OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2024

Costa Rica

Tourism in the economy and outlook 

Tourism is an important economic sector and driver of economic development in Costa Rica. Pre-pandemic, it directly accounted for 4.8% of GDP and 7% of employment. Travel exports represented 36.6% of total service exports in 2019.

In 2022, the sector contributed USD 3.1 million which accounted for almost 40% of exports, and close to 45% of services exports. The Costa Rica Central Bank estimates that tourism contributed CRC 1.1 trillion to the economy in 2023, directly contributing to 5% of GDP. Tourism employment has rebounded in 2022, totalling 169 200 jobs. This corresponds to 99% of 2019 levels.

In 2023, Costa Rica welcomed an estimated 2.5 million international tourist arrivals, recovering from a pandemic low of 1.0 million in 2020, but still at 79.6% of 2019 levels. The largest inbound markets in 2022 were the United States (55%), Europe (20%) and Central America (8%).

The country has one of the longest average stays of any OECD country, at nearly 13.5 nights per trip, and an average expenditure per tourist per trip of close to USD 1 590. Domestic tourism accounts for 15% of total tourism expenditure in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is targeting 3.8 million international arrivals by 2027, generating USD 4.9 billion in foreign currency. Air connectivity with key source markets will be a key driver of this recovery – 90% of visitors arrive by air. Rising prices linked to energy and transport costs may hit travel demand for long haul travel.

Tourism governance

The Costa Rica Tourism Institute is an autonomous state institution responsible for formulating public policy, as well as designing and executing technical and legal instruments to implement tourism policy. The Tourism Institute is also in charge of drawing up and managing the National Tourism Plan.

The Tourism Institute is in charge of increasing tourism in Costa Rica, promoting the construction and maintenance of tourist accommodation and attractions, branding and promoting the country overseas, and attracting national and foreign investments.

The Institute collaborates with other relevant bodies, including the Ministries of Foreign Relations, Economy and Trade, Transport, Environment and Energy, Health, and Foreign Trade. In particular a co-operation agreement with the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency creates a strategic alliance for the promotion and attraction of foreign investment projects for tourism infrastructure.

The Regional Tourism Offices collaborate with the tourism sector by processing the country's quality programmes, such as the Tourism Declaration and the Certificate for Sustainable Tourism, tourist transportation certificates and tourist guide credentials. In addition, they collaborate in the promotion of their regions in the development of international press tours.

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute is financed mainly by revenue from entry and departure taxes and non-tax revenues from rents and leases. Costa Rica’s budget allocation to support tourism-related marketing activities in 2024 was USD 31 million.

Costa Rica: Organisational chart of tourism bodies

Source: OECD, adapted from Costa Rican Tourism Board, 2024.

Tourism policies and programmes

The National Tourism Development Plan 2022-27 guides the recovery and sustained growth of with a vision to equitably distribute the benefits of tourism so that all Costa Ricans enjoy an improved quality of life. It aims to ensure that tourism continues to be a leading economic sector while both taking advantage of and protecting Costa Rica’s natural resources. The Plan sets out a tourism development model based on the three pillars of sustainability, innovation, and inclusiveness, with three main objectives for Costa Rica Tourism:

• Promote a resilient tourism activity that makes sustainable use of tourism and local heritage, with effective destination management plans in place in all 32 Tourism Development Centres by 2027.

• Distribution tourism demand throughout the 32 Tourism Development Centres, to continue to improve the quality of life of communities in different regions.

• Target USD 4.9 billion income from 3.8 million international tourist arrivals by 2027 to maintain tourism as a main engine for the Costa Rican economy.

To deliver these objectives, Costa Rica has developed and implemented several policies and programmes, including:

• Regulations for developments in the Caribbean coastal zone. The Institute is working closely with the heads of local municipalities to promote tourism development while protecting the environment by providing clear rules for investors on tourism development.

• The Destination Management Programme helps develop destinations and Tourism Development Centres in different regions of the country. It assists them to improve their competitiveness and the conditions for tourism development, generating social capital and better living conditions for the inhabitants.

• A free virtual training platform, ICT CAPACITA, to improve workforce participation in the tourism sector. Launched in 2020, the platform trained 13 058 people in the first year. Post-pandemic, the platform continues to support tourism entrepreneurs and businesses on tourism resilience and sustainability issues such as access to sustainable finance and certification.

• The Certification for Sustainable Tourism and Code of Conduct to expand certifications available for tourism businesses. Certifications aim to help maintain a quality service, based on the economic, social, and environmental pillars of sustainability, and a business commitment to the protection of children and adolescents. As of January 2024, almost 150 companies were certified.

• Sofía Network, a platform that provides recommendations and information useful to all women travelling by themselves. It also provides guidance and training for businesses on how to respond in situations where female tourists feel threatened.

• Improving the collection and dissemination of tourism data through monthly reports with variables on seats, flights, and air ticket prices. This information complements the quarterly monitoring of tourist arrivals by port and nationality and the departure of Costa Ricans abroad.

