Costa Rica Tops 2 Million Tourists as Guanacaste Growth Surges

SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA — Costa Rica passed two million international tourist arrivals through July, with Guanacaste's airport growing far faster than the country's main gateway.

Costa Rica received 2,001,660 international tourists between January and July 2026, a 6.4% increase from 1,882,024 during the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, or ICT.

The national milestone masks a more revealing geographic pattern. Tourist arrivals through Guanacaste Airport, officially Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, climbed to 698,079 in the first seven months of the year, up 13.3% from 616,120 in 2025. By comparison, Juan Santamaría International Airport recorded 1,154,732 tourists, a more modest 3.6% increase.

A CRN Times calculation using the ICT figures shows that Guanacaste Airport added 81,959 tourists year over year. That increase alone is equivalent to about 68.5% of Costa Rica's net gain of 119,636 international visitors across all entry routes.

The finding makes Guanacaste the clearest measurable regional signal behind Costa Rica's stronger tourism year so far. It does not, however, mean that every visitor landing there stayed in Guanacaste, nor do the national migration figures identify individual hotels, beaches or towns as the final destination of each traveler.

Guanacaste is gaining faster than the main San José gateway

Air travel is doing most of the work. Costa Rica registered 1,853,430 tourist arrivals by air through July, compared with 1,731,416 a year earlier, a 7% increase.

At Guanacaste Airport, North America overwhelmingly dominates the international market. The airport received 676,714 visitors from North America in the first seven months of 2026, including 530,250 from the United States and 145,351 from Canada. Overall arrivals through the Guanacaste gateway were up 13.3%, while Canadian arrivals there increased 31% and U.S. arrivals 10% from the comparable 2025 period.

That difference matters for travelers because Liberia, where the airport is located, provides direct access to one of Costa Rica's most developed tourism regions. The ICT identifies Papagayo, El Coco, Flamingo, Conchal and Tamarindo as important tourism development centers in northern Guanacaste, with Sámara serving as a major center farther south.

For visitors planning a beach-focused trip, that makes the Guanacaste airport statistics particularly relevant. The region combines Pacific beaches with protected areas and volcanic landscapes, while the official tourism site highlights Tamarindo, Rincón de la Vieja National Park, Sámara and other attractions among its principal visitor draws.

Costa Rica has also moved back above its pre-pandemic benchmark

The January-July total is notable for another reason. Costa Rica recorded 1,995,339 international tourists during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic disrupted global travel. The 2026 total is about 0.3% higher than that 2019 benchmark.

It is also 3.7% above January-July 2024, when arrivals totaled 1,929,834.

The rebound is not uniform across every market or point of entry. At Juan Santamaría Airport, for example, U.S. arrivals for the seven-month period were virtually flat year over year, even as Canadian traffic increased. At Guanacaste Airport, both markets posted stronger gains.

That contrast suggests that the composition of Costa Rica's tourism growth is changing as well as its scale.

What travelers should know before choosing a destination

The arrival data can reliably show where tourists enter Costa Rica, but not exactly where they spend their vacations. That distinction is important when comparing Guanacaste with other major visitor centers such as La Fortuna, Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, the Caribbean coast or the southern Pacific.

Those areas remain significant parts of Costa Rica's tourism map. SINAC's full-year 2025 statistics, for example, recorded Manuel Antonio National Park as the country's most visited protected area, with 530,277 visits. Volcán Arenal recorded 143,256, Volcán Tenorio 177,579, Tortuguero 201,298 and Marino Ballena 223,686. Those figures measure visits to protected areas rather than international tourist arrivals and therefore should not be used as proof that those destinations caused the 2026 national increase.

For a traveler deciding between gateways, the 2026 numbers provide a clearer practical distinction. Guanacaste Airport is positioned for the northwestern Pacific beach corridor and destinations around Liberia, Papagayo, Tamarindo, Flamingo, Conchal and Sámara. Juan Santamaría remains the larger gateway overall and provides the main access point for itineraries beginning around the Central Valley or continuing toward other regions.

What CRN Times verified

CRN Times reviewed the ICT's July 2026 international-arrivals tables, which are compiled using migration data from Costa Rica's official entry points. The underlying record describes passport scanning at migratory posts as the collection method.

The tables confirm 2,001,660 total international tourist arrivals through July, 1,853,430 arriving by air, 698,079 through Guanacaste Airport, and 1,154,732 through Juan Santamaría. The comparison with 2025 also confirms that Guanacaste's 13.3% growth substantially outpaced the 3.6% increase at Juan Santamaría.

What the data do not establish is that a specific resort town, national park or beach generated a defined share of Costa Rica's national increase. Destination-level claims would require separate 2026 evidence such as lodging statistics, park visitation, accommodation occupancy or other tourism-flow records.

That makes the strongest supported conclusion narrower but more useful: Costa Rica's tourism expansion in 2026 is real, and Guanacaste is providing the country's clearest airport-level growth signal.