Costa Rica plans to reopen to US tourists from September onwards, shortly after readmitting travellers flying from a handful of countries deemed “low risk”.
The central American country opened to travellers from select points of origin – including the European Union (Schengen), Canada, and the UK on 1 August 2020. Altogether, 44 countries are now permitted to fly to Costa Rica.
However, at present, local data shows that there is just one international flight operating into the country, a Lufthansa service from Frankfurt.
With tourists from the US making up a large percentage of travellers touching down in the capital, San José, the government hopes that the move will stimulate the country’s hard-hit tourism sector – which accounts for 8.2 per cent of the national GDP.
However, with coronavirus cases (and community transmission) on the rise within much of the US, only residents of six states within the US will have permission to land in Costa Rica – and a driver’s licence will be required on arrival.
Those states are:
- New York;
- New Jersey;
- New Hampshire;
- Maine;
- Vermont; and
- Connecticut.
“We are minimising our epidemiological risk,” explained Costa Rica’s Tourism Minister, Gustavo Segura.
