The political strife in Honduras last year dealt a blow to the Central American country's 2-year-old campaign to increase tourism after the U.S. and Canada issued travel advisories against visiting the country. But with the November election of President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, tourism officials say they are already seeing a dramatic increase in bookings; the Canadian charter season begins in mid-December, and the country's high season is around the corner with discounted rates. Hotels editor Jeri Clausing spoke with the Honduras Tourism Institute's marketing director, Karla Calidonio, about the impact the political tensions had on tourism.
Q: During the political standoff that followed the June military ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, resort owners were concerned about the impact on tourism. Are things getting better now?
A: One of the things that just recently happened that I think will help is the removal of the travel advisories. That is very helpful in changing people's perception of the country. Then they can come see that things are quite different here. We have been saying that, but since we live here it is harder for [potential visitors] to believe things are safe. The removal of the advisories will help a lot.
Q: How badly did the political situation affect tourism? Did it impact bookings for this winter?
A: I think we are very lucky to have friends in the industry that believe in the country. Let's say, for example, the charter companies from Canada. They were starting the trips in December, but even with all the political issues, they managed to put those together, and they didn't cancel any of the trips to Honduras. As a matter of fact, they had an ongoing campaign in Canada to let people know about the offers. Of course, the sales began a little bit slow because of the situation, but I think the lifting of the travel alerts will help a lot.
And then we have the airlines. They did not stop flying to Honduras. We were in the low season: Some reduced their frequency, but that is normal during the rainy season.
Q: Are you launching any campaigns to let travelers know things are back to normal in Honduras?
A: We continue working with the European tour operators and wholesalers to help educate them on how to sell Honduras. Then we have a marketing committee that was formed two years ago with the private sector. Its members include the president of the tour operators group and representatives from the association of incoming tour operators and local tourism chambers. We are meeting to work together on what will be our next campaign.
Q: Are you concerned that Americans, who are known for their parochialism, might just remember that they heard something bad about Honduras or Central America and not realize the political turmoil is over?
A: If you look at in a positive way, sometimes they don't even know where countries are. So they may have heard about [the political tensions] but they don't even know exactly where we are or that it involved us. So that is kind of positive. It can be good and bad.
But I think it is natural for tourism to be affected. Look what happened after Sept. 11. People canceled travel all over the world. Then you have natural disasters. It will clear with time. I don't think it will happen from one day to the next, but slowly they will listen to the news and they will hear from others, and eventually things will start getting back to normal. Of course, for us it might take a little more time. We just started our big tourism push two years ago, and then we had all this publicity about Honduras. But at least it was publicity about Honduras -- good or bad.