Between 2026 and 2027, Costa Rica will add the opening of 17 hotel projectswith an estimated investment of $391.8 millionaccording to data from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
These developments will provide 1,493 rooms and will generate 2,296 direct jobs, indicated the institution.
Guanacaste leads the list with 6 hotels, followed by Alajuela (5), Puntarenas (3), Heredia (2) and San José (1).
Regarding the distribution of rooms, Guanacaste concentrates 48.2% of the total. They are followed by Alajuela (24.6%), Heredia (14.7%), Puntarenas (11.9%) and San José (0.6%).
Below is the list of projects:
The perspectives
The ICT seeks attract investments to communities outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) to diversify the tourist offer.
“The country, to continue growing, must put your eyes on those areas where infrastructure development is incipient. We believe that the diversification of the tourism product is the spearhead, otherwise we would be losing competitiveness,” said Gustavo Alvarado, director of Competitiveness and Tourism Sustainability of the ICT.
The official also highlighted the level of investments. “It makes us proud because it reflects the level of tourism services we provide,” he added.
Martí Jiménez, president of the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur), stated that Costa Rica maintains highly attractive conditions for investmentsuch as political stability, international positioning, a differentiated offer and a value proposition aligned with global trends such as sustainability and wellness tourism.
For her part, Lisette Acosta Álvarez, advisor on investment and development of tourism projects, considered that the outlook for 2026 is positive, but more demanding.
The specialist explained that, at a global level, capital is still interested in tourism—especially in experiences, well-being and natural destinations—but now it is much more selective.
“It is no longer enough to have a good destiny; clarity required in executioncoherence in the concept and certainty in the processes. “Costa Rica has a clear structural advantage: a solid country brand, a differentiated proposal based on sustainability and consistent international demand,” said Acosta.
However, the challenge is in the “ability to scale with certainty”, that is, to guarantee that projects are executed with predictability, reasonable times and institutional standards.
Added to this is the need to constantly reinvent itself to maintain leadership in global trends, in a context where the country’s proposal is already beginning to be replicated by competing destinations.
“Today capital is not absent; is cautious“said Acosta.
Rodrigo Castro, former Minister of Tourism, pointed out that tourism investment does not follow a linear path from year to yearbut responds to medium and long-term development cycles.
“It is reasonable to anticipate a moderate behavior in 2026with investments more associated with the continuity or expansion of existing projects than with a high volume of new developments,” Castro concluded.
