The Costa Rican government expects the country will generate more than 98% of its electric energy from renewable resources in 2021.

That means Costa Rica will have run on more than 98% clean energy over seven consecutive years, according to data from the National Center for Energy Control (CENCE).

“Once again, Costa Rica is positioned as an example before the world, using clean energy as the basis of the national electricity matrix,” said President Carlos Alvarado.

So far in 2021, 99.98% of Costa Rica’s electric power has come from renewable sources.

Costa Rica has generated 73.39% of its energy from hydropower, 13.84% from geothermal sources, 12.12% from wind and 0.63% ​​from biomass and solar panels. 

“Our electricity matrix is the result of more than 70 years of implementing sustainability and solidarity policies, which promote energy development along with the preservation and recovery of the environment,” said Irene Cañas, president of the Electricity Institute (ICE).

These numbers do not include the fossil-fuel dependent transportation sector, which is responsible for 66% of hydrocarbon consumption and 54% of carbon dioxide emissions in Costa Rica.

However, Costa Rica's decarbonization strategy includes a plan to introduce a modern transportation system in San José that will promote walking and biking, and feature fully electric trains by 2050.

The Costa Rican government has said its clean energy generation — which powers more than 1.5 million homes and 225,000 businesses — has saved the country nearly $500 million over the past 20 years compared to relying on fossil fuels.

“We want to share with the whole world that it is possible to consolidate an energy model based on renewable sources, as well as it will be possible to achieve a decarbonized economy by 2050,” President Alvarado said.

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Establishments requiring vaccination will include: Restaurants, bars, casinos, commercial centers, museums, gyms, hotels, adventure tourism, theaters, sites of worship and sporting events:

Essential services (e.g. supermarkets, pharmacies) are not included in the nationwide vaccine mandate.

As Costa Rica begins mandating the Covid-19 vaccine, it will ease capacity restrictions at most businesses and will begin allowing more mass events with in-person attendance, including concerts and sporting events.

“We have to give time for the people who remain to get their two vaccines,” said President Carlos Alvarado. “As of December 1, there will be no excuse.”

Vaccine status will be verified via a digital form or mobile-phone application that will be made available in November. The QR code will not require an ongoing internet connection, and it can also be printed.

Costa Ricans who got vaccinated abroad can submit a sworn declaration to the Health Ministry in order to receive their QR code. Children under 12 years old will not need a vaccine to enter businesses at this time.

While we’re not quite sure yet how U.S. tourists will be able to demonstrate their vaccination status, Costa Rica’s form will be similar to the European Union’s Digital COVID Certificate. This will permit Costa Rica to easily validate the status of visitors from the EU.

As a reminder: As of October 15, all public-sector employees in Costa Rica will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Private employers can also obligate their employees to be vaccinated.

About 82% of all Costa Ricans ages 12 and older have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose.

We’ll have more updates on these requirements when they’re announced.

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If American runs on Dunkin’, Costa Rica runs on WhatsApp (and also coffee).

And for most of Monday, Ticos had to live without an indispensable part of their daily lives when all of Facebook’s services, including WhatsApp and Instagram, went offline.

This was a worldwide outage but one that impacted Costa Rica more than, say, the United States. In Costa Rica, more than 95% of smartphone owners use WhatsApp.

For Costa Ricans, WhatsApp has replaced text messaging and phone calls because it’s easy-to-use and multi-platform. (Most cell phone providers even offer WhatsApp for free but charge for “regular” calls and texts.)

It’s also crucial for official business: Banks have WhatsApp customer-support numbers; the Judicial Investigation Police collects tips via WhatsApp; the Presidential House communicates with press via WhatsApp.

During several hours on Monday, all of that came to an unexpected halt. Costa Rica survived of course — we could all use a little more time offline, right? — but it served as an uncomfortable reminder of how pervasive WhatsApp is in the country’s daily functions.

WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, has itself been Costa Rica’s most popular social network for more than a decade. Two-thirds of Costa Ricans are active Facebook users; the platform is used as the preferred method of communication by most municipalities and even for the country’s national Covid updates.

As for Instagram, also a Facebook property … well, there are probably plenty of Costa Rican influencers who couldn’t influence quite as much on Monday.

All this to say: Costa Rica relies heavily on a single foreign company — Facebook — for so much of its day-to-day life. The consequences of that were evident Monday.

