continued from San Juan del Sur home

CANATUR, CANIMET, CANTUR, ANID, CCN and CADUR are all groups that represent tourism and investment in one way or another. The groups made a united plea recently at a press conference during which they asked Daniel Ortega, The President of the Republic of Nicaragua, to establish a National Tourism Policy and in so doing position tourism higher up the list of industries that can save the economy of the country.

Facts and figures were presented comparing Nicaragua with the rest of Central America. Nicaragua’s fledgling tourism industry is up 7%, compared to Panama at 30% last year.

Lucy Valenti, President of CANATUR (National Camera of Tourism) believes that one of the biggest reasons Panama enjoyed a 30% increase in tourism last year was that they invested heavily in international promotion and in the country’s tourism as a whole. The group went further and suggested that the tourism industry be tied into the National Plan for Human Development in Nicaragua and went on to propose that the industry should be incorporated into the overall plans for the reduction of poverty in Nicaragua.

Law 306 (the law designed to give investor incentives within the tourism industry) was an example of an initiative that must be maintained and if possible improved upon to give a kick start to the industry. The group indicated that the tourism industry directly generated 225 million dollars in 2007 as well as creating a whole network of product supply and labor (jobs). An example given was a beach house which produces ten direct jobs. An argument was also put forward that an expanded tourism industry would crate jobs that could slow or even prevent the further migration of Nicaraguans as they look to more successful countries for work.
.

Home: San Juan del Sur