The Attorney General has calls on owners of Hotel Punta Teonoste to bring a trespassing issue to court and expressed willingness to open a dialogue.
The Attorney General of the Republic of Nicaragua, Hernan Estrada, has moderated his position on the occupation of private lands used for investment in tourism, Hotel Punta Teonoste, inviting the family who owns the hotel to take the matter to the courts of appeals.
Business associations are demanding to know the legal basis for an intervention at Hotel Punta Teonoste, where 20 acres of land were confiscated, to be handed to the former rebel leader Eden Pastora.
President of the Superior Council of Private Enterphrise, COSEP, Jose Adan Aguerri, said the episode provokes uncertainty, which affects "all Nicaraguans in the country, it is the government, it is our image, it is employment, it is investment attraction, and that's something we're going to protect."
In order to attract the attention of investors, entrepreneurs have created a portfolio of six major projects for tourism development.
The Association of Coastal Marine Tourist Developers (Promar in Spanish), led by renowned Salvadoran entrepreneurs, recently presented the Government with an ambitious portfolio of six mega resorts with high potential to attract investment to the country, to be run in the next 14 years, and which is valued at $2 billion.
The Government is emphasizing the understanding and agreement between employers, workers and officials on issues like the minimum wage.
Nicaragua seeks to position itself as an attractive and reliable place for foreign investment and to attract innovative projects, states the investment promotion agency ProNicaragua, which is preparing three business forums this year.
The Hotel Ramada Herradura has been awarded a five-year management concession for the municipal beach resort in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
The award process will become official once it has been published in the Gazette. The Mayor of Puntarenas expects that the company will assume management later this year.
"The president of Herradura said that the business group that won the administration will pay ¢3 million a month to the municipality.
Tourists who arrived in the country in 2011 provided $615 million in revenue, 18.7% more than in 2010.
In terms of quantity, 2011 closed with 1,634,679 visitors, 62%, from Central America, 30% of the U.S., 4% from South America, and 4% from Europe.
"'Foreign exchange earnings from tourism have a real impact for the Salvadoran economy, as this represents a contribution of 2.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)', said the head of tourism, Jose Napoleon Duarte .
The figure represent an increase of 15% compared to last year, according to the tourism authority.
The Nicaraguan government expects tourism related investment to reach $140 million in 2012, which is 15.7% more than last year.
The head of legal department of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur) Omar Oporta, said that in 2011 national and foreign investment in tourism reached $121 million.
In recent years, more than $300 million has been invested in the hotel sector along the coastline of Punta Chame and Rio Hato.
Employers in the hospitality industry are betting on the growth of the area, in which several hotels are already operational and several others are expected to open in the coming months.
For the first time, the canal country has more tourist arrivals than its neighbor Costa Rica.
Marketing strategies implemented abroad, coupled with the increasing flow of foreign investment into the country, are two of the main reasons for the notable growth in the number of visitor arrivals to Panama.
In the third quarter of the year, Costa Rica, a major recipient of tourists in the region, recorded a 4% decrease in tourist flow, while Panama experienced an increase of 11%.
The Central American region is attempting to become more integrated in the way it promotes itself.
Although each Central American country has its own unique characteristics, their geographic proximity and similarities, among other things, are elements that can be used to raise the region’s profile as a worldwide tourist destination.
These were the conclusions reached at the VIII Central American Travel Market, CATM 2011, one of the isthmus’s more relevant tourism industry promotion events, which recently took place in Panama.
With an investment of about $20 million the Institute of Tourism has announced the construction of two marinas in the Caribbean and a hotel in Leon.
The investments are of Italian and Spanish origin, explained the head of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), Mario Salinas.
With an initial investment of about $15 million, one of the marinas will be built in Bluefields Bay and the other on Corn Island, in the south Caribbean, said Juan Manuel Muñoz, manager in charge of the proposed marinas. Construction work is scheduled to start in late December.
The project attracting the most attention from Italian road building companies was the coastal road on the south coast, being seen as a hub of tourist development.
During the Encuentro Empresarial (Business Meeting) between Nicaragua and Europe, Italian and Spanish investors expressed their interest in investing in the tourism sector.
Regarding this subject the head of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), Mario Salinas, noted that companies are primarily interested in the construction industry, specializing in transportation projects.
Using new strategies and promotions abroad, the sector is trying to consolidate the slow recent recovery.
Although slow, the tourism industry in Guatemala has recovered from the decline suffered in 2008, in the context of the international financial crisis.
So far this year, the amount of foreign currency that has come into the country from this sector totals $681 million, an optimistic figure when compared with the $700 million revenue in 2010.
Following an advertising campaign there is an expected increase of up to 30% in tourist arrivals to Guatemala.
Jorge Samayoa, director of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism said the publicity has been widespread in Mexico, the United States, Central America and several European countries.
On the issue of violence, the official pointed out the presence of the Tourist Police, which cover the tourist spots.