The National Institute of Tourism highlighted those 1,338,303 tourists arrived in Costa Rica by air during the first semester of 2023, similar to figures from the pre-Covid-19 period.
According to official data from the entity, 2.11 million tourists will come to the country in 2022. Before 2020, three million international tourists chose Costa Rica to enjoy their vacations.
By the end of the year, the Minister of Tourism, William Rodríguez, expects to exceed the numbers in 2019.
During the first semester, North America saw 977,783 tourists, consisting of 792,944 Americans, 148,973 Canadians, and 35,866 Mexicans. Additionally, European tourism experienced 9.3% growth compared to the same time in 2022.
During the first six months of the year, the main source markets from Europe demonstrated various behaviors and growth compared to the same period in 2022. France had 40,016 visitors, the United Kingdom had 37,006 visitors, Germany had 39,369 visitors, Spain had 21,293 visitors, the Netherlands had 14,280 visitors, and Switzerland had 13,610 visitors.
Costa Rica is very close to figures registered before the pandemic, explained the Director of Planning and Development of ICT, Rodolfo Lizano.
Regarding the employment indicator, according to the latest data from the Continuous Employment Survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Census, Costa Rica's tourism sector generated 158,810 direct jobs in the first quarter of 2023.