Costa Rica tourism in its first three months of 2018, a period that was already seen as a milestone in the country’s tourism growth, is now forecast to reach nearly $300 million by the end of 2020.
This was the first time that Costa Rica was able to post a $1 billion profit in a single fiscal year since 2014.
Costa Rica’s tourist sector is estimated to have grown by nearly 40 percent during the period, and the country is also forecast to record $1.8 billion in tourism revenue for the year.
The Costa Rican government said it will increase tourism spending by 10 percent annually, with more than $50 million earmarked for the development of tourist attractions in the Central American country.
According to Costa Rica Tourism Authority (CTUA), the country has already attracted more than 100 million visitors to its national parks and other tourist attractions since 2014, with an average of 6.7 million visits a day.
In the past year, tourism in Costa Rica has grown by 35 percent, with the government projecting that by 2020, the country will have reached $200 billion in revenue.
Tourism has long been a hot-button topic for the Costa Rican political and business elite, and Costa Rica is expected to become the fourth largest tourism destination in Latin America by 2020.
The Costa Rican economy has grown rapidly since the country was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 1994, growing from $3.5 billion in 1994 to $10.6 billion in 2015.
