Despite a US economy that seems to be headed downhill quite quickly, Costa Rica has managed to see an increase in tourism again so far this year. Tourist arrivals alone seem to be averaging between 13% and 15% between our two international airports, our main Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) outside of San Jose and the Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport (LIR) in Guanacaste.

Last year in 2007, Costa Rica saw an 11.5% increase in tourist arrivals over 2006, bringing in a total of 1.9 million international visitors.

As Costa Rica is so heavily dependent on tourism, all eyes have been on the United States and the economy there. So as we’ve been seeing our number of visitors increase, we’ve been sighing a breath of relief — for now.

The Tropical Adventures Foundation isn’t so worried about the big travel agencies as much as we worry about all the families and small communities who would suffer greatly at the loss of tourist traffic and the dollars they bring in with them. We’re hoping things continue to go well.