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New projects funded along The Colonial and Volcano Route

Róger Solórzano Canales | Mar 28, 2014

Official launch event for the grant projects. | Photographer: Róger Solórzano Canales

19 sustainable tourism initiatives favored by funds from the European Union were officially presented.

Executives of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (INTUR), the European Union and the technical office of the LuxDev (Luxembourg) agency formally made a presentation of the grant projects chosen after previous call. Such projects have already begun to put into action at various points trough the Colonial and Volcano Route, with a total amount of € 3 million euros and in benefit of 30 low-income rural communities, was announced at the launch.

The event was held at Managua yesterday morning, Thursday March 27, and was attended by various guests from the private sector (associations, chambers, individual companies and cooperatives), the diplomatic corps, various entities of the Nicaraguan state and the media. The head table was built by Mayra Salinas and Elvia Estrada from INTUR, Ivo Gombala from EU, Samuel Santos from the Chancery and Teresa Sequeira from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA).

Jean Bourgeais, Chief Technical Advisor of the project in support of the Colonial and Volcano Route, outlined in his speech the essential objectives sought after this subsidized projects and emphasized the need for a close and harmonious work between the different public and private actors which may ensure that grantees achieve their own goals. Among these global objectives mentioned are:

  • Expand tourism in rural communities with limited resources installed in tourist attractions with great potential interest, and the quality of the offer.
  • Improve infrastructure at favored tourist sites to ensure a satisfactory stay for visitors.
  • Strengthen the key actors that ensure sustainable tourism, such as networks, cabinets, associations, students and more.
  • An all-inclusive strategy to create products.
  • Promotion and marketing of products and little known attractions.

During the event spoke María Ignacia Galeano from Cocibolca Foundation which was one of benefited with the grant to develop the project of biological and archaeological corridor at Apoyo-Mombacho-Zapatera, and to perform the first International Bird Festival, with the participation of international experts in Birdwatching. The official welcomed the opportunity of access to funds and shortly described the efforts in the areas.

Ivo Gombala, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Nicaragua, considered during his speech that the support of the European Union to Nicaragua by the strengthening of sustainable tourism development dynamics is achieving its goals, and that impact is already noticeable and more will be perceived with the strengthening of these initiatives, in which more than 20 cooperatives and 18 MSMEs counted are located in communities where populations living on less than € 1 euro a day, said.

The Colonial and Volcano Route encompass six departments of the Pacific as a territory crossed by the volcanic line and presence of ancient urban areas during colonial period. Is also the NIC 824 Prroject, implemented by the European Union and INTUR, with technical support of the Luxembourg Cooperation Agency. Departments:

Jean Bourgeais, Technical Advisor to Colonial and Volcanoes Route.

Translated by Vanessa Aragón