• Establishing new indicators to assess growth in tourism employment. Following the decrease in tourism employment during the pandemic, the aim is to better measure the sector’s recovery.

• Developing digital Cultural Tourist Guides for 9 destinations. The digital guides aim to attract visitors to destinations and are available in Spanish and English. They can be downloaded to mobile devices and allow tourists to access information on key sites and areas. So far, 31 of the 32 Tourism Development Centres have their own digital guide.

• A newly updated Social Progress Index to measure the well-being of citizens and monitor social performance, including in tourist destinations, to help Costa Rica reach its targets under the UN SDGs (see box below).

Costa Rica considers its 2023 tourism goals were achieved in three areas: returning to pre-pandemic levels of tourist arrivals by air, increasing the availability of accessible financing mechanisms for small businesses and raising the visibility of the social contribution of tourism. In 2024, the main goal is focusing on tourism infrastructure in protected areas and tourist berths and to continue the implementation of the comprehensive destination management programme while also maintaining successful programmes from 2023.

Measuring the well-being of citizens in Tourism Development Centres in Costa Rica

The Social Progress Index is a tool developed to measure the well-being of citizens which Costa Rica is using to evaluate social progress in tourism destinations, with the perspective to measure tourism as a social phenomenon. The Index uses a new methodology and multidimensional indicators to assess the social sustainability of destinations. It allows Costa Rica to benchmark performance between key tourism destinations and other regions within the country. The target is to reach, or exceed, the level of 70 points in the Social Progress Index over five years. New data will be published in 2024.

The aim of the use of the Index in tourism destinations is to foster the role of tourism as a catalyst for sustainable development within Costa Rica and to meet the UN SDGs. Data collection and comparison commenced again in 2023 across 32 tourism development centres, after it was interrupted by the COVID-19. The data will be used to develop data driven tourism policy across Costa Rica. It is also hoped it will be a catalyst for launching public-private sector collaborations that aim to have a positive impact on local communities.

Statistical Profile

Costa Rica: Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
TOURISM FLOWS, THOUSAND
Domestic tourism
Total domestic trips	..	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	..	..	..	..	..
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	..	..	..	..	..
Nights in all types of accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Hotels and similar establishments	..	..	..	..	..
Other collective establishments	..	..	..	..	..
Private accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Inbound tourism
Total international arrivals	3 313	3 378	1 147	1 401	2 650
Overnight visitors (tourists)	3 017	3 139	1 012	1 347	2 350
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	296	239	135	54 |	300 |
Top markets
United States	1 265	1 335	435	869	1 290
Central America	691	699	202	78	194
Europe	480	501	170	230	470
Canada	217	235	116	53	184
South America	190	196	50	60	111
Nights in all types of accommodation	35 295	39 552	13 054	18 320	31 719
Hotels and similar establishments	..	..	..	..	..
Other collective establishments	..	..	..	..	..
Private accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Outbound tourism
Total international departures	..	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	1 079	1 153	324	588	934
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	..	..	..	..	..
Top destinations
Central America	583	604	167	222	414
North America	376	418	131	333	380
Panama	301	310	89	128	226
United States	251	280	94	245	234
Nicaragua	141	151	47	44	102
TOURISM RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE, MILLION USD
Inbound tourism
Total international receipts	4 072	4 340	1 464	1 834	..
International travel receipts	3 769	3 989	1 328	1 717	..
International passenger transport receipts	304	351	136	117	..
Outbound tourism
Total international expenditure	1 198	1 451	426	764	..
International travel expenditure	838	1 036	243	566	..
International passenger transport expenditure	360	415	183	198	..

..: Not available; | Break in series

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink

Costa Rica: Enterprises and employment in tourism

	Number of establishments	Number of persons employed
	2022	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Total	..	..	..	..	..	..
Tourism industries	4 392	160 976	170 870	127 570	150 483	169 205
Accommodation services for visitors	..	..	..	..	..	..
Hotels and similar establishments	3 133	27 622	31 743	17 938	24 293	29 602
Food and beverage serving industry	429	99 402	103 099	89 448	100 963	107 393
Passenger transport	..	8 353	6 993	2 744	6 131	3 959
Air passenger transport	17	..	..	..	..	..
Railways passenger transport	..	..	..	..	..	..
Road passenger transport	..	..	..	..	..	..
Water passenger transport	31	..	..	..	..	..
Passenger transport supporting services	..	..	..	..	..	..
Transport equipment rental	55	6 585	6 843	7 052	5 070	4 773
Travel agencies and other reservation services industry	535	6 178	5 025	3 014	2 295	6 730
Cultural industry	..	5 777	8 122	3 746	6 685	9 630
Sports and recreation industry	126	7 059	9 045	3 628	5 046	7 118
Retail trade of country-specific tourism characteristic goods	..	..	..	..	..	..
Other country-specific tourism industries	66	..	..	..	..	..
Other industries	..	..	..	..	..	..

.. Not available

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink