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“Costa Rica has become the epicentre of live entertainment in all of Central America,” says Andrés Guanipa, MD of Move Concerts Costa Rica.
Seeing a swift increase in tours and shows in the country since the industry rebooted in 2022, Costa Rica has been a hotspot for international tours in the two years since.
This past year, Move Concerts hosted two record-breaking shows from reggaeton superstar Karol G – selling an incredible 104,686 tickets across two National Stadium shows – and is set to bring Paul McCartney in November. Other stars that came through in 2024 include Louis Tomlinson, Interpol, and Young Miko.
Costa Rica is occasionally the only stopover on tours hitting both North and South America. Though the national population sits at just over 5m people, the country is becoming an increasingly popular entertainment tourist destination – evidenced by 5,000 foreign visitors for last December’s Roger Waters show, Guanipa says – making it a key growth sector.
“There is great potential with foreign visitors when the tours do not extend their shows into other Central American countries.”
“[The capital city] San José has significant hotel and services capacity, ready and willing to accommodate even more visitors than it is already receiving,” says Guanipa. “There is great potential with foreign visitors when the tours do not extend their shows into other Central American countries.”
Although the touring market is hot, promoters are challenged by a lack of indoor venues under 10,000 capacity – “certainly an issue in a country where it rains most of the year,” Guanipa says, and by an oversaturation of events.
“It’s crucial to carefully evaluate which events to bring and which [to not bring], as our audience has a finite economic capacity,” he says.
In addition to Move Concerts, other national promoters are grouped under CAPEMA (Costa Rican Chamber of Mass Event Promoters) and include the Interamericana de Producciones, RPMTV, Primo Entertainment, SD Concerts, Blackline, BLieve, ARE Entertainment, and Jogo.