QCOSTARICA – The United States improved the recommendation for travel to Costa Rica, in relation to the impact of covid-19, reported the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Costa Rican tourism board, that highlighted the news especially because it occurred at the beginning of the high tourist season, December to April.
The new recommendation was issued by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Department of State.
According to the travel advisory, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3Travel Health Notice for Costa Rica due to COVID-19, indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. Your risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorized vaccine. Before planning any international travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommendations for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.” Visit the Embassy’s COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in Costa Rica.
The new travel advisory is issued as travelers from North America leave their countries in the winter to travel a tropical area.
“Today we have received very pleasant news from the authorities of the United States government, by improving the advisory level for American travelers to Costa Rica to level three,” said the Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, on November 30, his last day at the post.
“There is no doubt that this is the result of the good numbers in the handling of the pandemic carried out by Costa Rica. This announcement should be an incentive not to lower our guard and keep us on the road to recovery as a safe destination for world travelers,” added Segura, who was in charge of facing the crisis in the tourism sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic and during his tenure, the recovery of most of the airlines that arrived in the country before the pandemic stands out.
Segura resigned to take advantage of an “unbeatable opportunity for his professional development” in the private sector.
Change in advisory
The change in the travel advisory is expected to further push the recovery in the number of US travelers to Costa Rica.
In the first 10 months of the year (January to October), arrivals by air of U.S. citizens represented 61% of the numbers of the same prepandemic period, while in general, taking into account all origins, the sum was only 47 % of the total.
Between January and October, a total of 647,765 Americans entered Costa Rica by plane, according to data provided by the ICT.