Like it or not, Costa Rica is experiencing a mini crime wave, and it will surely affect the tourist trade, including hotels, restaurants, tours, taxis, B & B’s, etc. Even Bloomberg Business News took note of the crime uptick, publishing an article this week on the upward trending Costa Rican crime statistics. This is worrisome to both Ticos and expats, and here’s why. Tourism is Costa Rica’s main source of income, and Costa Rica is not doing well economically this year – the fiscal deficit is predicted to reach 7.5 percent of GDP next year – alarming.

The Tourism Minister, Maria Amalia Revelo, expressed her concern saying, “We are very worried, the situation we are witnessing is critical. We’d all like more police, but we all know the government fiscal situation.”
Negative attention began to be focused on the crime situation when two female foreign tourists were killed in two days, and a third was raped a week later, all near Tortuguero National Park. The Costa Rican homicide rate has been rising steadily, with 603 murders in 2017, and 2018 getting off to a bloody start also, although these figures are low compared to other Central American countries.

Last year more than three million tourists visited Costa Rica, bringing in $3.9 billion tourist dollars. But 2017 also saw a decline in American visitors for the first time since 2009. With Costa Rica’s reputation as a friendly, safe vacation destination, this new trend is alarming to both the Costa Rica Tourism Institute and to all those who rely on tourists to earn a living.

The Costa Rican government is promising to increase police presence in tourist areas, and is launching a mobile phone app for tourists with updated crime data. President Carlos Alvarado has promised “intense work” to reverse the situation.
Outside of tourist areas, drug traffickers continue to elevate violence to record levels. Costa Rica has seen a rise in drug transshipment activity, with Ticos often acting as guides or escorts along drug routes. They are often paid in drugs rather than cash, which creates its own problems of more drug availability and use. The situation has blossomed into full-fledged narcotrafficking, beyond just street-level drug sales.

Public Security Minister Gustavo Mata told legislators, “There does not exist a beach in Costa Rica where narcos have not penetrated with a boat with cocaine, coming from Colombia.”

Surveys in the last two months of 2017 revealed that security was the fourth most pressing concern among Ticos, behind unemployment, corruption, and the economy.