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Central American Tourism Sets Sights On Europe
(Infocom) — Because of the economic and investment market meltdown in the United States, the 2008 Central American Travel Market (CATM) Fair could become an effective tool for conquering the European market.

For Central American nations, the United States continues to be their main market for tourists. Other countries or regions are sought as alternative markets through joint promotion done at international fairs.

That what the isthmus did at the last CATM, which was held Oct. 10-12 at the Crowne Plaza Convention Center in Managua, Nicaragua.

CATM was created by the Central American Tourism Council (CCT) in 2003 and is mainly geared toward the European travel market. The fair also had logistical and organizational support from the Federation of Central American Chambers of Tourism (FEDECATUR), the Committee for Central American Tourism Marketing (COMECATUR), and the region’s tourism ministries or boards.

Gonzalo Vargas, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), said that the country’s participation in this kind of events is extremely important as Costa Rica constantly looks for the sustainability of its tourism industry — the nation’s top generator of foreign currency.

“CATM is an event that, in addition to facilitating the promotion of different tourist destinations throughout Central America, allows for the establishment of high-profile commercials relations with wholesalers from top markets in Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America, which Costa Rica must definitely take advantage of,” Vargas pointed out.

According to CANATUR data, in 2007 some 271,631 European tourists visited Costa Rica — most of them from Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France — for a sustained growth of about 15 percent compared to the previous year.

This year’s fair was a technical-professional encounter geared toward establishing commercial relationships between provides of tourism services in Central America and wholesalers from top international markets. The event’s slogan was “Central America: So Little, So Huge.”

A total of 31 Costa Rican private firms — rent-a-cars, tour operators, hotels, tourism chambers and a domestic airline — took part in the fair, as well as the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), under the CANATUR umbrella.

“CATM is an excellent opportunity to carry out negotiations between wholesalers or tour operators interested in what Central America has to offer and the various regional exhibitors, which highlighted the main tourism and cultural attractions of each of their countries,” Vargas concluded.