214 countries and territories189 of 193 UN membersmonthly to 2026-09back to 1926
Monthly arrivals, nights, spend since 2019, with 5 worked statistics. Latest 2026-09, 1 month behind.
Tourist arrivals in Costa Rica reached 118,888 in September 2026, down 2.4% on the year and at 74.2% of the same month in 2019. The figure was 5.4% below the average of the three years before and followed August's 189,772, which was down 5.1% on the year. May and July each ran ahead of their 2025 counterparts, well below the record March 2026 high of 379,818.
Regional rivals painted a mixed picture. Panama grew 14.2% on the year in June 2026 and Honduras was up 8.6% in October 2025, while Colombia fell 16.4% in June 2026 and Peru dropped 7.2% in the same month. Bahamas edged up 1.6% in August 2026, and Puerto Rico stood 6.1% higher in April 2015. Costa Rica's shared markets of the United States, Mexico and Spain overlapped with those of Colombia and Peru.
The wider backdrop included a world jet fuel price of $4.39 a gallon in September 2026, up 110.1% on the year, alongside a 3.3% economic growth projection for 2026. The year to date stood 4.8% above the same months a year before, with two consecutive monthly falls recorded. Forecasts pointed to a 5.8% rise in October 2026, followed by declines of 4.3% in November and 8.4% in December.
At a glance
| Latest month | September 2026 |
| Tourist arrivals | 118,888 |
| On a year | -2.4% |
| Against September 2019 | 74.2% |
| Year to date, on a year | +4.8% |
| Growth rank in Americas | 3 of 3 |
| Best month on record | March 2026 |
| Trust grade | A, 100 |
GET /v1/countries/CR/briefAnalystInternational tourist arrivals to Costa Rica, and the change on a year
Costa Rica against its rivals
GET /v1/compare?country=CRDeveloper| Country | Latest | Figure | On a year | Vs 2019 | Year to date | Rivalry with Costa Rica |
|---|
The last six months
| Month | Tourist arrivals | On a year | Vs 2019 | Vs 3-year average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 118,888 | -2.4% | 74.2% | -5.4% |
| Aug 2026 | 189,772 | -5.1% | 84.2% | -4.7% |
| Jul 2026 | 268,064 | +2.3% | 99.5% | +5.0% |
| Jun 2026 | 230,700 | -0.8% | 92.8% | -0.9% |
| May 2026 | 213,089 | +3.5% | 100.7% | +4.8% |
| Apr 2026 | 256,030 | +1.3% | 97.7% | +4.9% |
The next three months
Each country's own model, remade every night as figures arrive, with an 80% range. The first month is free to see; the rest come with Intel.
Who Costa Rica competes with for visitors
Ranked by how much of their visitors come from the same markets, how alike their seasons are, and how close they are in size. Open any of them to see its own rivals.
Rivalry is worked out from the figures each destination publishes and is remade every day. As data: /v1/countries/CR/rivals, on Developer and up.
Measures held
What is held for Costa Rica
| Measure | Frequency | Breakdown | Series | From | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrivals | Monthly | Total | 1 | 2019-01 | 2026-09 |
| Arrivals | Monthly | Origin | 80 | 2025-01 | 2026-09 |
| Arrivals | Annual | Total | 2 | 2008 | 2024 |
| Nights | Annual | Total | 7 | 2008 | 2024 |
| Spend | Quarterly | Total | 8 | 1999-Q1 | 2026-Q2 |
| Spend | Quarterly | Purpose | 2 | 1999-Q1 | 2026-Q2 |
| Spend | Annual | Total | 8 | 1977 | 2025 |
| Spend | Annual | Purpose | 2 | 1977 | 2025 |
| Departures | Annual | Total | 6 | 2008 | 2024 |
Monthly arrivals: 100.0% of months held since 2019, none missing. See every month
Get Costa Rica in one call
# every arrivals month, Developer plan curl "https://api.tourismapi.com/v1/arrivals?country=CR" \ -H "X-API-Key: $TOURISM_API_KEY" # the whole country in one file, Intel plan curl -o cr.csv "https://api.tourismapi.com/v1/bulk/CR.csv" \ -H "X-API-Key: $TOURISM_API_KEY"