 Costa Rica's outward foreign direct investment stock is small, at about 3 percent of
GDP as of 2011, and mainly concentrated in Central America (about 57 percent of the total outward direct investment stock).Tourism is an important part of the economy, with the number of visitors increasing from 780,000 in 1996, to 1 million in 1999, and to 2.089 million foreign visitors in 2008, allowing the country to earn $2.144-billion in that year.By 2016, 2.6 million tourists visited Costa Rica, spending roughly US$3.4 billion.