CATA: Increased Efforts to Promote Central American Tourism
The Central America Tourism Agency (CATA) went to this year’s edition of WTM London with a view to promote the many allure the entire region has to offer. With that mindset, the agency conducted a number of activities that covered each and every Central American country.
Its strategic location, linking North and South America and connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic, makes Central America the heart of the American continent, with enormous possibilities of becoming a world class hub of tourism development.
Likewise, Central America is a fusion of several cultures, ethnic groups, languages and traditions. The region is synonymous with passion, mysticism, nature, culture, sun, sea, sand, lakes and volcanoes, and that is why CATA focuses its efforts to position the region as a tourist multi-destination in Europe.
One of the actions was the promotion of sustainable development. Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic are committed to contribute substantially to the sustainable development of Central America in its social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
In 2018, the region received 17.7 million tourists, showing a 2.7% growth over the previous year.
Tourism in Central America is a transversal activity in close ties with other sectors such as micro, small, and medium enterprises. In 2018 tourism was consolidated as the third most dynamic sector of the world economy, and in 2019 the countries of the region are facing a new era for the expansion of tourism-derived activities to be established as a sustainable destination.
In order to contribute to strengthening the commercialization and sale of the region’s tourism offer through the publication of articles that feature the destinations, CATA has decided to recognize the collaboration of two journalists and three wholesalers from the United Kingdom for their contribution to the promotion of the Central American multi-destination.
These awards were presented in recognition of the efforts of journalists and wholesalers that stand out for their promotion and commercialization of the offer for the English travel market. The selection process of the winners was carried out through consultations with the tour operators of the region.
Second Edition of the Central America Innovation + Tourism Talk
More than 1,000 tourism entities from the Central American region met from September 25 to October 11, 2019 for the second edition of the Central America Innovation + Tourism Talk (CAITT).
CAITT has become a vital event for the destination and tourism companies’ ecosystem in Central America, where the top sector leaders meet, both in the business, and political and administrative spheres of regional tourism.
The Innovation Talk is a space for debate, apprenticeship, and training of the digital ecosystem for the optimization of tourism services promoted by the Central America Tourism Agency (CATA).
During the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Central American Tourism Council, El Salvador developed this event that seeks to unify the tourism sector of the region around the regional marketing and promotional campaign executed by CATA and aimed at European target markets, consolidating it with the determined participation of regional actors in order to capture the best prospect of European tourists interested in a multi-destination experience.
The Innovation Talk is a world-class event with multiple networking options, which facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences around the benefits that Digital Technologies provide for the promotion and marketing of tourism products and services.
Among the topics that the speakers covered stand out reputation management and how to sell tourism experiences online; the use of tools to maximize income through digital marketing; innovation in the tourism sector for job creation; how to measure the impact of influencers and analytics campaigns, as well as the use of travel tools.
Since its first edition in 2018, the Central America Innovation + Tourism Talk has generated a positive dynamic that confers greater strength to the image of the region. That is, Central America is integrated as a region, and is united with the necessary strength to face international competition in order to attract the European tourist to the destinations of the countries that make up CATA.
Meeting of the Central America Integration System
The countries that make up the Central American Integration System (known by its Spanish acronym SICA) carried out the LVI Regular Meeting of the Central America Tourism Agency’s (CATA) Directing Council in the context of the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Central American Tourism Council (known by its Spanish acronym CCT) held by the Republic of El Salvador from July to December 2019.
The countries of the region are convinced that the competitiveness of Central America compared to other markets depends on their capacity for innovation to strategically transform their tourism proposal, which is why the Tourism Ministers met in the City of San Salvador, with the purpose of analyzing the advances in the promotion of the Central American multi-destination in the CATA European target markets.
In this regard, Morena Valdez, El Salvador’s Tourism Minister and Pro Tempore President of the CCT, stated: “El Salvador is leading one of the most important efforts for the region in the context of the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in order to accomplish a high-quality integrated, diverse, and sustained multi-destination that will allow us to mark the economic and social development of our countries.”
For the international market, Central America represents a tourism multi-destination with a diverse and multicultural offer that complements each other, combining 554 protected areas that occupy 25% of its regional territory, and 12% of the world's biodiversity.
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Carolina Briones: “CATA Works to Improve Competitiveness of the Region’s Tourism”
Dominican Republic Joins CATA
Since January 2019, the Dominican Republic has formalized its incorporation as a full member of the Central America Tourism Agency (CATA). This will allow the Dominican Republic to contribute with its dynamism and tourism product to the efforts for the integration of this sector of the SICA region and position it in the European target markets.
Since 2016, the Dominican Republic has participated as an observer in the ordinary meetings of CATA’s Directing Council (known by its Spanish acronym CD-CATA). It was not until 2018 that the adhesion of the Caribbean nation as a full member was unanimously approved, being at the same time ratified as Pro Tempore Presidency of the CD-CATA for the January-June period of that year.
This event has led the regional tourist integration towards a new era that imposes new vigor and tones to the regional offer and the tourism product of the Dominican Republic in order to promote the regional to the international market as complementary destinations.
Through this alliance, Central America and the Dominican Republic strengthen their capacity to influence current and future priority markets, and establish the pillars for the exchange of the tourism sector in the SICA-DR territory, which set the tone to create the offers that will strengthen both the Central American multi-destination as well as the tourism offer of the Caribbean nation, by complementing each other with its diverse and unique natural spaces, history, and culture.
El Salvador Takes the Helms of Central American Tourism Integration
El Salvador is getting ready to lead the regional agenda of the Central American tourism integration in its capacity as Pro Tempore President of the Central American Tourism Council (known by its Spanish acronym CCT) and the Directing Council of the Central America Tourism Agency (CATA), which it will exercise during the period of July to December 2019.
It is in this context that Carolina Briones, CATA Secretary General, and Rodrigo Báez, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central American Tourism Integration (SITCA), held a meeting with Morena Valdés, Minister of Tourism of El Salvador, to establish the main work areas and the strategic focuses to be promoted during the second half of this year.
Under the leadership of El Salvador, all actions will be directed to the promotion of Central America as a unique multi-destination for the European market. This is expected to improve the perception of European tourists through the implementation of actions that are currently considered in the Central America and Dominican Republic Promotion and Digital Marketing Strategy.
At the same time, these actions include CATA’s institutional strengthening and the integration of the tourism product of the Dominican Republic as an added value to all the regional promotional efforts currently being supported by CATA.
