Costa Rica to Welcome California, Ohio, Mexico, and Jamaica Residents Starting Oct. 1

Costa Rica is again adding states, and other countries, to its tourism list as the country continues to slowly open its doors to travel.

Starting on Oct. 1, citizens and residents of Mexico and Jamaica, along with California and Ohio, will be able to visit the nation, according to an announcement by Costa Rica Tourism Minister Gustavo J. Segura.

“The update is a result of the gradual and sustained opening in international tourism and with the controlled risk that we have managed to reactivate the country’s economy and boost the tourism sector,” he said.

Mexico joins Canada, which was given the okay earlier, the E.U. Schengen Zone, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Oceania countries, and some Asian nations in the permitted pool.

For the U.S., the list, aside from California and Ohio, now includes Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia.

The states were chosen, Tourism Minister Gustavo J. Segura said earlier, because “they currently have an epidemiological condition similar or lower levels of contagion to those of Costa Rica.”

For those traveling through a gateway in an area that is not on the approved list, Segura said that as long as they do not leave the airport, they’ll still be able to enter Costa Rica unencumbered.

All guests will have to have a driver’s license or another form of ID issued from one of the approved states and a negative PCR test taken within 72-hours of travel. They’ll also be required to complete the country’s electronic epidemiological Health Pass form on the Visit Costa Rica website and provide proof of travel insurance.