Roberto Robles, director of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism, resigned to his office.
The resignation came on the same day in which Vice President Espada said that "tourism is completely abandoned."
Espada said meetings will be held in the Executive branch to discuss changes to the tourism strategy. With changes to promotion and policies, issues such as airport construction will be discussed.
The tourism sector is one of the most sensitive regarding security, so taking care of it is a priority.
The crime and violence problem in Central America permeates Central American Travel Market 2010, encouraging initiatives such as regional approval of specialized police forces dedicated to the protection of tourism.
As outlined in an article in Prensa.com, Napoleon Duarte, Minister of Tourism of El Salvador, said the subject will be the starting point for the Central American Tourism Council (CCT), and that "the work is to create a communication system between tourist police to enable them to connect, in addition to redesigning policies in order to strengthen crime prevention."
Estimates for the new cruise season, which starts on September 29, contemplates 32% less arrivals.
One reason for this low arrival rate could be blamed on the failure of Congress to reform the Organic Law of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism (INGUAT), which would eliminate the current tax of $ 10 charged to each cruise passenger.
On the subject, news portal Newsinamerica.com published comments from Karina Velasquez, Manager of Social Communication at INGUAT, "The cruise lines call to learn about current status of the country and benefits in docking here, but the news is not good at all because of the imposed tax to tourists.”
Despite the government committing to get rid of the $10 tax per cruise ship passenger, it still remains in force with the beginning of the season just 27 days away.
The first boat with tourists, of a total of 62, is scheduled to arrive on 29 September and the sector's businesses are concerned that the $10 tax will not be abolished in time.
In May the government promised the leaders of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) that the tax would be eliminated.
A discussion to impose a $10 levy to cruise ship tourists is back in Congress.
Back in November 2009, Legislative Decree 38-2009 suspended the collection of this tax, but President Álvaro Colom vetoed such decree.
More recently, the Constitutional Court (CC) ruled that it is not against the constitution to suspend collection of the tax. This has caused the discussion to go back to Congress.
The marketing plan proposed by the Government seeks to increase the number of visitors in 13%.
Ericka Guillermo, from the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, explained they will invest in advertising campaigns, events and promotional fairs, as well as market research.
"She added they are looking for innovative advertising strategies, while identifying key markets to make focused investments", reported Prensalibre.com.
The Tourism Ministry and the Tax Authority will both control that hotels pay the hosting tax.
Roberto Dobles, director of the Tourism Institute, expects to start controlling this tax in March, once both institutions sign an agreement.
“This tax represents 50% of the Institute’s budget … some hotels evade it… so we’ll punish those companies not transferring it, as they are only middlemen for something paid by guests”.
Even though Guatemala received 3.1% more tourists in 2009, each one spent less, as tourism sales remained flat.
Despite the international economic crisis and the A H1N1 flu, which affected Guatemala's tourism industry, the country ended 2009 with 53.000 more visitors than 2008.
"Mariano Beltranena, president of Camtur, the tourism chamber, stated that the real situation is not as optimistic as portrayed by the official figures, because hotels in Petén, Antigua Guatemala and the capital city were affected considerably by the A H1N1 flu", reported Prensalibre.com.
Called "Oxlajuj B’aqtun 2012", the initiative seeks to position Guatemala as the "hearth of the Mayan world".
This touristic campaign will start on January 2010 and comprises developing 5 sacred Mayan sites and promoting 3 Mayan routes.
Roberto Dobles, tourism head, told Prensalibre.com: "the sites are Uaxactún, ...; Quiriguá, ...; el Cerro Kaj Juyub, ...; Chicabal, ...; y Takaliq Abaj".
Congress passed a decree waiving a $10 tax for tourists from cruise ships.
It applies to visitors staying less than 72 hours in the country.
Roberto Robles, director of the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, argues that the cruise ship industry is growing in the country, and that it provides economic benefits for the country in the short, mid, and long term, as it provides employment for craftsmen and promotes internal tourism.
Tourism ministries from both countries will jointly promote the brand 'Hearth of the Maya World'.
José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran Tourism Minister, announced at Central America Travel Market that they are considering a "multiple destination project", with his Guatemalan homologous.
"We are having talks with Roberto Robles to launch bi-national projects with a Guatemala-El Salvador concept.
Even though visitor projections are good, they are lower than the 40.000 people visiting 2008's August Fairs ("Ferias Agostinas").
Guatemala invested $250.000 in a touristic campaign to attract visitors from El Salvador to these fairs. Authorities also expect the arrival of many Salvadorans who had initially planned to visit Honduras, but are now deterred by the institutional crisis in said country.
Carnival canceled a $40 million project for building a cruise terminal in the Guatemalan port of Tomás de Castilla.
Lack of agreement between owners of the land to be used for the construction, and Carnival Corporation, is hinted as the main reason for this cancellation.
Roberto Robles is the head of the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, also known as Inguat.
Cruise ships promise a 40% increase in visits to the country if an agreement is reached not to collect the $10 per visitor departure tax.
The $10 per visitor departure tax fee was scheduled for implementation in January 2009. However, due to pressure from cruise ship companies that Guatemala would be removed from the list of destinations, implementation had been postponed until May 1.