Honduras Tourism is Back Sooner Than Expected

ANTIGUA, Guatemala – Following the June 2009 coup in which Honduras President Jose Manuel “Mel” Zelaya was overthrown as the country’s leader, the political unrest in the country lead to a drop in tourism.

But just six months later, the country’s tourism product began to return to normal and now the country is reporting a 10 percent increase in arrivals from this time last, Ana Lucia Funes, official of promotion and events for the Honduras Institute of Tourism, told Travel Agent during our coverage of the Centro America Travel Market Guatemala.

“Everyone though it would take a lot longer, at least a year,” she told us. “But tourism is back and we are continue to grow. It was about six months later that we began to see tourism come back.”

She says the tourism board had organized an array of press and fam trips to the country since the unrest began last year to show the industry that everything was back to normal.

And it worked.

“We knew the best way was to have people come and see it for themselves,” she says. “Because you never really tell what’s really go on by watching the news. So we had media and agents and operators tour the country and they all agreed that Honduras was as safe as it’s ever been.”

Visit www.letsgohonduras.com.