Travel and Tourism - Nicaragua

Euromonitor International's Travel And Tourism in Nicaragua report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at a national level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on tourism inflows, disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Publication date: Oct-08

Leptospirosis attack and Hurricane Felix have a negative impact on tourist arrivals
Leptospirosis, an epidemic transmitted by rat urine and disseminated via contaminated waters, attacked Nicaragua seriously in 2007, leaving more than 10 people dead and at least 1,500 infected victims. The hardest hit districts were Chinandega and León. In spite of these two areas being relatively far from tourist hotspots, the epidemic had a negative impact on tourist arrivals.

During September 2007, Hurricane Felix caused terrible disasters in the Cayos Miskitos area in Nicaragua, a region characterised by its extreme poverty. As a natural consequence, this tragedy acted as a deterrent for tourists to visit the country in the last quarter of the year.

Nicaragua Tourist Routes
Implemented by the Tourism Institute of Nicaragua (INTUR), the Nicaragua Tourist Routes is a project that aims to highlight the attractions and uniqueness of eight different routes in the country, based on their thematic and territorial features. Among these, the Water Route and the Coffee Route were specially promoted by the Institute during 2007.

Action plan poses great challenges
The National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) is promoting the approval of an initiative called Ejes de Desarrollo. This is a proposed solution to overcome the poor performance of the Nicaraguan travel and tourism industry in 2007, largely due to exogenous factors that damaged the image of the country abroad. The goal includes the challenge of increasing tourism expenditure from US$228 million in 2007 to US$700 million by 2012. During the same period, the initiative also aims to expand the country’s travel accommodation facilities by the creation of 5,000 additional rooms.