The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) reported this Friday that the number of tourists who visited Costa Rica in the first half of this year increased by 14.5% compared to the same period in 2023. “From January to June this year, 1,532,443 tourists visited Costa Rica by air, an increase of 14.5% compared to the same period in 2023,” the ICT noted in its semi-annual report.
The institute noted that 92% of visitors will arrive by air, primarily from the United States and Canada. “The strong results for the first half of 2024 are […] “This report demonstrates a dynamic, growing and robust tourism sector,” Tourism Minister William Rodrigues said at the report’s release.
The figures reflect Costa Rica’s already recovering tourism sector, which accounts for 8.2% of the country’s GDP and is one of its largest sources of foreign currency, from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. ICT forecasts a record 2.8 million tourists to arrive by the end of this year, compared with 2.4 million in 2023.
Three out of four tourists to Costa Rica come from North America, with the United States coming first (61%), followed by Canada (10%) and Mexico (2.8%). The main European countries are France (2.8%), Germany (2.6%) and the UK (2.5%).
Official data showed that tourists from North America increased by 18% compared to the same period in 2023. From Europe, visitors from France increased by 9.7%, visitors from Germany by 3.4% and visitors from the UK by 5.5%.
Natural parks, flora and fauna and beaches seem to be the main attractions for visiting Costa Rica. Ilse Klubber, 51, from the Netherlands, told AFP during a visit to San José with her family that she wanted to “canoe, dive and zip line in the forest” as well as see “birds, turtles and little frogs.”
“I love nature so I decided to come and see it for myself,” explained Sonia Martinez, a Puerto Rican living in New York, while Maria Jose Campos, 27, from Mexico, said she was impressed by the “food and culture”.
