Even though the Poas Volcano has maintained a relative calm in the past few weeks, the unstable conditions of the same makes the possibility of reopening the National Park remote.

The Poas Volcano, which remains closed since April 13, 2017, was the second most visited National Park in Costa Rica with close to 400 thousand visitors a year, only behind Manuel Antonio National Park.

Lidier Esquivel from the National Emergency Commission said the Park will remain closed for an indefinite time; the volcano is not giving out any alerts or alarms before an eruption, “Before, there were premonitory earthquakes, that would alert us that the system was preparing for an eruption, but not anymore”, stated Esquivel, who explained this is the main reason why it is not possible to reopen the National Park since an eruption without any warnings could directly affect visitors.

The closure of this National Park has had a direct effect in nearby businesses that depended on the visitation of the area, reportedly sales dropped by 71%; in addition, the National System of Areas of Conservation has stopped perceiving millions in income from this Park.

Dr. Mauricio Mora, volcanologist for the National Seismology Network commented that Poas Volcano is right now an open system that presents important degasification and could present an eruption at any given time.

A similar situation occurred with the Turrialba Volcano in 2012 and this park still remains closed 6 years later.

The National System of Areas of Conservation maintains constant vigilance in the area, since there have been reports of groups of tourists that access illegal trails to get close to the Volcano putting their lives at risk.