Tourism in Costa Rica has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism has earned more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined. The tourism boom began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1.03 million in 1999, over 2 million in 2008, to a historical record of 2.66 million foreign visitors in 2015. In 2012, tourism contributed with 12.5% of the country's GDP and it was responsible for 11.7% of direct and indirect employment. See Table 4, pp. 18 and Country/Economy Profile: Costa Rica, pp. 142-143. In 2009, tourism attracted 17% of foreign direct investment inflows, and 13% in average between 2000 and 2009. See pp. 422 and 425. In 2010, the tourism industry was responsible for 21.2% of foreign exchange generated by all exports. According to a 2007 report by ECLAC, tourism contributed to a reduction in poverty of 3% in the country.
Since the late 1980s, Costa Rica became a popular nature travel destination, and its main competitive advantage is its well-established system of national parks and protected areas, covering around 23.4% of the country's land area, the largest in the world as a percentage of the country's territory, Published on website "Planeta Sustentável" and home to a rich variety of flora and fauna, in a country that has only 0.03% of the world's landmass, but that is estimated to contain 5% of the world's biodiversity. Chapter 5. Costa Rica: On the Beaten Path The country also has plenty of beaches, both in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, within short travel distances, and also several volcanoes that can be visited with safety. By the early 1990s, Costa Rica became known as the poster child of ecotourism, with tourist arrivals reaching an average annual growth rate of 14% between 1986 and 1994.
According to the Costa Rican Tourism Board, 47% of international tourists visiting the country in 2009 engaged in activities related to ecotourism, which includes trekking, flora, fauna, and bird watching, and visits to rural communities. However, most visitors look for adventure activities.
Description and key statistics
+Yearly tourist arrivals in millions
Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region, with 3.14 million foreign visitors in 2019. During the same year, El Salvador was ranked second in the region with 1.77 million, followed by Panama and Guatemala with 1.75 million visitors each. pp. 20
The number of tourists visiting Costa Rica surpassed the 2 million milestone in 2008, and tourist-related income reached billion that year. As a result of the Great Recession, international arrivals began falling since August 2008, as the number of U.S. citizens visiting the country shrank, and this market segment represented 54% of all foreign tourists visiting Costa Rica.
+International tourist arrivals1988–2019 Data corresponds to 2007 Technical Paper Series ENV-149, Washington, D.C., pp 9 and 47.| pp. 10 pp. 10 pp. 17 Year Arrivals (×1000) Year Arrivals (×1000) Year Arrivals (×1000) ReceiptsUSD million Year Arrivals (×1000) Receipts USD million1988 329 1996 781 2004 1,453 1,358 2012 2,343 2,3131989 376 1997 811 2005 1,679 1,570 2013 2,428 2,6651990 435 1998 943 2006 1,725 1,732 2014 2,527 2,8641991 504 1999 1,032 2007 1,973 1,974 2015 2,660 2,8821992 611 2000 1,088 2008 2,089 2,144 2016 2,925 3,7161993 684 2001 1,131 2009 1,923 2,075 2017 2,960 3,8761994 762 2002 1,113 2010 2,100 1,999 2018 3,017 3,773 1995 785 2003 1,239 2011 2,192 2,152 2019 3,139 4,010
The combined effect of the global economic crisis and the 2009 flu pandemic resulted in a reduction of tourists arrivals in 2009 to 1.9 million visitors, an 8% reduction as compared to 2008. In 2010, the number of visitors rose to 2.1 million, barely exceeding the 2008 peak, and a record was reached in 2012 with 2.34 million visitors, a 6.9% increase over 2011.
A historical record of 2.5 million international visitors arrived in the country in 2014, up 4.1% year-on-year, and the corresponding receipts rose to in 2014, up 8.3% from the previous year. In addition, the average expenditure per tourist increased from in 2010 to in 2014, and the average stay increased from 11 days in 2010 to 13.4 in 2014. Costa Rica achieved new records in 2016 with 2.93 million visitors and total earnings of . The country finally reached the 3 million tourists' milestone in 2018.
