Inaugurations of new touristic infrastructures in Ometepe Island

Clementine Haudecoeur | Sep 22, 2015

Those last years, the European Union and the Nicaraguan Government have invested quite a lot in the touristic development of the municipalities of Chinandega, León, Managua, Masaya, Granada and Rivas, as part of the project Support to Economic Local Development through the touristic sector: Colonial and Volcanoes Route, executed by the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR), with technical support from the Development Cooperation Agency of Luxemburg (LuxDev).
Ometepe Island, located in the municipality of Rivas, is one of the most visited touristic destinations in the country, which explains why it was important for this área to be taken into consideration by the project. Those Friday 25 and Saturday 26 of September, you will be able to know more about the different subsidized projects implemented in the Biosphere Reserve of Ometepe Island thanks to the inaugurations of:

- The new waiting room – Las Brisas Harbor – Municipality of Altagracia, this Friday 25 of September at 10:30am: Project Subv./19/ NIC-824, with a total budget of 246,945€.
The new infrastructure consists of a waiting room and a hall for cultural representations. It will provide the adequate conditions in order for the new emerging community touristic initiatives and cultural groups to have a center from where they can offer their services to national and international tourists in a secure and pleasant atmosphere, in order to improve the touristic image of the island. This investment, product of the work of both the Municipality and the Clean Production Center, will directly benefit to two cooperatives of transport, one cooperative of touristic guides, one group of women organized to provide rural community touristic services and three dance and theater troupes, which means a total of 124 family representatives.

- The Ecoefficient Touristic Center Punta de Jesús María – Municipality of Moyogalpa, on Saturday 26 of September at 11:00am: Project Subv./18/NIC-824, with a total budget of 188,280€.
This initiative included the construction of an administrative office, public toilets, and 5 small structures that will be used as shops providing food, drinks, organic smoothies, handicrafts, boat tours, artisanal fishing trips, kayaks rental, bicycles, guided tours, areas of volleyball and beach football, between other services. The objective was to develop and promote local tourism, encouraging public-private partnerships and creating new business initiatives, in order to have a coherent and sustainable socio-economical, touristic and environmental strategy in the municipality.

- The Concepción Volcano Track – Municipality of Moyogalpa, on Saturday 26 of September at 2:00pm: Project Subv./17/NIC-824, with a total budget of 132,220€.
This Project considered the construction of a gate house with built-in latrine, a shelter house with its independent latrine, 170 meters of steps, 50 meters of banister, positioning of benches and seats in three different resting areas, and the arrangement of informative signs in the self-guided interpretative section. Executed by the Volcanoes Foundation and Earth Friends from Spain, this initiative allowed the improvement of the Concepción Track, as well as the strengthening of capacities of the MSMEs from the Rural Tourism Network Ometepe Promised Land and the Ometepe Guides Union (UGO). You can have more information on the community touristic services offered by those cooperatives looking at their webpage: Ometepe Rural Toursim.

More information on the Colonial and Volcanoes Route project here: CVR