1. Tourism Integration Secretariat Central American Council of Tourism SG-SICA III INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE MEETING DECEMBER 2007

2. CENTRAL AMERICAN TOURISM INTEGRATION Growing political, social and economic integration process Tourism sector recognized as a priority-Strategic sector and Policy of State Dynamic business sector Strong commitment and shared vision between public and private sector.

3. 8% increasing of tourists 16.7% increasing in income COUNTRY 20052006 TouristsExcursionistsIncome (millions of USD) TouristsExcursionistsIncome (millions of USD) BELICE236,573800,331174.7247,325655,929166.0 COSTA RICA1,679,051280,0171,569.91,716,277345,6461,620.8 EL SALVADOR1,154,386179,044644.211,257,952222,434870.67 GUATEMALA1,297,67117,975868.81,481,54720,5221,012.0 HONDURAS673,035444,610407.6738,667397,689474.4 NICARAGUA712,44491,489207.0773,398125,301239.0 PANAMA661,401405,375971.0718,069459,0931,270.0 TOTAL6,414,5612,218,8414,843.26,933,2352,226,6145,652.8

4. 2002-2006

5. Central American Strategic Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development 2003-2007 1. Planning and Regional Product Development 2. Training and Tourism Culture: Regional Training plan Tourism Culture program 3. Promotion and Marketing: common image- brand, strategy and promotional agency

6. Sustainable Tourism: Framework  Cultural and natural heritage.  Participation of local actors and communities- tourism culture and sensibilization  Promotion and capacity building of SME: Training for improvement of quality and competitiveness  Involvement of the private sector in policy definition, initiatives and projects  Prevention of commercial sexual exploitation  Regional Image and Promotion Strategy: Central America as a multidestination and multiproduct in coordination with the private sector

7. Central American Multiproduct Nature:  554 protected areas in 25% of the territory.  Beaches, mountains, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, etc.  Products: Ecotourism, Rural, Agro tourism, Adventure, Sports (diving, cruising, surfing, golf and others) Culture:  16 sites declared World Heritage by UNESCO.  Archeology.  Live communities  Colonial cities.  Folklore.

8. Cultural Tourism Regional Routes/Trials World Heritage: 16 sites: UNESCO/CPM/French cooperation and Ministry of Tourism France –Action plan/diagnostic Colonial and Volcanic Trail Rural Tourism-Hostals Network: Gites de France

9. CONTRIBUTION OF THE REGIONAL ROUTES  Product development  Regional integration (countries, sectors, localities, business sector)  Multiproduct and multidestination (nature and culture)  Major impacts in employment, poverty alleviation and local development  Improvement of social conditions required for tourism and development: benefits for communities

10. Actions implemented Colonial and Volcanes Trial Diagnostic and action plan Marketing plan and promotional materials Presented with C.A. TTOO Launched in WTM London Training in planning and local destination management for local actors and municipalities Training of trainers and SME in quality and best practices Sensibilization on tourism culture: preservation of culture and nature heritage/Regional Manual Capacity building and institutional strengthening of chambers and local institutions Brand designed Projects to be implemented: signals

11. CULTURE TOURISM PROGRAM: Training Regional manual Seminars and disseminationCULTURE TOURISM PROGRAM: Training Regional manual Seminars and dissemination

12. 2002-2006