Q COSTARICA — Costa Rica closed May 2026 with a new all-time record for air arrivals, receiving 1,390,842 international tourists, a 9.4% increase compared to the previous year, according to data from the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT)—Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
However, behind this positive figure lies a worrying trend: the U.S. market is slowing growth at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in San José.
In May, San Jose’s airport registered 126,053 arrivals, a 1.4% year-over-year decrease, driven primarily by a 7.3% drop in tourists from the United States, which dragged down the entire North American market to a 4.7% decline at that terminal.
The counterweight came from Europe, which consolidated its position as the main driver of growth at San José with a 16.3% increase in May. The largest increases came from Germany (+30.2%), Italy (+29.2%), Poland (+20.8%), the Netherlands (+18.8%), and the United Kingdom (+13.1%). Canada also contributed with a 16.2% increase.
The situation is different at the Guanacaste Airport (LIR) —Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport—in Liberia, which is consolidating its position as the main driver of air tourism growth in the country.
In May, the Guanacaste airport received 69,430 tourists, a 12.1% increase, and the cumulative total for January-May is 525,751 arrivals, 14.6% more than in 2015.
Growth in Guanacaste is driven almost entirely by the North American market, which accounts for 97% of the passengers at that terminal. Canada leads with a cumulative increase of 33.4%, while the United States grew by 10.7%, offsetting the decline recorded in San José.