Meeting of the Central American Tourism Council
Faustino Salcedo | Jul 13, 2012
Representatives of the ministries of tourism in the region discussed issues to promote the region around the world.
Nicaragua hosted, yesterday Thursday July 12th of the meeting of the “Consejo Centroamericano de Turismo CCT” (Central American Tourism Council), comprising the Tourism Ministries of each country. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss plans that benefit tourism in the region, and officially provide the temporary presidency of the entity to the architect Mario Salinas, President of the “Instituto Nicaragüense de Turismo INTUR” (Nicaraguan Tourism Board).
Routinely the “Sistema de Integración Centroamericana SICA” (Central American Integration System) changes the presidency of the system every 6 months and recently it has been taken by Nicaragua. The CCT is the tourism component of the organ. For this reason, Mario Salinas is the president pro tempore, which in the last period corresponded to the Minister of Tourism of Honduras.
The meeting was attended by vice-ministers of tourism in Honduras, Guatemala and Panama, the Minister of Tourism of El Salvador and the host Nicaragua. From Costa Rica there was not representation at all. Despite the absence from Costa Rica, Salinas said that they count with the support of all countries of the region to develop plans that will benefit tourism in each country.
According to Salinas, the meeting revolved around three main axes. The first is to strengthen the Central American integration process of tourism, he said that is a priority subject and should reach a consensus. From this comes the second axis, which is to promote the region as a multi-destination. Salinas said that the tourism minister of Panama, Solomon Shamah, recently made trips to Europe to promote destinations across Central America through web pages, and participation in European fairs.
The third axis was the issue of tourist safety. Salinas said they are working to offer to tourists the highest security possible and thus enable them to travel without fear. For this they will develop security plans that invlve the countries members of the CCT
Meanwhile José Napoleón Durán, Minister of Tourism of El Salvador, said that the meeting took place without any problems and that this year they expect to generate revenues of $10 million for tourism in Central America. He also mentioned that in the month of August will be conducting the Maya World's Fair in Guatemala, which will count with the support of all ministries of tourism in Central America.
Translated by Aída Pichardo