The fifth annual Central American Travel Market will take place at the CrownePlazaConvention Center in Managua, Nicaragua, Oct. 10 to 12.
The trade event, run by the Federation of Central American Tourism Chambers (FEDECATUR), will see representatives from approximately 140 tourism companies exhibiting their products, primarily to European wholesalers.
“It is a regional fair, so companies from all of the seven countries of Central America are participating,” Grethel Collins, executive director of the Nicaraguan National Tourism Chamber and organizer of this year’s fair, told The Tico Times.
“Central America as a region reached an agreement to promote itself in the European market because of the type of visitor that comes from there,” explained Adriana Brenes of the Costa Rican National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR). “On average, Europeans stay more than a week, and sometimes more than a fortnight, in order to visit the whole region.”
FEDECATUR wants to encourage this European model of multi-destination tourism, Brenes added.
“Not just one country, but all the countries together as one market – that is what we want to do here in Central America,” she said.
Different countries in the region hold the travel market alternately. Last year it was held at the Cariari Country Club, on the outskirts of San José (TT, Oct. 19, 2007), while in 2009 it is likely to be held in El Salvador.
According to Brenes, CANATUR has sold all 30 of the stands allocated to Costa Rica at the event. However, places are still available for Nicaraguan firms.
For more information, contact Collins at 505-270-2587 or visit www.catm2008.com.