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Inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution, Costa Rica’s tricolor represents the country’s values: Blue for the sky and opportunities; white for peace; and red for the warmth of Costa Rican people and the bloodshed spilled for freedom.

The national emblem of Costa Rica appears on the flag when it’s used for official purposes. This, too, has meaning: The seven stars represent the seven provinces; volcanoes represent the country’s three mountain ranges; the merchant ships represent cultural and commercial exchange with the world.

And if you look closely at those ships, you’ll notice them flying … the flag of Costa Rica! This makes Costa Rica one of just a few countries in the world with a flag of its flag on its flag1:

Isn’t that neat?

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Costa Rica will mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for all public-sector officials, the Health Ministry announced today. Private sector companies can also legally mandate the vaccine for their employers.

The National Vaccination and Epidemiology Commission approved the mandatory status due to the following criteria:

• The number of Covid-19 cases, including the increased circulation of the Delta variant.

• The mortality of the disease and the high hospital occupancy, which are both impacted to a greater extent by patients who are not vaccinated.

• The slowdown in vaccination rates.

• The importance of maximizing safety in the workplace and reducing pandemic-related work interruptions.

The decree formalizing said mandate will be issued in the coming days, per the Health Ministry.

Costa Rica vaccine mandates are nothing new

Costa Rica has high non-Covid vaccination rates in large part because of existing mandates, and these are supported by law. Per Article 150 in the Ley General de Salud:

Vaccination and revaccination against communicable diseases determined by the Ministry is obligatory. Exceptional cases, for medical reasons, will be authorized only by the corresponding health authority.

Among the mandatory vaccines in Costa Rica are: measles, rubella and mumps (MMR); tuberculosis (BCG); Hepatitis B; influenza; tetanus and diphtheria (DTaP).

Inoculating children in accordance to national guidelines is “an obligation” for parents, according to the Child Welfare Office (PANI). In the most extreme cases, adults can be charged with child endangerment if they don’t adhere to the law.

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Starting in October, Canada’s airlines will finally resume their Costa Rica routes, the Tourism Board (ICT) announced.

Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat all plan their return to Costa Rica by December 2021.

Here are the details:

• WestJet: Returns October 2 with flights between Toronto and Guanacaste, Costa Rica (LIR). The flight will be weekly on Saturdays, increasing to thrice weekly in November. Also in November, it will resume Calgary to LIR flights.

• Air Canada: Returns October 9 with weekly flights between Toronto and Guanacaste, increasing to thrice weekly in November. On November 7, it will add Montreal-LIR flights on Sundays. The Toronto-San José (SJO) flights resume October 13.

• Sunwing: Returns to Guanacaste on November 1 with weekly flights from Toronto and Montreal.

• Air Transat: Returns to Guanacaste in mid-December with weekly flights from Montreal and Toronto.

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Big boost for the high season

The flights should provide a jolt to Costa Rica’s tourism sector as the 2021-22 high season begins.

Canada is historically the second-biggest tourist market for Costa Rica, surpassed only by the United States. In 2019, some 218,932 Canadian visitors entered the country by air, representing more than 9% of all international travelers.

So far in 2021, fewer than 14,000 people have flown to Costa Rica from Canada, a 91% drop compared to 2019.

“The return of Canadian airlines occurs at an ideal time to boost visitation in the last quarter of the year and especially through the gateway to the province of Guanacaste where Canadian tourists mostly enter our country,” said Gustavo Segura, Tourism Minister.

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During an arribada, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles can arrive at the beach over several days in an event unlike virtually anything else.

Per the World Wildlife Fund:

The Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, together with Nancite beach at Santa Rosa National Park, is one of the two most important areas in the world for nesting of the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea).

Once the female turtles have reached a suitable site, the turtles use their back flippers to excavate a nest, leaving behind about 100 leathery eggs, each about the size (and appearance) of a ping-pong ball.

After the eggs are in the sand, the turtles cover up the nest. For good measure, the turtles rock back and forth, making loud thumping sounds as they “dance” over the nest to compact the sand and camouflage it.

About 50 days later, the baby turtles hatch, and a lucky few survive a litany of predators to reach the ocean.

When to see an arribada

The peak season for arribadas is July through December, with September and October typically the busiest months. (The September arribada just started; that was the inspiration for this story.)

