The Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, announced that Costa Rica will be ready to open land borders as of April 5th for tourism purposes.
The country reopened its air and sea borders in August 2020. The Costa Rican Tourism Board considers it is ready to proceed with the normal operation of land borders, which also allows European tourists to move freely between Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua, since many of them choose to combine visits to the different countries.
The requirements to enter the country by land are the same as those established for travelers accessing through the airports: completing a health form requested by the Ministry of Health and have national or international health insurance with coverage of at least $50,000.00 USD.
Since the reopening of air and sea borders the country has seen a slight improvement in the tourism sector, however, the number of visitors barely reaches 25% of what it was back in 2019.
“This is an industry that was ready for at least 3.5 million visitors in one year, right now 20-25% hardly allows for a reactivation, but many countries have not even reached 10%”, explained Segura.
Only 0.1% of the foreigners that have visited the country since August 2020 have been diagnosed with Covid-19 while in the country.
The Minister called on national tourists to support small businesses during the upcoming Holy Week while also attending all sanitary protocols.
It was also announced that as of April 1, Manuel Antonio National Park will be reopening every Monday.
“This is another effort of the Government with the goal of supporting the economic reactivation of coastal zones and promoting responsible visitation of National Parks and Wildlife Protected Areas”, explained the Minister of Environment, Andrea Meza.
The government hopes that reopening the park on Mondays will entice visitors to extend their stay in the area. The park will undergo maintenance on Tuesdays and therefore will remain closed that day.
To visit Manuel Antonio National Park you can purchase your ticket online at www.sinac.go.cr, or https://parques.coopealianza.fi.cr or as of April 12th on http://www.sinac.go.cr/ES/resvlinea/Paginas/default.aspx.
(https://news.co.cr/costa-rica-reopens-land-borders-on-april-5/82791/)
