Costa Rica’s National Chamber of Tourism is backing a new legislative proposal that would bring back long weekends by moving five public holidays to the following Monday, a measure the sector says would boost domestic travel and help tourism businesses outside the Central Valley.
The proposal, filed as expediente 25.593, was presented on May 11 by lawmaker Wilson Jiménez Cordero of the Partido Pueblo Soberano. The bill would reform Article 148 of the Labor Code so that five holidays are observed on the Monday after their original calendar date. The project is currently listed as presented, with no votes registered yet.
The holidays included in the bill are April 11, Juan Santamaría Day; July 25, the Annexation of Nicoya; August 2, the Day of the Virgin of Los Ángeles; August 31, Day of the Black Person and Afro-Costa Rican Culture; and December 1, Army Abolition Day. The first two are mandatory paid holidays, while the remaining three are non-mandatory paid holidays.
Canatur said long weekends have a direct impact on tourism demand, especially in regional destinations where hotels, restaurants, tour operators, shops and small businesses depend heavily on local visitors. The chamber said sector measurements show reservations and sales can rise by up to 40% during extended weekends.
The proposal revives a policy Costa Rica used temporarily between 2020 and 2024, when a transitional change to the Labor Code allowed several holidays to be moved to Mondays. That system ended after 2024 when the temporary provision expired and was not renewed.
For the tourism industry, the argument is straightforward: when Costa Ricans have three-day weekends, more families are likely to travel inside the country. That means more bookings, more restaurant traffic, more tour sales and more spending in beach towns, mountain communities and rural destinations.
The bill would not affect every public holiday. January 1, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, May 1, August 15, September 15 and December 25 would remain on their original dates.
The proposal is not without opposition. The Catholic Church has raised objections to moving the August 2 holiday tied to the Virgin of Los Ángeles, one of Costa Rica’s most important religious dates. The bishops argued that the Romería to Cartago is tied directly to the date itself and estimated that two to three million pilgrims take part in the days leading up to August 2.
That debate is likely to become one of the central questions around the bill: how to balance tourism, family rest and local economic activity with holidays that carry civic, cultural or religious weight.
For travelers and residents, the bill could matter because long weekends often change domestic travel patterns. Hotels in popular beach and mountain destinations tend to fill faster, roads leaving San José can become more congested, and national parks and tourist towns may see heavier demand.
The bill still has a procedural hurdle. Since the Legislative Assembly is in extraordinary sessions, the Executive Branch would need to call the project for discussion, or lawmakers would have to wait until August 1 for it to move forward under the ordinary legislative agenda.
For now, the proposal is an early-stage bill, not a change in the holiday calendar. But with Canatur now publicly behind it, the long-weekend debate has returned to the center of Costa Rica’s tourism and labor agenda.
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