Mexicana de Aviacion to Hype Guatemala’s Tourism
Taking account of first-half arrivals in 2004, tourism authorities in Guatemala are hoping against hope to close this year with at least one million visitors, with the help of such world-class companies as Mexicana de Aviacion.
Alejandro Sinibaldi, president of the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT), pointed out that regardless of how big the challenge really is, uncertainty, shortage of infrastructure and lack of services could make a dent in the effort to reach this milestone.
"We could reach a new record high of one million tourists this year, a mark that only Costa Rica has broken in Central America," Mr. Sinibaldi said. The high-ranking official also mentioned there are efforts underway to present a bill that seeks to lure foreign investors to the country and build far more hotel rooms.
According to stats revealed by INGUAT, as many as 374,489 vacationers traveled to Guatemala between January and April this year, compared to only 76,000 the country came in for in the first four months of 2003. The Central American nation received 884,190 trippers all through last year.
Would INGUAT´s goals be accomplished, Guatemala´s travel industry could rake in nearly $680 million worth of revenues, especially after having reaped $228.8 million in the first four months of the ongoing year.
However, Guatemala should first remove some hurdles on the way to this major milestone, especially in terms of safety and security. That´s why the private sector linked to the nation´s leisure industry insist rampant crime continues to be the most worrisome doubt among foreign tour operators and travelers hailing from overseas.
The United States and some European nations have issued travel warnings to their citizens every now and then for them to quit trekking to Guatemala due to high criminal records.
Sandra Muralles, chairwoman of the Guatemala Tourism Chamber, acknowledged that persuading tourist-sending nations is the key to success because travel warnings will eventually put a spoke in the country´s wheel on its way to a new record high.
