The International Monetary Fund places our country among the destinations most affected by the closure of tourism at the end of this year.

With an economic impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), only below countries like Thailand, Greece, Portugal and Morocco, Costa Rica ranks fifth on the list provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), among the destinations most affected by the closure of tourism at the end of 2020.

The External Sector Report, Global Imbalances and the Covid-19 Crisis 2020, details that our country will face the greatest impact on tourism based on the imbalance between exports and imports, causing in percentage terms an impact close to 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a highly alarming figure for a country that has been characterized over the years as a destination chosen by travelers around the world.

 

According to some data presented for our country, in the first four months of this year, the reduction in tourism was 50% compared to the same period in 2019.

In the following graph, the estimated growth in global trade volume at the end of 2020 shows a greater drop than that observed in 2008 with the economic crisis.

However, if we take a gradual but restrictive lifting of restrictions starting in September, the calculations of the World Tourism Organization, presented in the IMF report, would still show an impact of 73% compared to the previous year.

In other words, the economic impacts will be greater if real measures are not taken to ensure the correct pace of recovery in the tourism sector; however, this pace of recovery, as detailed by the IMF, is still highly uncertain.

Costa Rica reopened its airports in August with the goal of recovering between 25% and 30% of its 2019 air traffic, as optimistically detailed by Mr. Gustavo Segura, Minister of Tourism.

The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association provided an estimate for resuming flight levels seen in 2019, determining that returning to this pace will require, on average, at least five to six years.


Full Report on the External Sector, Global Imbalances and the Covid-19 Crisis 2020:

https://www.imf.org/~/media/Files/Publications/ESR/2020/English/text.ashx?la=en

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero