Professional surfing returns to Costa Rica’s international stage today as the Garabito Surf City PRO 2026 gets underway at Playa Hermosa, bringing an official World Surf League competition back to the country for the first time in nearly eight years. The four-day competition runs from August 13 through August 16 at the well-known surf beach just south of Jacó. Surfers from 19 countries are expected to compete, including 23 representing Costa Rica.
The event features men’s and women’s QS 2000 competition. The Qualifying Series is part of the World Surf League system in which professional surfers earn ranking points as they try to move into higher levels of international competition. Winners at Playa Hermosa can earn up to 2,000 ranking points.
For Costa Rica, however, the tournament is about more than results in the water. Tourism officials and local organizers see the return of the WSL as another opportunity to promote the Central Pacific coast as an international surf destination and bring visitors to hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Garabito.
Surfing is already an important part of Costa Rica’s tourism industry. Figures provided by the Costa Rican Tourism Board indicate that about 17% of the more than 2.6 million travelers who arrive in the country by air each year surf during their visit.
Playa Hermosa is particularly well positioned to benefit. The beach was approved as a World Surfing Reserve in 2020 and formally dedicated in 2022, becoming the first such reserve in Central America. Save The Waves Coalition selected it because of its consistent waves, biodiversity, surf culture and community support for conservation.
A 2021 study commissioned through Save The Waves estimated that surfing directly contributed about $14 million annually to the Playa Hermosa economy, illustrating how much the sport already matters to local businesses.
This week’s tournament also comes as Garabito joins the World Surf Cities Network, an international group of destinations where surfing plays a significant role in tourism, employment and local culture. Garabito is now listed alongside destinations in countries including Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and France.
Costa Rica’s 23-member contingent includes two of our best-known professional surfers, Carlos “Cali” Muñoz and Leilani McGonagle, along with Darshan Antequera, Axel Castro, Jair Pérez, Ethan Hollander, Tomás Pathenay, Malakai Martínez and several younger competitors. McGonagle is also part of a women’s field that includes American Talia Swindal, Argentina’s Victoria Muñoz Larreta, Peru’s Brianna Barthelmess and U.S. surfers Ella McCaffray, Remy Todd and Zoe Benedetto.
The last official WSL event held in Costa Rica was the Essential Costa Rica Surf Pro at Jacó in October 2018. Muñoz won the men’s competition that year, while Germany’s Rachel Presti took the women’s title. Playa Hermosa has hosted major international surfing before, including the 2009 ISA World Surfing Games, but this will be the first time the beach hosts a WSL Qualifying Series event.
For Garabito, the hope is that the benefits continue after the final surfers leave the water Sunday. Local officials have been pushing surfing as a way to attract visitors outside Costa Rica’s traditional peak tourism periods and give the area a more consistent flow of business throughout the year.
With Playa Hermosa’s reputation for powerful, consistent waves and Jacó’s tourism infrastructure only a short drive away, the return of the WSL gives Costa Rica another chance to put one of its most established surf destinations in front of an international audience.
