The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked 136 countries according to the natural resources they possess, the number of World Heritage natural sites, protected areas and species as well as the natural tourism digital demand and the role the country’s natural resources had in attracting tourists to it.

Costa Rica is listed among the top ranked countries for natural resources, occupying spot number 3.

The top ten countries are:

1) Brazil
2) Mexico
3) Costa Rica
4) Peru
5) China
6) Australia
7) Thailand
8) Tanzania
9) Spain
10) United States

Although in the overall raking it is listed in third position, it ranks second for natural tourism digital demand and attractiveness of natural assets. Corcovado National Park, Tortugero, and Cocos Island are just part of what contributes in making Costa Rica one of the best destinations for Eco-tourism.

The country ranked 19 under Number of World Heritage Natural Sites; 22 in Total Known Species; it took position 33 under Total protected areas (total hectares of terrestrial and marine areas under protection as a share of country’s total territorial area)(Nicaragua ranked 10 in this category).

Panama is the only other Central American country appearing in the top 20, Panama ranked 17.

Another interesting aspect is that Costa Rica is ranked 32 under Environmental Sustainability, category described by the WEF as “A pillar that measures the extent of environmental protection limited to those aspects that impact tourists directly”; the top 20 spots of this ranking are taken in its majority by European countries, the only country of the American continent that appears among the top 20 and precisely in this position, is Canada; Barbados is 27, Panama appears in 29, and Honduras 48, these are the only countries in America to be on the top 5;, United States ranked 115 and Mexico 116, about the United States, the report states: “The nation’s ranking has declined as a result of less appeal for American natural resources (down 7 places) Environmental sustainability performance remains poor (115th, down 1 place), with the country losing some ground on forestry and water management”.