In terms of the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), Costa Rica reached the 38th place in the world ranking, classified as the fourth most competitive among Latin American countries after Mexico (22), Brazil (27) and Panama (35), and ranking sixth in the Americas. See Table 1, pp. 25 and Country/Economy Profile: Costa Rica, pp. 150-151. Just considering the subindex measuring natural resources, Costa Rica ranks in the 3rd place at a worldwide level, 21st in the world when considering international openness criteria, and 24th worldwide when considering the subindex measuring prioritization of travel and tourism. The 2017 TTCI report also notes Costa Rica's main weaknesses are price competitiveness (108th) and ground and port infrastructure (99th), with quality of the roads ranking 123rd and ground transport efficiency 108th between 138 countries analyzed.
In 2012, most visitors came from the United States (39.3%), Nicaragua (20.2%), Canada (6.5%), Panama (3.9%), and Mexico (2.9%). See tables 1, 63 and 64. Tourists from North America and European countries made up 60.8% of all international visitors, and visitors from Central America represented 30.8%. According to a 2006 survey, visitors from the Caribbean Basin and South America travel to Costa Rica mainly for business or professional purposes, while a majority of Americans, Canadians and Europeans visit the country for leisure. Word of mouth from friends and family, with an average of 58%, was the leading reason for visiting Costa Rica for vacations and leisure. The main visitor's complaint is the poor condition of the roads.
Top 30 visitor arrivals by country of origin in 2018 See table 1 in both files. Ranking Countryof origin Visitorarrivals2018 % Yearly growth Ranking Countryof origin Visitorarrivals2018 % Yearly growth 1 1,265,067 5.5 16 32,561 7.4 2 416,915 -3.0 17 29,171 0.4 3 217,006 7.5 18 28,884 13.7 4 98,918 -7.4 19 22,329 3.9 5 92,802 -11.4 20 18,297 35.5 6 76,937 -5.1 21 15,249 12.0 7 74,574 5.1 22 14,865 12.1 8 74,338 -2.4 23 14,359 -1.3 9 74,032 6.1 24 12,381 0.9 10 68,634 -1.2 25 11,159 -9.4 11 65,633 -15.9 26 11,117 11.3 12 46,723 -2.6 27 8,236 11.1 13 40,832 31.8 28 8,089 5.2 14 38,135 -5.4 29 6,574 7.4 15 33,197 -17.6 30 6,460 8.5Visitor arrivals by region of origin in 2018 (Top 4) 1 North America 1,580,991 4.8 3 Europe 480,102 3.9 2 Central America 691,386 -6.0 4 South America 190,413 5.0
+ Tourists in Costa Rica by Nationality (2020–2024) Rank Country 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 1 1,621,340 1,473,620 1,290,038 868,986 434,775 2 272,256 260,744 183,678 53,185 115,632 3 96,129 85,674 59,786 36,621 20,603 4 95,799 94,083 78,473 27,634 123,956 5 86,571 91,511 79,701 34,700 28,821 6 76,685 74,484 65,411 32,199 35,267 7 74,647 77,376 77,810 18,048 24,623 8 59,201 59,242 58,376 41,857 14,801 9 45,567 43,075 30,991 15,638 18,54910 36,638 37,464 34,518 10,784 10,42111 31,361 29,267 25,547 14,919 11,25412 28,736 28,564 20,476 8,868 10,57113 28,258 31,849 28,173 12,300 10,57114 26,541 29,429 29,766 21,643 20,89815 21,832 21,391 18,089 9,061 8,93616 21,484 21,249 15,878 11,864 6,46617 19,340 20,164 15,317 5,200 6,48718 18,710 20,505 18,733 7,436 10,17119 15,852 17,179 17,163 5,996 4,02920 14,575 11,153 6,997 2,925 2,146 — Others 227,961 223,111 194,616 141,544 92,935 — Total 2,919,483 2,751,134 2,349,537 1,347,055 1,011,912
Comparative performance in the Latin American market The following table presents a comparison of Costa Rica's tourism industry performance with selected countries from the Caribbean Basin and South America, including Bahamas, Cuba, and several of the top ten Latin American countries according to their 2013 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which are competitors in the nature travel market segment.
