Hotel occupancy in Central America has not recovered from the fall it suffered during the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009; this was stated by the president of the Federación Centroamericana de Pequeños Hoteles, Jane Lemarie, during the IX Central American Forum of Small Hotels.
"Since we had the first crisis (in 2008) we still don't see that tourism is rising. Before our occupancy levels were around 90% or 100%, now we are at 61%," said Lemarie during the opening ceremony of the event that was held in the capital of El Salvador.
The sector's concern lies in the possibility of a new downturn in the U.S. economy, the main source of tourists for most Central American destinations, including Costa Rica and Panama.
As measures to deal with this situation, hotels and local destinations have sought new technological strategies that include the entry into social networks, the creation of their own portals for small and medium-sized establishments, among others, according to Lemarie.
To this are added the actions to reinforce security in the destinations, by the hand of the tourist police, Politur, with which it has been possible to establish a system of complaints that seeks to have a better follow-up of the claims even when the tourist has moved from the destination in which the crime against him was committed. "Tourists don't come to unsafe places, so we need to pay attention to the issue," Lemarie said.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Central American Tourism Integration (SITCA), Mercedes Mena, stated that 43% of tourists who visit Central America are people from the same region, "so we are generating security to protect ourselves."