Scientists aren’t quite sure what triggers an arribada, but they almost always occur about 10 days before a new moon.

The 2015 incident

In 2015, a mass of tourists at Ostional — some using flash photography and being generally disruptive — prevented many turtles from reaching their nesting sites.

Since then, access to Ostional beach has been restricted during arribadas. Visitors can only enter with a guide who ensure proper protocols are followed. Thankfully, a repeat of the 2015 incident hasn’t occurred since.

Why Ostional is special

Ostional is the only place in the world where it’s legal to harvest turtle eggs. This is a strategy meant to support the local community and involve them in conservation.

Because the first eggs laid during an arribada are typically destroyed by subsequent turtle mothers, residents of Ostional can legally collect and sell a portion.

The income from the turtle eggs helps fund the guards that patrol the beach and drives the local economy.

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The United States has revealed changes to its Covid-related entry requirements that will take effect in November.

Among the new policies announced by Jeffrey Zients, coronavirus response coordinator for President Joe Biden:

• The U.S. will lift Covid travel bans on all air passengers but impose a new vaccine requirement.

• In order to fly to the United States, travelers will have to be fully vaccinated and must have tested negative for Covid-19 with a sample taken within three days.

• U.S. Americans who are not fully vaccinated will still be able to fly to the U.S., but only if they test negative within a day of travel.

The new approach will take effect in “early November,” Zients said, and has been applauded by European countries and airline groups that have endured lengthy bans on non-U.S. citizens.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he’s “delighted” by the news, explaining it’s “a fantastic boost for business and trade, and great that family and friends on both sides of the pond can be reunited.”

Impacts on Costa Rica

Because the United States never banned travelers from Costa Rica, the new policies shouldn’t have a drastic impact here.

• For vaccinated U.S. citizens, this changes nothing: They can visit Costa Rica without a Covid test (and without insurance), but they’ll need a Covid-19 test within three days of flying back to the U.S.

• For unvaccinated U.S. citizens, this changes little: They can enter Costa Rica without a Covid test (but must purchase travel health insurance). They’ll need a Covid-19 test within one day of flying back to the U.S., but rapid tests are readily available at both Costa Rica airports.

• This may have a bigger impact on Costa Rican citizens and residents, since the Health Ministry has an inefficient process for providing documented proof of vaccination. It’s also unclear whether the U.S. will welcome foreigners who were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is widely used in Costa Rica (and elsewhere) but hasn’t been authorized in the United States.

All U.S. airlines have resumed service to Costa Rica, and these policies won’t ruin the 2021-22 tourism high season. But any shakeups are worth keeping an eye on — especially since the United States is Costa Rica’s most important market for visitors.

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Five-hundred drones depicted Costa Rica and its national symbols in the skies above San José:

The spectacle was the first of its kind in Costa Rica, according to Intel, which organized the show. The high-tech performance was the much-anticipated highlight of a two-hour independence celebration at the National Stadium in La Sabana.

Watch the entire event below:

Click the hyperlinked text to jump right to the memorable moments:

• The National Anthem.

• A speech by President Carlos Alvarado.

• A marching band parade.

• A series of theatrical performances.

• The drone light show.

• The fireworks finale.

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Today, Costa Rica celebrates its bicentennial — 200 years of independence. It’s a joyous day across the country, as Ticos honor freedom, democracy and a culture of peace.

On Tuesday night, the Central American independence torch finished its journey from Guatemala to Cartago. At Costa Rica’s colonial capital, a cauldron now glows with the flame of freedom:

Costa Rica faces many of the same challenges today as during its centennial. In 1921, the country was enduring dual crises: an economic one, product of World War I, and a health emergency caused by the influenza pandemic.

At its bicentennial, Costa Rica shoulders similar difficulties provoked by Covid-19. In that context, today’s commemorations will be quite muted. Most businesses will remain open, and cultural events will held virtually.

But no matter how we celebrate, Independence Day provides a moment for all Costa Ricans to reflect on what the nation has achieved and the challenges that remain.

We hope you start your morning with gallo pinto, experience an emotion that can only be described as “Pura Vida,” and end your day with a cold Imperial, Pilsen, Ron Centenario or tropical smoothie.

Happy 200th, Costa Rica. ¡Vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz!

