The Costa Rican Tourism Insitute (ICT) confirmed through a market study that Americans interest in vacationing in the country continues to increase.

While back in 2001 the study showed that 10.2 million Americans showed interest in visiting this country, by 2015 these number almost duplicated reaching 20.2 million interested parties. People that show a strong interest on visiting Costa Rica are defined by the ICT as “best prospects”; out of these best prospects in 2015 only 5.3% (1,077,044) actually materialized their intention, and during 2016 this translated into almost 1.3 million American tourists who traveled to Costa Rica, which makes the USA the main source of foreign visitors to the country.

The numbers indicate that there is plenty of opportunity for growth.

The best prospect for the Costa Rican Tourism Board involves Americans of an average 46-years-of-age and that have an average family income of $109,000.00 a year.

American tourists find Costa Rica as an attractive destination because of its nature, wildlife and outdoors activities. “Over 75% consider strongly that Costa Rica offers unique experiences. Many think of the country as a peaceful and relaxing destination rich in flora and fauna”, details the report.

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute has also run market studies in nine other markets: UK, Germany, France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru. In these countries the number of “best prospects” reached more than 5 million in 2016, and just 5% of that number actually visited the country.

“There is still a long way to go, there has to be an improvement in infrastructure, some of it is already underway.”, commented Mauricio Ventura, minister of Tourism.