Tourism direct GDP (2024) | Tourism direct employment (2024) | Travel exports (2024) |
|---|---|---|
6.3% of total GDP (up 3.6 percentage points since 2021) | 7.7% of total employment (up 0.6 percentage points since 2023) | 33.5% of total service exports (up 1.3 percentage points since 2023) |
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026
National tourism strategy: Costa Rica's National Tourism Plan 2022-2027
National tourism administration: Costa Rican Tourism Institute (Ministry of Tourism, Visit Costa Rica)
National tourism budget: USD 48.3 million, for marketing activities (2026)
Key tourism policy priorities and actions:
Managing tourism flows in destinations – Measuring the maximum acceptable tourist limit for Costa Rica and each of the 33 tourism development centres.
Making tourism's social impact visible – Updating and visualising the Tourism Social Progress Index, the most recent update in 2024.
Improving the accessibility of tourism – Providing free tourism options for people with financial limitations and those belonging to groups with disabilities.
Tourism is an important sector for the Costa Rican economy. The Costa Rica Central Bank estimates that tourism contributed 8.2% of national GDP in 2024 when considering both the direct and indirect impacts. Tourism employment also generated approximately 183 000 direct jobs. In 2024, travel contributed USD 5.5 billion to the economy, accounting for almost 34% of service exports.
According to the Tourism Satellite Account, during the period 2016 to 2021, international tourism has accounted for between 66% and 76% of tourism expenditure in Costa Rica. In 2025, there were 2.9 million international tourists, an increase of 1% compared to 2024. The top international source markets in 2024 were the United States (56%) and Canada (9%). Countries in Europe accounted for almost 17% of international tourists.
Costa Rica is targeting 3.8 million international arrivals by 2027, generating USD 4.9 billion in foreign currency.
The Costa Rican Tourism Institute, an autonomous state institution founded in 1955, is responsible for formulating public policy, designing and executing technical and legal instruments to implement tourism policy, and drafting and managing the National Tourism Plan. The main roles of The Tourism Institute are to increase tourism in Costa Rica, promote the construction and maintenance of tourist accommodation and attractions, manage the brand and promote the country overseas, and attract national and foreign investments.
The Tourism Institute collaborates with other relevant governmental bodies. It has a standing co-operation agreement with the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica, established in 1996, which creates a strategic alliance for the promotion and attraction of foreign investment projects for tourism infrastructure. An agreement with the Ministry of the Environment provides the necessary infrastructure in National Parks with resources of the Tourism Institute. The Tourism Institutes agreement with the Ministry of Security allows the construction of police stations in key tourism destinations, which are then donated to the Ministry of Security to improve security.
The Regional Tourism Offices collaborate with the tourism sector to process the country's quality programmes, such as the Tourism Declaration and the Certificate for Sustainable Tourism, tourist transportation certificates, and tourist guide credentials. Regional Tourism Offices also collaborate to promote their regions internationally.
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 2026 is USD 48.3 million, increasing more than USD 3 million compared to 2025.
Source: OECD, adapted from Costa Rican Tourism Institute, 2026.
The National Tourism Plan 2022-27 continues to guide the development of tourism in Costa Rica with a vision to equitably distribute the benefits, so all Costa Ricans enjoy an improved quality of life. It aims to ensure that tourism continues to be a leading economic sector while leveraging and protecting Costa Rica’s natural resources.
The Plan is complemented by the Plans of the Comprehensive Management of Tourist Destinations Programme. The Programme focuses on working in Tourism Development Centers to unite local actors, including from Chambers of Tourism, ministries of Environment and Culture, Development Associations, local organisations, municipalities and tourism entrepreneurs, to develop tourism management at the destination level for all 33 destinations. This seeks to create a support structure to build a desirable future for tourism based on the local vision. It will also mandate that destinations comply with key success factors to achieve its vision of the future and propose at least three investment projects. Monitoring will be undertaken by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
Costa Rica is implementing some key initiatives to address the policy priorities set out in these plans:
To better manage tourism and tourist flows in destinations. Costa Rica is seeking to create a methodology to measure the ‘maximum acceptable capacity of tourists’ in destinations, both Costa Rica as a whole and each of the 33 tourism development centres, as part of the updating process of the National Tourism Plan (2027-2032).
To make the social impact of tourism more visible, the Tourism Social Progress Index was updated in 2024. Following the update of the Index, the results were disseminated within the government, including at Cabinet level, to enable greater collaboration and generate policies to improve the indicators in areas where opportunities have been identified (looking for tailored actions).
The improve access to tourism for people with financial limitations and those belonging to groups with disabilities, the Tourism for All programme continues to be implemented (see box below). This programme has now been in operation for two and a half years and has supported more than 3 750 tourists in co-operation with the tourism sector. It was recognised in the Ninth Edition of the Sustainable and Social Tourism Summit and in the 2026 FITUR by Fitur 4All.
To strengthen the national tourism product, a Tourism Product Development Department has been established within the Ministry of Tourism. This team will provide technical guidance and strategic support to the private sector to help mitigate risks and ensure new products align with national tourism policy and strategic vision, starting with wellness tourism.
To improve tourism infrastructure, Costa Rica is investing in specific projects including building a fully equipped visitor centre in Tenorio National Park and agreements to build tourist docks and make improvements to national parks.
The ‘Tourism for All’ programme aims to provide direct, personal, and barrier-free access for all people with financial limitations and those belonging to groups with disabilities to discover Costa Rica. Since its launch in June 2023, the programme has allowed more than 3 750 people to visit tourist destinations across Costa Rica. In addition, 50 letters of understanding were signed with organisations, foundations, tourism chambers and companies to further spread the benefits of the programme, with nearly 100 trips that have been taken with a wide variety of groups. Each journey has offered unique perspectives and valuable lesson from the social tourism perspective.
The Costa Rican Tourism Institute is responsible for ensuring compliance with this law, including the ongoing promotion and support for the implementation of the law through new programmes, investment and horizontal and vertical government co-operation.
The High-Level Council created by the law is working on the regulations and has agreed to meet at least once a month. The Council will analyse innovative topics such as the granting of incentives for organisations dedicated to the delivery of social tourism programmes for all people.
The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has led to the proposal to adopt regenerative tourism as a public policy. The aim of regenerative tourism is to actively restore, revitalise, and improve tourism destinations, their ecosystems, and their communities. It transforms the visitor into a conscious agent of change, engaged in environmental healing, community empowerment, and cultural preservation. Five foundational pillars have been identified to support this vision, including: active environmental restoration; social impact and community empowerment; active cultural preservation; deep connection and transformative experiences; and continuous resilience.
Costa Rica also seeks to lead by example in international fora. It has assumed multiple leadership positions including the presidency of the UN Tourism Commission on Tourism and the International Organisation for Social Tourism, and vice-presidencies of the Inter-American Commission on Tourism and the UN Tourism Statistics Committee.