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Costa Rica will celebrate its 200th birthday on Wednesday, September 15.

But if you had been living in Costa Rica on September 15, 1821, you wouldn’t have heard shouts of independence for nearly a month. Word that Central America had declared its independence from Spain didn’t arrive to Cartago — the colonial capital — until October 13.

And it took several more weeks for the rest of Costa Rica’s cities to ratify the act of independence. (News traveled slower in the days before daily email newsletters.)

Even then, Costa Rica didn’t exist in the form we know today. Though it had its own government, it had no permanent capital and aligned itself within the Mexican Empire.

This dissonance led to a short civil war in 1823. A Republican victory assured Costa Rica would break from Mexico … but instead of full independence, it became part of the Federal Republic of Central America, a singular sovereign state.

By 1840, the Republic of Central America had dissolved, allowing for all members to establish their own republics. Costa Rica briefly became the “Free State of Costa Rica” until 1848, when a reformed constitution officially (and finally!) established the Republic of Costa Rica.

So when is Costa Rica’s Independence Day? As we’ve seen, independence is messy business. September 15, 1821, is as a good a date as any.

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Avianca recently announced six new international routes to Costa Rica, and this week the Colombia-based airline offered more details about some of those flights.

On December 1, Avianca will launch daily nonstops from the San José area (SJO) to Los Angeles and New York in the United States. The routes will operate as follows:

• To New York: Daily starting December 1. Departs SJO at 5:10 p.m. and lands in New York (JFK) at 11:10 p.m. Returns the following day at 1:20 a.m., landing at 5:45 a.m.

• To Los Angeles: Daily starting December 1. Departs SJO at 5:25 p.m. and lands in Los Angeles (LAX) at 9:45 p.m. Returns at 11:10 p.m., landing at 6:50 a.m. (+1 day).

Avianca’s daily flights between SJO and Panama City (PTY) will also resume on December 1, the airline said in a press release.

“Central America and the United States are very important to Avianca,” said David Alemán, Avianca Director for Central and South America.

“Boosting point-to-point connectivity between these destinations is key for us, since in this way we respond to the requests of our customers who increasingly choose direct route options at competitive prices and, of course, our airline is at the forefront to satisfy these needs.”

Avianca’s other new routes from SJO will be to:

• Cali and Medellín, Colombia.

• Mexico City.

• Managua, Nicaragua.

The airline hasn’t revealed further details about those flights, though service is expected to begin in 2022.

“The offer of direct connectivity from Costa Rica is essential, and that strengthens our expansion plans from the country,” Alemán said when those routes were announced.

Currently, Avianca offers nonstop flights between the San José area and Bogotá, Guatemala, El Salvador and Miami. The Miami route is new service that began in July of this year.

Avianca Costa Rica S.A., a subsidiary of Avianca, is the last remaining vestige of LACSA, Costa Rica’s old national airline.

Tourism is one of Costa Rica’s principal economic drivers. Before the pandemic, it contributed to 8.2% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and created 9% of the nation’s jobs, according to the Tourism Board.

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“Every day, inter-hospital transfers of patients from across the country are being denied” because of a lack of available beds, the CCSS said Monday.

Let’s look at how the pandemic is evolving in Costa Rica:

New cases are trending up

After spiking to over 2,500 new cases per day in May, the daily tally of new cases steadily dropped until the end of July.

On July 20, Costa Rican authorities first detected the Delta variant in Costa Rica. New cases have been spiking ever since:

The below graph shows how the average number of new cases is rising, even though the amount of testing has remained consistent:

Hospitalizations are spiking 

Of course, the most important statistics of all: How many people are ending up in the hospital with Covid-19, and how many people are dying? 

Hospitalizations surged in late May and early June, then began trending in the right direction until early August. Since then, though, the number of Covid-19 patients requiring care has spiked:

The CCSS says its hospitals are admitting a patient with Covid-19 every nine minutes.

… but deaths aren’t rising as quickly

While the average number of daily deaths related to Covid-19 is climbing, it hasn’t ballooned as quickly as it did in May:

The Health Ministry says this is a result of vaccines. Unfortunately, public data Costa Rica shares doesn’t differentiate between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

In 2021 alone, more than 3,375 people in Costa Rica have died of causes related to Covid-19. Thousands of others have been hospitalized and may suffer long-term health effects.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica has generally relaxed measures while pushing for herd immunity. Unfortunately, the highly transmissible delta variant makes reaching herd immunity difficult, and so far less than 25% of Costa Ricans are fully vaccinated.

