According to an article published in the Huffington Post, Costa Rica is among the British preferred travel destinations. This has a lot to do with the fact that UK residents no longer need to fly via Miami or Madrid, British Airways now offers a direct flight from London to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica received a total 2.665.000 tourists in 2015 according to the Costa Rican tourism board and the United States continues to be the main market (close to 700,000 visitors originate from this country); yet, UK travel board reports that close to 69,000 British nationals visited Costa Rica in 2015, and according to the Costa Rican tourism board that number had already increased by a 60.8% just in the first semester of 2016.

Visitors that came to the country in the first semester of 2016 left the country $1.242 million dollars a record number for the last 16 years.  The opening of new projects in Guanacaste, the enlargement of the Liberia Airport and the numerous new airlines flying to Costa Rica are also considered determinant factors in the growth of tourism in the country. There are certainly a lot of reasons to visit this beautiful country:  the weather for instance as many foreigners want to escape the extreme cold of the winter season, the beautiful beaches and breathtaking nature are without a doubt the main attractions. The Costa Rican National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) has mentioned that the numbers for 2016 continue to show growth despite the fact that Costa Rica is an expensive destination to visit.

Tourism continues to be one of the main economic activities for Costa Rica and the government would be wise in finding a way to fix some of the problems that affect this industry, bad roads, heavy traffic, limited airport infrastructure and high prices are among the main limitations reported by workers in the tourism industry, limitations that we all have experienced when vacationing in Costa Rica.