As a result of the global economic crisis many countries populations were not only in shock from the mistakes of the various financial sectors but also not so financially stable. In 2009 this had an effect even on Central Americas most prominent tourist market, Costa Rica that suffered an 8 percent fall in tourism. The years before had seen sustained growth that seemed to be an irrevocable trend. A year on the early returns to Costa Rica shows a clear improvement in tourism. Up to July 2010 there has been a 9.6 percent increase, which is better than had been predicted from experts in Costa Rica’s National Tourism Chamber and the World Tourism Organization, which only forecast 3–5 percent growth in the same year.
The projections are that Costa Rica will exceed the two million annual visitor benchmark by the end of 2010 and expectations to exceed that number 2014 by 2.5 million.
Businesses within this sector such as tour companies, vacation rentals, car hire and even Costa Rica real estate sales are all seeing the signs of growth.