Costa Rica welcomed more visitors by air in the first half of 2026 than in any comparable period on record, even as June delivered the first monthly decline the sector has seen since last autumn, according to figures released by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT).
Between January and June, 1,605,360 travelers arrived by air, a 7.8 percent increase over the same six months of 2025, when the country logged 1,489,008 air arrivals. Counting every point of entry — air, land and sea — Costa Rica received 1,733,596 international visitors, with roughly 92 percent arriving by plane. The ICT identified air travel as the main driver of the first-half result.
Beneath the record, June told a more cautious story. Costa Rica registered 214,518 air arrivals during the month, down 1.2 percent from the 217,120 recorded in June 2025. It was the first year-on-year monthly drop after eight consecutive months of growth, and it landed just as the new administration’s tourism team was preparing its approach to the slower second half of the year.
North America remained the engine of Costa Rican tourism, accounting for three of every four visitors who arrived by air. The region sent 1,210,654 travelers in the first six months, an 8.1 percent rise. The United States stayed the single largest market with 966,661 arrivals, up 4.9 percent, while Canada posted the sharpest growth of any major market, climbing 26.5 percent to 197,528 visitors. Mexico added 46,465 travelers, an increase of 8.4 percent.
Europe also expanded, contributing 236,462 arrivals over the half, 9.7 percent more than a year earlier. Germany led the continent with 40,916 visitors, up 9.8 percent, followed closely by France with 40,178, up 4.0 percent. The steepest percentage gains came from Spain, up 16.8 percent to 24,910 arrivals, and the Netherlands, up 18.6 percent to 16,380. Switzerland contributed 11,875 travelers, a rise of 8.3 percent. The United Kingdom was the only European market to slip, easing 0.2 percent to 36,263 visitors.
Marcos Borges, executive president of the ICT, described the first-half results as positive but urged restraint heading into the rest of 2026. He said the institute received the numbers with satisfaction while remaining watchful of the international climate and shifting geopolitical conditions as the second semester begins, and he pointed to higher aircraft fuel costs among the pressures weighing on the outlook. Borges said the ICT would keep promoting the country in its main source markets, pursue new air connections and work with private operators to broaden and improve the tourism offering.
The June figure lands against an unusually strong start to the year. Costa Rica recorded its best first quarter for air arrivals on record in 2026, a window that coincides with the dry season and the peak of holiday travel from North America and Europe. That momentum has cooled as the calendar moved into the greener, wetter months, a seasonal rhythm familiar to anyone who follows the country’s travel year.
The results also underscore a shift in where visitors land. Growth has increasingly favored the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia, the gateway to Guanacaste’s beaches, even as Juan Santamaría in Alajuela remains the primary point of entry. That divergence has helped draw a wave of new nonstop routes toward Liberia, including United’s coming Washington-Dulles service and additional Southwest connections, as airlines chase demand from the same North American markets that dominate the arrival statistics.
For Costa Rica, whose economy leans heavily on tourism, the mixed signal of a record semester paired with a single soft month is likely to frame the travel/tourism conversation through the rest of the year, as operators watch whether June was a blip or the start of a plateau.
