National Parks Drive Sustainable Tourism Growth in Costa Rica: What New Updates You Need to Know

Published on February 10, 2026

Costa Rica is known for its wide biodiversity and the protection of its parks. For the tourism sector, in its post-COVID period, it recorded an increase of 1% in 2025. This shows that the recovery of Costa Rica’s tourism is slow as it is experiencing a plateau after a period of rapid recovery. Although nature-based travel has gained interest worldwide, Costa Rica’s nature travel will focus on the long-term use of the parks and not on short-term rapid tourism development. The Costa Rica Tourism Institute has long-term plans for nature-based travel that will utilize the parks to gain tourism.

From the past, Costa Rica’s focus on its national parks has been more on its culture and ecology conservation. Now, it is the focus of its economic and tourism policies. National parks and protected areas will be more integrated into the economic structure of the country. In tourism policies, greater focus will be on protected areas for tourism development. In 2035, Costa Rica aims to increase the number of tourists to 5 million. Currently, the number of tourists to Costa Rica is 2.6 million. In its policies, there is a shift for the first time to a more land-value approach beyond the urban setting, to the protected and conserved areas, both for the sake of tourism development and for the sake of more purposeful conservation. This better management will define the tourism infrastructure, access, movement of tourists, and where visitors interchange.

Recognizing Costa Rica’s unique competitive advantage of its ecological diversity and protected areas, this policy change aims to promote and market its sustainable tourism potential and eco-tourism leadership to the rest of the world.

The Role of National Parks in the Development of Costa Rica’s Tourism

The permanent and protected status of national parks creates a reliable and predictable destination for tourist visits. Even more, national parks act as tourism development boundaries for other areas. Along with the national parks, the retained undeveloped areas surrounding parks provide zones for the development of both tourism-related and residential support services. This results in the creation of sustainable economic corridors that allow for responsible and self-propelled development of tourism areas. Ultimately, national parks and retained areas help to reduce urban sprawl and protect the intrinsic value of Costa Rica’s national parks.

The national parks help to not only control how much and the pace of tourism development the overdeveloped areas provide but also to support tourism demand in underdeveloped areas. In doing so, a model is created that provides the potential for sustainable and balanced growth of tourism and conservation activities.

Private Capital Investment in National Parks

In Costa Rica, private companies have realized the potential of this system and are starting to settle close to the main park corridors. For example, Café Britt, one of the most important multinationals of Costa Rica, has built tourism experience facilities at the Carara National Park, and is also constructing a crocodile skywalk at the Tárcoles River. These are the first signs of the experience-based tourism market and also show confidence in the national tourism strategy. These facilities, unlike mass tourism, are aimed at fostering visitors’ connection with the Costa Rican ecosystem and the country’s policies of Conservational Tourism.

This shift from mass tourism to more personal experiences is in line with the strategy of diversifying the tourism product, in order to protect and conserve biodiversity, while attracting high-value visitors who are looking for these types of experiences.

Manuel Antonio and Carara: Building Blocks for Conservation Corridors

A great example of this new type of thinking can be found in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region, where Manuel Antonio National Park and Carara National Park create a complementary corridor that channels visitor movement across the region. With its international visibility and high visitation rates, Manuel Antonio draws a large number of tourists. In contrast, Carara, with its unique ecological transition between a dry forest and a rainforest, has a lot of room for expansion and greater accessibility. Together, these parks create a conservation corridor that sustains the demand for services, accommodations, and all other businesses related to tourism in the region.

The partnership between Carara and Manuel Antonio also helps in deflecting tourist pressures and preventing the concentration of too many visitors in one place. By funneling visitors across these two parks, Costa Rica can more effectively manage tourist dispersion and place additional demand on the benefited communities in the adjacent areas.

A Change in Course for Sustainable Tourism

Although Costa Rica’s tourism sector registered an increase of 1% in international arrivals in 2023, this sector of the economy still needs enhancement in the most sustainable and thoughtful way possible. Costa Rica has brought its tourism sector back to life with its abundance of national parks and unblemished biodiversity, which allows for a unique, raw tourism experience free of the distractions of urban areas. Costa Rica has a unique competitive advantage by refocusing its tourism sector on its national parks rather than the urban growth that most countries pursue.

By reinventing tourism, Costa Rica has the opportunity to capture a large share of the growing market for sustainable and eco-friendly tourism. Increased investor interest is expected in sustainable developments close to national parks, such as Carara, as long as the national preservation policies remain in place. Sustainable corridors are always connected to the conservation policies.

With a renewed emphasis on national parks and sustainable corridors for the tourism strategy, Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region will experience a surge in growth, with an increased number of tourists, nature, and sustainable tourism. Eco-friendly infrastructure will be developed and connected to the existing infrastructure to provide tourists with convenient access to national parks.