I have no answers — I’m just a guy with a few spreadsheets and a blog. Hopefully, the next update in a few weeks will be more encouraging.

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When Sherman Güity lost part of his left leg after a traffic accident in 2017, he vowed to return to the track and become Costa Rica’s best paralympic athlete.

On Saturday, the Tico achieved that goal: Days after earning silver in the men’s 100 meters, Güity set a new Paralympic record and won gold in the 200 meters in Tokyo.

Güity’s time of 21.43 seconds edged Felix Streng (Germany) and Jarryd Wallace (USA) for the top spot on the podium:

“I won gold!” Güity posted on social media after the result. “The road has not been easy, but I did it. I accomplished my dream and the promise I made after my accident.”

“Sherman, you flew!” said President Carlos Alvarado. “It fills us with deep pride and satisfaction to see you with the Costa Rican flag. We are waiting for you with your two Paralympic medals!”

Güity’s silver and gold at Tokyo 2020 are Costa Rica’s only two Paralympics medals. Güity joins Claudia Poll as the only Ticos to win gold at an Olympics.

It was a result years in the making for Güity, considered a promising, up-and-coming sprinter before the August 2017 motorcycle accident. The Limón native began training in parathletics the following year and soon earned international acclaim.

“Qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games is one of the biggest dreams I have. Having a good result there would be very special for me,” Güity said in 2019.

Mission accomplished.

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When Costa Rica dissolved its military in 1948, the country redirected funds to improve public health and education. By most measures, that has been successful: Costa Rica now has a vaunted healthcare system and acclaimed educational model.

But the pandemic has exacerbated cracks in Costa Rica’s public school system, creating an education crisis that is “the worst in decades,” according to the latest investigative report from State of the Nation:

The Costa Rican educational system is going through a serious crisis due to the combined blow of historical lags and the economic and social effects generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This latest event has revealed unresolved problems, as well as the deep tension between educational purposes and the rigidities of the system. The current educational crisis is the worst in decades.

Students in Costa Rica’s public system are producing “the worst results in a long time” due to an untimely combination: A lack of appropriate investment over decades, recent teachers’ strikes, and the pandemic, which is widening socioeconomic gaps.

Whereas many of Costa Rica’s private schools have remained open during the pandemic (and have the technology to provide quality virtual learning), the public system has suffered “significant interruptions” that have amounted to “an educational blackout.”

“This blackout compromises the development of vital competencies and skills for the progress of the country and of democracy,” the report reads.

The investigation recommended implementing “profound changes” to maximize Costa Rica’s investments in education, noting that the current public system is producing substandard results and is too bloated to adapt to the current challenges.

Click here to read the full report from Estado de la Nación.

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The Canadian government will donate 319,200 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses to Costa Rica this week. 

“Many thanks to the people and the Government of this sister country for this great support to continue accelerating vaccination, and to protect each person in each region of Costa Rica,” said President Carlos Alvarado.

With the shipment from Canada, this will become Costa Rica’s week with the most vaccine doses received so far in 2021.

Costa Rica has also received vaccine donations directly from the United States and from Spain (through Covax). The vast majority of Costa Rica’s doses were contracted directly from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Why this matters

To date, Costa Rica has received 5.2 million vaccine doses, enough to fully cover about half of the country’s total population.

Costa Rica has administered 4.27 million doses across 3.06 million people, meaning most individuals are still waiting for their second shot.

With the delta variant spreading rapidly in Costa Rica and hospitals that remain strained by Covid-19 patients, every dose counts.

“We continue working to bring our most-important tool against the pandemic: vaccines,” Alvarado said.

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When Sherman Güity lost part of his left leg after a traffic accident in 2017, he pledged to return to the track and become Costa Rica’s best paralympic athlete.

On Monday, the Tico achieved that goal: Güity ran a personal-best and finished second in the men’s 100 meters at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

The silver is Costa Rica’s first-ever Paralympics medal. 

“I did it!” Güity shared on social media after the race. “Costa Rica now has a Paralympics medal. Thank you to Costa Rica for the support.”