Selected Caribbean andLatin American countries International touristarrivals2012 (×1000) International tourism receipts2012(millionUSD) Receipts per arrival 2012(col 2)/(col 1)(USD) Arrivalspercapitaper 1000 pop.(estimated)2007 Population estimated for 2007 (search values for each country profile) Receipts per capita2005 Data corresponds to 2005. USD Revenues as % of exportsgoods andservices2003 Tourismrevenues as % GDP 2012 % Direct & indirectemploymentin tourism2012 WorldRankingTourismCompet.TTCI2013 Indexvalue TTCI2013(1) 1,419 2,367 1,668 4,616 6,288 74.6 34.1 68.7 n/d 536 916 1,709 1,956 2,749 58.5 42.7 41.9 27 4.88 5,677 6,6451,170 26 18 3.2 8.9 8.1 51 4.37 3,554 2,201 619 151 73 5.3 8.4 8.0 56 4.29 2,175 2,351 1,081 26 25 6.6 5.1 5.5843.90 2,343 2,425 1,035 442 343 17.5 12.5 11.7 47 4.44 (1) 2,6882,283 849 188 169 n/d n/d n/d n/d n/d 4,563 4,549 997 408 353 36.2 14.7 13.6 86 3.88 1,986 2,043 1,029 628 530 49.2 25.7 23.8 67 4.08 23,403 12,739544 201 103 5.7 12.4 13.7 44 4.46 1,6062,2591,406 330 211 10.6 10.1 9.6 37 4.54 2,8462,657933 65 41 9.0 9.1 7.8 73 4.00 2,695 2,076 770 525 145 14.2 10.2 9.7 59 4.23 Notes: Green shadow denotes the country with the top indicator. Yellow shadow corresponds to Costa Rica's. (1) Visitors and receipts for Cuba correspond to 2011. For Bahamas tourism revenues as % GDP are for 2003, and direct and indirect employment for 2005.
essential COSTA RICA
essential COSTA RICA is the nation branding of the Republic of Costa Rica, implemented to project the country's image in international markets. Its purpose is to promote exports, attract foreign direct investment, encourage tourism, and highlight Costa Rican culture. Additionally, it aims to foster competitiveness among national companies, improve quality standards, and generate a community of licensed companies that promote business both in Costa Rica and abroad.
The nation branding is led by an institutional council composed of the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER), the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, and the Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCJ). It was created through Executive Decree No. 37669-RE-COMEX-TUR on March 22, 2013.
Companies seeking to obtain the nation branding seal must undergo an evaluation protocol covering the brand's five values: excellence, sustainability, social progress, innovation, and Costa Rican linkage. As of 2024, 751 companies hold the essential COSTA RICA license, including 482 from the commerce sector, 269 from tourism, and 66 from foreign direct investment.
History The 2011–2014 National Development Plan recognized the importance of sustainable tourism for the country's economic growth, highlighting Costa Rica's existing positioning as a tourist destination. Previously, the campaign "Costa Rica, No Artificial Ingredients", promoted by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, emphasized biodiversity and sustainability as key themes for promotional campaigns.
By 2012, Costa Rica was ranked 25th globally and first in Latin America in the Nation Branding Index by Future Brand. However, the brand's focus at the time was primarily on tourism, without integrating other sectors such as investment and exports. In response to this limitation, efforts were made to develop a more comprehensive nation branding that would reflect not only tourism but also other strategic elements. In 2013, through a presidential decree, the nation branding essential COSTA RICA was officially established to represent a coherent image of the country internationally.