How Surfers Support the Tourism Economy in Costa Rica

When you see a man or woman passing by with a surfboard under their arm, wearing just a swimsuit, an old T-shirt and flip flops you may think that they are not big spenders. They probably take the bus, sleep in hostels, and eat rice n beans and some fruit from the market. This stereotype has almost disappeared over the last 20 years in Costa Rica. Now when a surfer passes by he or she may be staying at a five star hotel, driving a Prado SUV rental, and enjoying some fine dining every evening or even have a private chef. Surfers these days do not fit any stereotype. But they all contribute to a local economy when they come to visit Costa Rica. I am going to use my recent trip as an example.

To start I rented a Rav4 for a 10 day trip. That was $450 USD with the basic collision insurance with Alamo. I’ll fill up the tank so that adds another $90. Tolls add another $10. (To convert this to colones multiply by 500 which is about the current exchange rate.)

For lodging I stayed four nights at Beach House Incognito in Dominicalito for $150/night and Pavones Riviera for $125/night for another four nights. The other nights I stayed with friends.

For food I bought some breakfast items, coffee, fruit, sodas, and chocolate from the supermercado. These purchases added up to $50. For dinner I ate out every night when I wasn’t staying with a friend. My favorite meal cost $16, fresh sashimi at Restaurante Ebenezer in Pavones. I also went to my favorite Italian restaurant La Bruschetta also in Pavones. Dinner and drinks there cost me $40. A few times I had a casado so that cost me a lot less, but overall I spent $200.

One area where I did not spend money on was tours. All I did was surf. Normally when I come with friends we go fishing or take the boat to Cabo Matapalo, and for first timers we head to Nauyaca or Eco Chontales or Rainmaker waterfalls. Of course if we are around Manuel Antonio we visit the park. And I always love to go ziplining at Hacienda Baru, white water rafting on the Savegre, or do an ATV tour. These tours add up and are part of what makes Costa Rica so special and such a popular destination. For this trip though my total was $0.

So to summarize my expenses for this last trip – Transportation – $550, Lodging – $1100, Food – $250 – that equals $1900 for 10 days or $190 per day. Normally the transportation and lodging cost would be shared but this trip was unique.

My point is this- surfers are an important part of Costa Rica’s economy. According to a 2023 ICT survey (The National Tourism Institute) 16.6% of all tourists came to Costa Rica to surf. In 2023 there were 2.47 million tourists who visited the land of pura vida. To do the math that is almost 450,000 surfers. If each of them is spending the same amount on their vacation as I did that is $854,734,000 a year! Of course this is just an estimate but you can see my point.

My hope is after reading this you will consider surfers as a valuable part of the community. Hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs have been created in this country to cater to surfers. Also, businesses that support surfing by not building close to the coastline, organizing beach cleanups, and funding lifeguard programs (https://lifeguardscostaballena.com) are investing in a sustainable and prosperous future for all of us.