Costa Rica’s Volcano Poás Closing Led To More Irazu Visits

Costa Rica Travel – The closing of the volcano Poás, in April 2017, due to eruptions, has triggered an increase in visits to Irazú.

In fact, 69% more tourists came to the national park in 2017. It brought unease to one region and benefit to another.

Sinac, the National System of Conservation Areas, points out that another reason for more visits to Irazú is that the path leading to Prussia was enabled. It’s data states that Irazú had 203,975 tourists in 2016 and 345,830 in 2017.

Poas reported a decrease from 326,679 people in 2016 to 143,933 in 2017, a fall of 56%. In addition, Sinac lost ¢1,329 million by closing the tourist destination. It’s opening is still uncertain due to the high risk of eruption.

Just after the closure, 21 local businesses reported an average decline of 71% in their sales. This represents a projected impact of ¢7.100 million per year, for unearned income, un-deposited wages, un-purchased inputs and frozen debt payments.