On November 13th and 14th Costa Rican entrepreneurs of hotel brands, investment funds and real estate developers will be meeting in Costa Rica to discuss sustainable investments in the industry.
The event is being organized by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and will take place at the Hotel Real Intercontinental.
Coffee and tobacco farms in Panama increase their performance when they are used not only as farms but also as rural tourism destinations.
Agricultural production combined with recreation and tourist attraction has created additional financial income for Panamanian producers. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) released by Laestrella.com.pa, the number of agritourism farms in the country rose from 28 in 2014 to 220 in 2015.
The First Congress of Tourism Integration will be held on the March 22nd and 23rd in Panama City, with the objective of establishing a road map for the sector.
With this conference the Tourism Authority of Panama is aiming to bring together the different players in the industry in order to establish the roadmap for the sector.
"... Twelve workshops will be held, each relating to a market segment.The idea is that each workshop presents the current situation in its segment, holds a debate and draws conclusions which can be translated into action, " said Alfredo Motta, event organizer to Laestrella.com.pa.
More and better roads in the district of Capira have facilitated the conversion of more than 65 farms into rural tourism destinations.
In the past four years this business has grown substantially due to the construction of new roads in the area. "... There are 25 farms in Capira accredited by the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA), while another 40 are still undergoing restructuring," said the head of the program for Agritourism in the west of Panama, Ruby Hidalgo to Prensa.com.
This tourism subsector is just starting to develop, and it is expected that it will receive a major boost from the new airports in the interior of the country.
Capital.com.pa reports: "... the challenge now is to facilitate access to credit and for Panamanian producers to learn to do business, because sometimes they do not know what to charge for the service they are providing, an area where foreign entrepreneurs are ahead of them. "
Tourist companies believe that sustainability is not an easy process, however it can be a good idea if it is about doing business.
Katiana Murillo in her article in Baños, reviews the opinion of some companies who participated in Expotur 2013, regarding the question of whether sustainability can be good business for tourism entrepreneurs.
For example, Hotel Arenal Kioro (4 leaves from the CST) says that travel agencies support hotels with green policies, in Europe there are agencies that only work with sustainable hotels and in the U.S. there is a move in this direction.It is also a way to educate the customer and employees, which creates motivation and both of these have an impact on savings.
According to industry players, rural community tourism is growing "slowly, but surely."
According to Harold Ramos, president of the Nicaraguan Network of Rural Tourism (Renitural), agritourism and rural community tourism , "is something that is developing slowly, but surely."
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "at the end of February this year, the National Assembly unanimously approved the Sustainable Rural Tourism Act, which aims to boost this emerging type of tourism. Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, president of the Tourism Commission at the National Assembly, explained that the Act creates the conditions to implement and promote appropriate measures for sustainable development of rural tourism initiatives. "
The Export Promotion Fund of Colombia will advise on the creation and design of touristic coffee farms in El Salvador.
The announcement was made by the Colombian president as part of the inauguration of Tourism Showcase XXX, orgnized by the National Association of Travel and Tourism of Colombia.
El Mundo reported statements from the Colombian president, "...Proexport's advice for creating these coffee farms will represent a great resource in the future...".
The campaign, with a $ 7.2 million investment, is to support Ometepe's tourist related MSMEs and agritourism farms.
The project will begin next January and will start with the refurbishment of the first farms of the 90 included on the project. These will be ready to welcome tourists by May 2011.
The funding includes $ 2 million for the Ometepe tourism conglomerate, $ 2 million to the Department of Rio San Juan and $ 3 million for the proposed agro tourism farms in Nicaragua.
Luxemburg has announced the donation to go towards developing tourism in the north of the country.
The first phase of the program began in 2007 with an investment of $5.2 million in financial and logistical assistance aimed at increasing the number of tourists visiting the northern area of Nicaragua known as the Ruta del Café ("Coffee Route"). This stage is due to finish this year.
The legislative passed an Electronic Signature bill, which will ease international transactions.
This bill explains that technically, electronic signatures are “electronically integrated data, which form a message or are associated with other data”.
José Pallais, President of the Justice Committee, explained that “it will ease electronic commerce; there won’t be a need for physical invoices, just electronic ones.
Inspired by Gites de France, the Rural Inn Network looks for 50 members in the short term.
This is a new business option for those who own land or country houses. It is expected to reactivate local economies and foster tourism.
“Rest as in your home. This is the difference between rural inns and the rest of the hotels. The concept includes specially decorated rooms, homemade food and specially personalized attention”, explained Mercedes de Lemcke, president of the network.
A support program, funded with $1.2 million donated by Luxembourg, will benefit 130 touristic SMEs from the country's north.
This program will provide financial and logistic assistance to local companies, in order to increase the number of visitors to the area known as the 'Coffe Route'.
Mario Salinas, president of Nicaragua's Tourism Institute, explained that "they are negotiating additional support from the Government of Luxembourg.