tours through Costa Rica and rapidly gained the confidence of European tour operators, who trusted their clients in Costa Rica to ARA Tours. Since the beginning the Swiss Managers set on high quality, customized programs and a high flexibility. This combination was succesful. The company grew steadily every year and is nowadays with 35 employees, 20 guides and its own transportation fleet one of the leading agencies of the region. The milestones:
| 1993: | Ara Tours was founded in San José/Costa Rica |
| 1999: | Together with other specialized agencies in Centralamerica, Mexico and the Caribbean, ARA Tours creates the alliance Latincoming (www.latincoming.com). Cross-border roundtrips are arranged and synergies in the marketing area are used. |
| 2002: | The first own buses begin to operate |
| 2003: | The Latincoming headquarters were established in the building of ARA Tours. From now cross-national tours are offered, supervised and invoiced from one central location. |
| 2004: | ZusaTogether with the Latincoming partners ARA Tours creates a representative office in Cologne/Germany. The office is now the official contact for European tour operators and supports advertising campaigns in the region. |
| 2005: | ARA Tours moves in its own office location |
| 2005: | Start in the incentive business. A separate specialized department is created |
| 2007: | Creation of the brand „Selected Moments“ - ARA Tours and the Latincoming partners start in the luxury travel industry. |
Philosophy
Quality and Flexibility are the main bases of the philosophy of ARA Tours. Since the foundation of the company ARA Tours cared about a social and environmental sustainable tourism. This is reflected for example in the hotels selection, where ARA Tours chooses preferably small, family run establishment, that meet the client's high expectations. These hotels are also known as „Boutique-Hotels“. Large „All Inclusive“ resorts are not included in our selection. The assistance, planning and the execution of individually, tailor made tours is the speciality of ARA Tours. The groups are kept as small as possible and only exceed 16 people in rare cases and only if the client wishes it explicitly. This way the guests experience a real Costa Rica. A cultural exchange with the local population is possible and the guide can respond better to the client's individual wishes. On the other side the money stays where it should with the Costaricans.
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