Central AmericanTravel Market 2017 Underway2017 in El Salvador

Caribbean News Digital Newsroom

El Salvador will be hosting on Oct. 6 to 8, the Central American Travel Market (CATM), the most important event on tourism and travel marketing for the region in the face of Europe, with a turnout of 78 tourism professionals and 26 news media organizations.

This is the second time El Salvador hosts this event since in 2009, when the country also held the gathering and achieved important results in the positioning, promotion and marketing of the destination, according to authorities from the Ministry of Tourism.During the event, participants will hold specialized meetings with 98 exhibitors from all over the region.

"El Salvador becomes the most important tourist epicenter of the Central American region by hosting the CATM, opening the opportunity to expose the main attractions of our country to professionals in Europe," said Minister of Tourism, Mr. José Napoleón Duarte Durán.

Until today, the platform registers a total of 78 wholesalers specialized in the commercialization of Central American destinations in Europe, who will hold specialized meetings with 98 exhibitors from all over the region.

As a prelude to CATM, pre-tours have been organized for wholesalers to take a closer look at the tourism offer in El Salvador, so that they can include the destination in their catalogs.

"It is a great opportunity to promote the new tourism products of Central America and position El Salvador as a great destination.These days, wholesalers will tour El Salvador's greatest treasures, their natural wealth and cultural legacy, "said Duarte.

Among the tourist attractions that European entrepreneurs will visit, El Boqueron, Joya de Ceren Archaeological Site, San Andrés Archaeological Site, Casa Blanca Archaeological Site, Tazumal, Santa Ana, Ruta de Las Flores, Malecón del Puerto de La Libertad, Historic Center of San Salvador, Bahia de Jiquilisco and beaches of the east are some of the highlights.

The Minister of Tourism of El Salvador reiterated that the meeting aims at contributing to the positioning and dissemination of the Central America brand, and at boosting the country at an international level.

The event is organized, promoted and executed by the National Tourism Authorities, the Federation of Central American Tourism Chambers (FEDECATUR) and the Tourism Promotion Agency of Central America (CATA).

"At the Salvadoran Chamber of Tourism, we are excited to promote a fair of this scope that seeks to strengthen the links between companies and offer integrated, innovative and quality products that combine two or more Central American countries," said CASATUR president Lic. Beatriz de Contreras.

At the end of 2016, Central America registered 21.4 million visitors, an increase of 6.5% compared to 2015. Likewise, tourism generated $19,283.7 million worth of revenues, according to data in a 2016 document issued by SICA.