280,000 Costa Rican tourists have visited Nicaragua this year, an increase of over 25% according to the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (Intur).

With this number of visitors Costa Rica is the country that has sent more tourists to Nicaragua surpassing the number of tourists from the United States and Honduras that used to take the first places.

According to Intur, the profile of the Costa Rican tourist that visits Nicaragua are families where the adults are between 30 and 45 years-old. The main activities chosen are surfing and cultural visits such as artisan chocolate tours, coffee tours and tobacco tours.

The increase on the number of tourist is related with the low prices of products and services in Nicaragua.

During the first five months of this year, Nicaragua received a total of 742,731 tourists in total, 26.2% more than for the same period of 2016. 63% of the tourists that visit Nicaragua come from Central America.

Just last month a delegation of Costa Rican tourism companies visited Nicaragua with the purpose of finding new opportunities to work together and find possibilities to increase tourism to both countries.

The area of Rivas which has some of Nicaragua’s best beaches like Tola and San Juan del Sur are among the preferred destinations for Costa Rican tourists.

Written By Laura Alvarado