Nicaragua is bent on bettering tourist trails

With an initial investment in the neighborhood of $225,000, the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR) is keen to peppering up the eight tourist trails the country has to offer with a view to draw in markets and create new jobs.

Francisco Zamorano, chief of INTUR’s New Tourist Products Division, said the intention is to re-chart those destinations currently operating between fifty and a hundred percent of their occupancy capabilities. Around $700,000 have so far been poured into the project’s first two stages, with a remnant of $155,000 to be funneled into the third phase.

This part of the project embraces on-the-spot visits and the assessment of attractions and timetables for the Coffee and Cultural trails around the Nicaragua Lake, as well as the northern and southern Caribbean, the volcanoes, the farms, the Pacific Coast and the San Juan River trails.

In all, these tourist trails weave together fifteen municipalities from northern, central, southern and western Nicaragua, plus the two ethnic regions perched on the Atlantic shoreline.

According to Mr. Zamorano, there are plans for a fourth stage that includes entertainment, promotion and marketing. That phase is scheduled to kick off next year following the certification of all trails and the enrollment of all entrepreneurs and employees involved.

Mr. Zamorano explained that despite each destination is supposed to lure its own public, they’re all interested in attracting regional markets such as El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, without ruling out a shot at both the European and U.S. markets, and drawing a bead on scores of domestic travelers.

In his opinion, there’s one initiative under the appraisal of Central American tourism institutes to stretch out the Coffee Trail. That will put Nicaragua and Costa Rica on the road to join the so-called Mayan World tourist product advertised by such nations as Guatemala and Mexico.

Some 400,000 foreigners –mainly hailing from Central America- come to Nicaragua every year. Authorities expect this megabuck project aimed at stepping up the leisure industry in the region could bring over a million visitors to the country every year.