The coast of the department of Rivas harbours not only beaches, but also thermal springs, forests and lagoons, but there is no infrastructure to take advantage of this touristic potential.
The plan by a group of tourist entrepreneurs in the area is to develop, with the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism, a medium and long term plan to turn the area into a pole for tourism development.Two hours from Liberia's international airport in Costa Rica, the coastal strip of the municipalities of Buenos Aires, San Jorge, Rivas and Cárdenas is considered by the private sector as a "tourist treasure".
The Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism has unveiled a strategy which aims to increase the number of tourists especially in summer, promoting the main tourist routes in the country.
It is expected that the plan called "Nicaragua Our Summer 2015", will be implemented from February and will run until April this year. It also seeks to implement new measures to increase the daily expenditure of tourists which until September 2014 was $43.
In the first five months of the year the country received 42,000 more tourists than in the same period in 2013.
Confirming the upward trend in the flow of tourists coming to Nicaragua, in the first five months of the year alone 545,174 tourists visited, 8.3% more than in the same period in 2013, when the figure was 503,077.
The executive president of the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute, Mayra Salinas said in an article on Elnuevodiario.com.ni that "... between 2007 and 2013, the number of tourists visiting Nicaragua grew by 65%."
In the first two months of 2014 the country had 227,812 visitors, 7.6% more than in the same period in 2013.
The executive president of the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute, Mayra Salinas, highlighted tourism growth of 7.2 %, exceeding by 3% the 4% expected in Central America in 2014.
"The vast majority of tourists came by land, mainly through Costa Rica, and through Managua International Airport, while 8,796 did so via cruises, she added. "
On 25 and 26 April 2014 the fifth edition of the International Tourism Fair will be held in the Crowne Plaza Convention Center.
Enrollment is now open for local tour operators who wish to participate in the event. The National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) and the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur) are the entities organizing the fair.
During the activity, which will take place in the new year, it is expected that more than 50 international wholesalers and 150 SMEs in the national tourism sector will be brought together.
The Ministries of Tourism in Central America have announced their intention to form a regional strategy to promote tourist destinations in the isthmus.
Reinforcing some intentions expressed in previous ministerial meetings, the government sector is proposing offering tourists the region "in one trip."
An article in Prensalibre.com reports that the chief executive of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), Mario Salinas, said: "We are going promote on the website, in European tourism fairs, two, three, four, five countries (as a destination), and not promote Panama or Nicaragua only, we will encourage (them to come and see) Central America. "
The budget for promoting the country as a tourist destination in international markets increased by 60% for 2012.
With an increase of 60% for international publicity, the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur) wants to implement campaigns that are "more aggressive" in promoting tourism.
"Julio Videa, marketing director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), explained that for advertising in Central America the budget will be almost triple, going from approximately $200,000 in 2011, to half a million dollars this year," reported LaPrensa.com.ni.
The National Toursim Chamber is preparing for the third edition of the international fair which will take place on the 13th and 14th of April 2012 in Nicaragua.
The event, in which 130 national companies are expected to take part in, alongside 35 to 40 wholesalers from Europe, The United States, Central America and Canada, has as its goal to make people aware of the riches, both natural and cultural, that Nicaragua has to offer to international tourism, and its advantages over other destinations in the region.
The Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur) is promoting Nicaragua as a tourist destination, along with the fashion designer Shantall Lacayo.
An event entitled "Nicaragua Mia, Fashion and Tourism" will feature the participation of the designer, and also presentations by Nicaraguan painters, a photo exhibition of tourist destinations in Nicaragua and national liquor and tobacco will be on offer.
In the last two years medical tourism has increased by 100% according to data from the country's tourism institute.
Relative to the total number of visitors to the country the number of medical tourists is not significant, but the head of the institute (Intur in Spanish), Mario Salinas, says that the change demonstrates that the sector has the potential to keep growing.