Tourism in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the visitor can enjoy extraordinary tropical beaches, the most amazing adventures, the wonders of tropical forest, Tico culture, all the necessary aspects of an ideal vacation. No wonder, then, that thousands of tourists have made this piece of land  their top travel choice.

Costa Rica is a country located in Central America that has unlimited tourist potential and is ranked as one of the most visited international destinations. One of Costa Rica’s main sources of income is tourism.

Costa Rica is a democratic and peaceful country, and it has not had an army since 1949.  Although the country is small and it covers only 0.03 % of the surface of the globe, amazingly  it  shelters a 6% of the existing biodiversity in the entire world. 25.58 % of the country is composed of conservation and natural protected areas.

Costa Rica is also an attractive country for investment and it offers great potential for the establishment of important multinational companies, thanks to the outstanding academic level of its citizens, as well as the high standard of modern services and social and political stability.

SOME FACTS ABOUT TOURISM GROWTH

TOURISM VISITS GROW 12.5% IN THE FIRST QUARTER , August 1 st , 2008

Costa Rica saw a 12.5% growth in tourism visits in the first quarter compared to the same period during 2007. The Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) informed that in the first six months of 2008 more than a million tourists entered the country by air space , almost 90,000 more than last year. According to this year’s first semester picture, Costa Rica remains one of the most ideal vacation destination for tourists. 

Specifically, the largest increase was reported in the country’s main airport, Juan Santamaría, near the capital, where some 674,000 tourists passed through for a growth of 13.1%. Meanwhile, the Daniel Oduber terminal, located in Liberia, Guanacaste, saw an increase of 9.7%.
  
COSTA RICA SURPASSES WORLD AVERAGE IN TOURISM GROWTH , July 16, 2008

Presently, Costa Rica surpassed three times the world average in tourism growth, according to a June index released by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). The index’s data says the largest growth in tourism was in regions like the Middle East, Central and South America. Meanwhile, China, Japan, the United States, Costa Rica, Chile and Peru, stood out for showing double digit growth.

The WTO index says that international activity saw a growth of 5% in the first four months of the year and one additional percentage point more than forecasted at the beginning of 2008. According to the WTO, tendency of the summer season that just started in the Northern hemisphere will be key to end-of-the-year results. The Tourism Minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, said that he is pleased that Costa Rica has held pace within the most dynamic growing group of countries with respect to the arrival of tourists.  

COSTA RICA IS A PARADISE ACCORDING TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, July 11, 2008 

The tropical jungles, rivers, and country’s beautiful white sandy beaches were reason enough for the National Geographic Channel to rate Costa Rica as the closest thing to heaven on earth.

According to the National Geographic channel, the country stands out from the rest of the world because of its huge diversity of life forms that find refuge in this small section of Costa Rica. Because of the beautiful diversity of wildlife like crocodiles, quetzals, and species of monkeys, a television program will be taped and aired on National Geographic on June 25th. The program will reveal the seven wonders of Latin America, one of the regions with the largest diversity. Costa Rica, referred to by National Geographic as “The Living Earth,” stands out among other countries for its  vegetation and variety of forests. 

The television program also highlights Costa Rica as a place where one can witness the large number of recently born sea turtles emerge from the sand and scurry toward the ocean.