The first half of the year saw the entry of 1,285,599 visitors, up 7.3% compared to the same period in 2011.
The airports have the largest number of admissions, 856,672, followed by arrivals by land, 422,316, according to the Directorate General of Immigration.
"While most of the revenue continues to be reported by Juan Santamaria International Airport (655,530 tourists) what stands out is a growth of 26% in the number of tourist arrivals at Daniel Oduber in Liberia, with respect to 2011. 'Nearly 70% of international arrivals were by air. If a comparison is made by months in the years 2011-2102 you can see that there is constant growth ', said a report from the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism", according to Elfinancierocr.com.
Visitors to Costa Rica now stay an average of 9.8 nights and spend $954, almost $200 less than in 2009.
Costa Rica's Ministry for Tourism has announced the country's most recent figures on tourism and compares levels before and after the world economic crisis.
Before the crisis, tourists arriving in Costa Rica would stay 11.4 nights, on average, and spend $1,112.
Between January and May, tourism investment in Nicaragua was 5 times higher than the same period of 2008.
Attracted by the benefits obtained through Law 306, also known as Stimulus Law for the Tourism Industry, 10 new projects where approved so far in 2009, 6 of them are hotels.
Raúl Calvet is the president of Calvet and Associates, a company that assists and advices investors developing projects in Nicaragua.
At the close of 2008, tourism activities will have left the country with more than $2 billion in earnings.
This figure exceeds the amount obtained from foreign visitors to Costa Rica during 2007 by almost 10% (some $171 million more). The projections were made despite negative news from the sector. Up to July of this year the amount of flights to Costa Rica had increased by 37%, but this will change with the announcement of cutbacks from several airlines in response to the economic recession in the United States.
The economic slowdown in the United States and the rise in oil prices has not discouraged American tourists from going to Costa Rica.
From January to May nearly a million foreign tourists visited Costa Rica, and about half as many as visited in all of 2007.
More than half of the visitors were from the United States and 17 percent from Europe.