March sees highest visitor numbers since borders reopened

• A total of 89,263 tourists entered the country from all ports of entry, the largest number since borders were closed for a five-month period last year at the beginning of the pandemic.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021. With 89,263 international arrivals, March was the busiest month for tourist arrivals to Costa Rica since the gradual reopening of borders that began last August.

This is the first time that tourist arrivals from all ports of entry have reached this level since March 2020, when the COVID-19 health crisis began and borders were closed for nearly five months.

According to information from the General Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners analyzed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), 66,505 international arrivals (74.5% of the total) were from North America, of whom 62,370 came from the United States, 2,706 from Mexico and 1,429 from Canada.

In addition, 14,183 tourists arrived from Europe, 3,382 from Central America, 3,881 from South America and 284 from the Caribbean.

“These numbers are very uplifting given the global situation and the difficulties that the tourism sector is facing in its recovery,” said Gustavo J. Segura, the Minister of Tourism. “In order to keep these numbers where they are and ensure that they grow, it is vitally important that we commit to following public health protocols. That is how we protect the progress made in the reactivation of the tourism industry and the country.”

In January 2021, 62,200 tourists arrived from all ports of entry, while that number was 55,252 in February. In the year’s first quarter, there were a total of 206,715 arrivals.

Air arrivals represented the lion’s share of entries to Costa Rica, with 88,391 of the 89,263 arrivals recorded in March.

Juan Santamaría International Airport received 62,017 international arrivals, while Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, in Guanacaste, welcomed 26,374 tourists. These figures were the highest since March 2020 in both airports.