The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) announced that in the first 4 months of 2025, the number of tourists from the United States and Europe, the two main markets for visitors to Costa Rica, fell compared with the same period in 2024.
According to figures from Roxana Arguedas, head of the ICT’s Statistics Department, 936,709 travelers arrived from the United States in the first 4 months of 2025, 14,902 fewer than the 951,611 in that period of 2024.
The European market, meanwhile, sent 8,107 fewer tourists in the same months, dropping from 150,431 travelers to 142,324.
Even so, the average stay has held at 11.5 nights, and 64.1% stay in a hotel during their trips.
Officials also said tourism in Costa Rica picked up during April, with 10,105 more tourists than in the same period of 2024, a positive change of 4.6%, according to data from the National Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.
Responding to the news of fewer tourists from the top source markets, Tourism Minister William Rodríguez confirmed that, given the kind of destination it is, Costa Rica has no competition in the Americas.
“Costa Rica’s competition for our product isn’t in Central America or Latin America. Our competition is in Asia, the Maldives, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, which are countries with a product similar to ours,” he said.
“None of the Central American countries, and I say this flatly, is our competition,” he added.
Costa Rica currently has connections with 19 countries, through 62 routes, 48 cities, and 30 airlines.
