Managua - The seven small countries that make up Central America, nicknamed the "seven dwarfs," aim to attract more tourists from Germany and its European neighbours, noted Pilar Cano, president of the Central America Tourism Agency (CATA), at the close of the Centroamerica Travel Market in the Nicaraguan capital Managua. Speaking to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Cano said they hoped to do this by increasing advertising and building transnational "coffee roads" - tourist routes connecting coffee-growing areas - as well as "volcano roads."
Air links between Europe and Central America have improved in recent years, Cano said. She noted that the German holiday airline Condor now operated two charter flights weekly to San Jose, Costa Rica, and that beginning in January the Spanish flag carrier Iberia Airlines would operate a total of 12 flights weekly from Madrid to Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama.
There are also plans to boost training for German tour operators and travel agents so that German holidaymakers can learn more from catalogues and at travel agencies about Central America's lesser known destinations such as Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
Europeans make up only 10 per cent of the some 7.7 million tourists annually who visit Central America's volcanoes, rain forests, nature reserves, Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and Maya sites. Slightly more than 90,000 of them come from Germany.
According to Cano, recent years have seen generally double-digit yearly growth in tourism to Central America from around the world. An increase of about 7 per cent from Europe in the current year, and modest growth in the German market was expected, she added.
Another topic at the Centroamerica Travel Market was the impact of the worldwide financial crisis on tourism to Central America. Cano said there had been no significant increase in the number of cancelled tours so far.
The most important thing for the people of Central America, she said, was continued peace in the region and that country-to-country travel had become easier of late thanks to looser border controls.
