Costa Rica in 2022 recovered 75% of tourists who visited the country prior to the pandemic

One million more tourists arrived in 2022 compared to 2021. The United States is the main source market for travelers visiting Costa Rica.

QCOSTARICA – Costa Rica closed the year 2022 with the arrival of 2,349,537 tourists (by air land and sea), that is, more than one million passengers than in 2021.

This means that the country recovered 3 out of 4 tourists (75%) of the pre-pandemic year, of which 90% (2,117,960) arrived by air.

The United States is the main source market for travelers visiting Costa Rica. According to figures published by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Costa Rican Tourism Board – the 2.3 million tourists is consistent with the scenarios published in the monthly reports throughout last year and is higher than the growth scenario for 2022 included in the National Tourism Plan 2022- 2027, which had forecast 2,023,781 tourists for 2022.

“These numbers are the extraordinary result of the joint effort of public sector actors and private sector actors. These are encouraging data that give us the impetus to get as close as possible this 2023 to equaling the tourism indicators that the country had before the pandemic. We have our sights set on the growth of visitation, but also of foreign exchange, of the quality of life in our tourist communities, of the quality of service, and we do it in communion with the sustainability for which we are recognized worldwide,” said William Rodríguez, Minister of Tourism.

The United States is Costa Rica’s main tourist market, with 1,252,469 tourists entering by air, close to 98% of the number that visited us in 2019. All the North American airlines that operated in Costa Rica before the pandemic returned, and added more flights to their pre-pandemic schedules.