Costa Rica closed the year 2022 with the entry by air, land and sea of 2,349,537 tourists, that is, more than one million passengers than in 2021, of which 90% (2,117,960) arrived by way area.
This means that the country recovered 3 out of 4 tourists (75%) of the pre-pandemic year, while all international airports recorded the arrival of 2,117,960 tourists from January to December.
The entry figure of 2.3 million tourists is consistent with the scenarios provided by the ICT published in the monthly reports throughout last year and is higher than the growth scenario for 2022 included in the National Tourism Plan 2022- 2027, which had been 2,023,781 tourists for all air, land and sea terminals.
“These numbers are the extraordinary result of the joint effort of public sector actors and private sector actors. These are encouraging data that give us the impetus to get as close as possible in 2023 to equaling the tourism indicators that the country had before the pandemic. We have our sights set on the growth of visitation, but also of foreign exchange, of the quality of life in our tourist communities, of the quality of service, and we do it in communion with the sustainability for which we are recognized worldwide," he said. William Rodríguez, Minister of Tourism.
From the United States, our main issuing market, 1,252,469 tourists entered by air, close to 98% of the number that visited us in 2019. All the North American airlines that operated in Costa Rica before the pandemic and not only new operations but also frequencies have been added. Another striking fact is that the Canadian market, with 171,033 tourists, increased by 121,116 tourists compared to 2021.
410,832 tourists arrived from Europe by air, equivalent to 93% of pre-pandemic travelers. The United Kingdom is our first issuer with 70,425 tourists, followed by Germany with 66,716, France with 59,504, Spain with 53,217 and the Netherlands with 28,693 tourists.
The three months of the year 2022 with the highest influx of tourists by all means were December with 260,112 travelers, March with 243,245 and July 222,982.
The Juan Santamaría International Airport received 1,455,928 tourists, recovering 80% of the travelers in 2019, while the Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport accounted for 661,579 tourists, surpassing the figures for 2019 when it registered the arrival of 599,433 people.
Other positive data
The departures of Costa Ricans abroad showed recovery levels: 934,320 Costa Ricans traveled during the previous year, which represents 82% of the values registered in 2019. The destinations chosen by region were Central America, North America and Europe.
Likewise, according to the data available in the ICT, the country will continue with the same growth momentum shown in the last quarter of the year. For example, the seats scheduled for January 2023 are 406,701 and for February 373,392; This is significant, since the number of arrivals by air is directly linked to the number of plane seats available to travel to the country.
Another encouraging piece of data is that of the indicators of satisfaction with the destination (accommodation, product, safety, climate and seasonality indices) with values above 85 points.
Regarding employment estimates, during 2022 in tourist activities to attend to accommodation, food, transportation and recreational activities for tourists, figures very similar to the hiring levels of 2019 were reached (on average close to 171,000 people). no doubt thanks to joint work with businessmen from the private Costa Rican tourism sector.