Güity carried the Costa Rican flag up high after his performance:

Felix Streng (Germany) earned gold in the 100 m. Watch Guity’s historic performance below, in a video shared by President Carlos Alvarado:

“You are a pride for Costa Rica!” President Alvarado wrote on Twitter. “All Ticos are with you.”

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Today’s Costa Rica Daily highlights the work of The New Yorker, a prominent U.S. magazine, which will feature Costa Rica in its upcoming edition.

“The Costa Rica model,” available online here and in print on August 30, uses Costa Rica as an example of what can happen when a country prioritizes healthcare:

Since the development of the EBAIS system, deaths from communicable diseases have fallen by 94%, and decisive progress has been made against non-communicable diseases as well.

It’s not just that Costa Rica has surpassed America’s life expectancy while spending less on health care as a percentage of income; it actually spends less than the world average. The biggest gain these days is in the middle years of life. For people between 15 and 60 years of age, the mortality rate in Costa Rica is 8.7%, versus 11.2% in the U.S.—a 30% difference. But older people do better, too: in Costa Rica, the average 60-year-old survives another 24.2 years, compared with 23.6 years in the U.S.

The author, Atul Gawande, is a professor of public health and a surgeon. He describes how Costa Rica has emphasized public health for decades in a system that has reduced inequality and improved outcomes.

“There’s no public-health initiative that will add a doctor to your family, but Costa Rica shows that we can provide something close: a primary-care team whom individuals know personally and can call upon in the course of their lives,” Gawande writes.

Costa Rica’s public healthcare is by no means perfect — lengthy patient wait times are a common concern — but the system remains immensely popular and a source of pride for Ticos.

Click here to read the full story in The New Yorker.

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Costa Rica in 2020 was the world’s best-performing country relative to its GDP in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), according to analysis from fDi Intelligence.

The country is “attracting 11 times the amount of greenfield1 FDI that might be expected given the size of its economy,” the report reads, placing Costa Rica atop the global analysis. Lithuania and the UAE rounded out the top three.

While Costa Rica attracted less FDI in 2020 than in 2019, the performance “stands out even more considering the challenging investment environment” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The country has come a long way since being an exporter of agriculture commodities decades ago; in 2020, medical devices, software and IT and business service sectors accounting for 60% of its inward FDI projects,” the report continues.

fDi Intelligence highlighted the investment commitment from Intel; the tech company will soon assemble and test microchips in Costa Rica.

“This is a reflection of the constant work […] to be an attractive space for foreign investment,” President Carlos Alvarado said in response to the fDi Intelligence report. “We continue pushing ahead.”

Panama, Colombia and Chile were the other top performers from Latin America.

As we’ve written before, Costa Rica has come a long way since it was a literal banana republic — a country whose economy was dominated by the fruit and dictated by the U.S. companies that exported it.

Today, the nation’s biggest export isn’t bananas. It’s not even coffee, or any tropical fruit. Costa Rica’s biggest export sector is medical instruments, which comprised 34% of the $11.7 billion in goods exported in 2020.

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) cites Costa Rica’s educated and bilingual workforce, and the country’s commitment to sustainability, as its biggest selling points. (A stable democracy and tax breaks don’t hurt either.)

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American Airlines in November will operate new nonstop flights between Chicago (ORD) and both of Costa Rica’s major international airports.

With 84 weekly flights from five destinations, American says it will offer more flights to Costa Rica than ever before in the airline’s history.

The Chicago flights to the San José area (SJO) will operate thrice weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving at 11 p.m. and returning to the U.S. the following morning.

The route to Guanacaste (LIR) will operate on Saturdays, arriving at 2:20 p.m. and departing for Chicago an hour later.

“These flights will strengthen the high season that traditionally begins in the third week of November and will connect us with a strategic focus for attracting tourism to Costa Rica from the city of Chicago,” said Tourism Minister Gustavo Segura.

“This is news that brings hope to the gradual process of recovery in the tourism sector.”

According to the Tourism Board (ICT), Chicago is the U.S. city with the fourth-most tourists who are interested in visiting Costa Rica. The new routes will also increase one-stop connectivity to Costa Rica, since O’Hare is a major international hub.

American will directly compete with United Airlines, which also offers nonstop service between Chicago and Costa Rica.

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