Is the post-pandemic craze for Costa Rica over? Is Costa Rica returning to normality regarding seasonality in its tourism numbers?
We analysed data from Airbnb from 2018 to 2024 for April to see how the low season looks for Costa Rica. Is Costa Rica returning to seasonality? We look at the areas of Costa Rica that are still performing well and others that aren't. We consider 2019 the norm and compared it to 2024 to understand the new norm.
What are the 3 big take aways from the April vacation rental data and National Institute of Tourism data for April? What does this tell us about the macro trends of Costa Rica today.
1. Costa Rica April Macro Data On Arrivals By Air
During the month of April, Costa Rica experienced an 8% decrease (-8%) in overall tourism arrivals into the country, (2024 v 2019). In the Liberia Guanacaste airport (Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport), has experienced a 44% increase in arrivals from 2019 in the month of April. Liberia airport has continued to grow in arrivals, however only represents 35% of all arrivals to Costa Rica.
2. April Vacation Rental Data For Costa Rica
From every April since 2018 there has been over a 50% increase in airbnb listings from 2019, compared to a 21% increase in arrivals in 2024 so far. This shows there is currently a much more competitive vacation rental market currently, as well as a growing vacation rental market moving into the future.
The average daily rate (ADR) for vacation rentals in Costa Rica has increased by 25% ($54) from 2019. The ADR in 2019 was $216 for a night in a vacation rental and in 2024 it was $271.
The occupancy of the average vacation rental in Costa Rica on the other hand has dropped from 45% in April 2019 to 39% in 2024. The highest occupancy rate for the month of April in this time frame was 55%. From this data it appears that Costa Rica, post-pandemic, has fallen back into seasonality.
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3. Location Specific Data For Vacation Rentals In Costa Rica
All areas of Costa Rica have seen exponential growth in the shear number of vacation rentals being listed on airbnb month by month, with San José having seen the largest percentage increase (292%) in vacation rentals since 2019, which equates to over 1,300 rentals being added to the market.
Uvita saw the 2nd biggest percentage increase in airbnb listing over the last 5 years (201%) which was roughly 980 new rentals being added to the Uvita and Bahia Ballena airbnb market.
The top 3 locations in terms of the most popular airbnb market, (the locations with the highest number of vacation rentals listed on airbnb) was 1. Jaco with 2,625 vacation rentals. 2. Tamarindo with 2,103 vacation rentals, and 3. Puerto Viejo with 2,036 vacation rentals in the area. These figures come as no surprise as these are some of the most visited locations across the country.
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4. Conclusion
Costa Rica Returns to Pre-pandemic Seasonality. Based on the April data and reports from the hotel industry, Costa Rica is starting to return to pre-pandemic seasonality. It will be essential to see how May and June act, but as the current data indicates, the industry should adapt a similar business model to 2019 in operations.
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