Tourists and local visitors hiking through the rainforest in Belize’s Toledo district.
Our country has joined its neighboring countries in Central America in a plan to promote the region as a unified tourism destination.
Representatives of the ministries of tourism in Central America met in Managua, Nicaragua,this week to refine a strategy of regional promotion of tourism which includes, among others, offering the Central American Isthmus as “One Destination”. In an interview in the Nicaraguan press the Executive President of the Nicaraguan Institute of tourism (Intur), Mario Salinas said that the plan is to promote the One Destination plan as a way of enabling tourists to visit several countries in the region.
He explained that this strategy includes strengthening regional tourism security as well as offering the same price for airline tickets to any Central American destination.
“We will promote on the web, in the European tourism fairs, two, three, four, five countries – as one destination, said Mr. Salinas
For Belize which suffers from the highest airline tickets prices in the region, this plan would be a welcome relief and help increase arrivals of visitors that otherwise go to larger and more economical destinations such as Mexico and Guatemala..
The meeting brought together representatives from the ministries of tourism, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
Tourism in the region generated about $7.1 billion in 2010 and $3.6 billion in the first half of 2011. Every year Central America receives approximately 7.9 million tourists, of which 3.5 million come from the region, according to official figures.
The Central American Council for Tourism agreed in May last, in El Salvador, to develop 22 projects for US$ 1.9 million to strengthen this sector.