Costa Rica is facing record-breaking crime and tourist numbers

SAN JOSÈ, Costa Rica – Dense jungles, pristine beaches, towering volcanoes and a welcoming attitude toward visitors have kept tourists flocking to this peaceful country for decades, but now a crime wave is threatening paradise.

According to the country’s Tourism Institute, Costa Rica welcomed 2.7 million visitors in 2023. Tourism has increased steadily since the end of the COVID pandemic.

However, the country’s reputation is now threatened by rising crime rates due to an influx of illegal drugs and a sharp increase in drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Costa Rica’s fight against crime is hampered by unprecedented migration flows, rising inequality and an understaffed police force.

According to Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), there were more than 900 murders in 2023 – the most violent year in the country’s history. The murders were mainly attributed to drug trafficking groups.

Mario Zamora, director of the Ministry of Public Security, said the killings were carried out mostly by members of criminal gangs fighting for territory and typically occurred in poor neighborhoods where drug markets are stronger. He believes that in the future this could have a catastrophic impact on the economy’s two main sources of income: tourism and foreign investment.

“Costa Rica, as you know, is a country that has not had an army since 1949 and has been an extremely peaceful country since then, so the increase in the murder rate has a big social impact and that is what we had last year.” 906 murders in a population of 5.2 million inhabitants,” said Zamora.

Esteban Rojas, a tour guide in Costa Rica with more than 15 years of experience, said tourism is the most important economic driver for the country.

“It’s a chain reaction. You have a hotel but you need curtains, you need tomatoes and lettuce for breakfast. You will need screws and cleaning supplies. You then need the tires and mechanics for the coaches. Then there are the people who work in restaurants and cleaning,” Rojas said. “This applies to the big picture, because as soon as a location has money from tourism, other companies that have nothing to do with tourism emerge. For example, all the women who now decide to get their nails done because they have the money. This is one of the main differences between tourism and other industries. It is very social and stimulates the local economy.”

According to statistics from the Costa Rica Tourism Institute, in 2023, approximately 163,000 people were directly employed in the tourism industry, representing 7.1% of the labor force. If both direct and indirect employment are taken into account, the number increases to around 490,000 people or 21.3% of the workforce.

The drug trade in Costa Rica

According to officials at the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, the increase in murders is due in part to increasing cocaine use, particularly in the form of crack cocaine, and competition between cartels for control of the local drug market.

The revenue generated by the local drug trade has also become a major driver of corruption, according to U.S. Embassy officials, further exacerbating the country’s challenges.

Randall Zúñiga, director of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), attributes the rise in cocaine use in Costa Rica to new technologies that have reduced production costs in Colombia.

“A kilo of cocaine used to cost about $7,000 in Costa Rica. “Right now a kilo costs about $3,500 to $4,000,” Zúñiga said.

Coca plant production in Colombia and other countries has increased dramatically in the post-COVID era, leading to more and cheaper cocaine, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“[D]“Carpet trading groups have created alternative markets heading into the United States,” Zamora said. “Costa Rica used to have low cocaine use, and today we have more than 100,000 users, according to our data.”