Tourism in Nicaragua

Information about Tourism in Nicaragua

Enlarge picture
Rotonda Ruben Dario, or Metrocentro, one of Managua's many shopping districts
Tourism in Nicaragua has boomed in the last 12 years making it the second largest industry in the nation. Nicaragua has seen positive growth in the tourism sector over the last decade and is expected to become the first largest industry in 2007. As a result of positive growth, President Daniel Ortega plans on using tourism to combat poverty throughout the country.[1] The growth in tourism has positively affected the agricultural, commercial, and finance industries, as well as the construction industry.

History

Life in Nicaragua
Art
Cinema
Cuisine
Culture
Demographics
Education
Health
Holidays
Human Rights
Literature
Music
Politics
Tourism


During the Nicaraguan Revolution in the '80s Nicaragua was not seen as a place to travel and caused a decrease in tourism. However, rapid expansion of the tourist industry over the last decade has made it the nation's second largest industry.[2] Over the last 7 years tourism has grown about 70% nationwide with rates of 10%-16% annually.[3] The country is mostly famous for its landscapes, flora and fauna, wildlife, culture, beaches and of course, its lakes and volcanoes.

According to TV Noticias (news program) on Canal 2, a Nicaragua television station, the main attractions in Nicaragua for tourists are the beaches, scenic routes, the architecture of cities such as León and Granada and most recently ecotourism and agritourism, particularly in Northern Nicaragua.[3]

Tourism

In 2005 803,933 tourists visited Nicaragua, a noticeable improvement from the mere 579,165 in 2002. The tourism industry received US$ 240 million, outstripping the other main earner, coffee.[1] Nicaragua managed to receive more visitors than Panama in 2005.[4] The majority of tourists came from the U.S., Europe, and Central and South America.

About 60,000 U.S. citizens visit Nicaragua yearly, primarily business people, tourists, and those visiting relatives.[5]

Enlarge picture
Panoramic view of Corn Island.


According to the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua (INTUR) the colonial city of Granada is the preferred spot for tourists. Also, the cities of León, Masaya, Rivas and the likes of San Juan del Sur, San Juan River, Ometepe, Mombacho Volcano, and others are main tourist attractions.[6] In addition, ecotourism and surfing attract many tourists to Nicaragua.

Also, a popular destination are the Corn Islands located about 70 km east off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua near Bluefields. They have been regarded as a "tropical paradise" by the Los Angeles Times.[7] Cruise ships have been docking in San Juan del Sur since January 2000 and average 50,000 tourist alone every year, some who partake in tours to nearby Lake Cocibolca and the colonial city of Granada.[8]

Nicaragua was ranked with the lowest crime rate in Latin America by Interpol,[1][9] with only 12 crimes for every 100,000 citizens.[10] Nicaragua also holds the largest lake in Central America, about 700 species of birds, and unspoiled natural beauty, despite all this it is still the least visited country in the region.[11][12] However, the lower number of tourists help Nicaragua keep low prices, and an "off the beaten track" feel.

Rural and community-based tourism

CECOCAFEN is an organization of coffee cooperatives in Northern Nicaragua that manage a rural and community-based tourism project, which has been developed with support from the Lutheran World Relief. CEOCAFEN was founded in 1997,[13] the drop in international coffee prices is what started the CECCOAFEN project in 2003. Tourism allows farmers to receive new opportunities in alternative markets, harvest coffee and diversify their income.[14] CECOCAFEN offers visitors the opportunity to visit a coffee farm, learn about coffee craftsmanship, and even to stay overnight on a coffee farm and explore with a community guide.

Ecological tourism

Eco-tourism aims to be ecologically and socially conscious, it focuses on local culture, wilderness, and adventure. Nicaragua's eco-tourism is growing with every passing year,[15] it boasts a number of eco-tourist tours and perfect places for adventurers. Nicaragua has three eco-regions, the Pacific, Central and Atlantic which contain volcanoes, tropical rainforest and agricultural land.[16]

Enlarge picture
Ometepe: Maderas and Concepcion Volcanoes, popular tourist destination


Nicaragua is home to 78 protected areas covering over 20% of it landmass, and is home to 7% of the world's biodiversity. More than Costa Rica, which is though to hold more natural areas than Nicaragua.[17] Nicaragua is also home to Bosawas, located in Northern Nicaragua, which is the largest rainforest north of the Amazon in Brazil, and the largest lake in Central America, Lake Cocibolca. Lake Cocibolca attracts its fair number of tourist yearly, most of which primarily visit Ometepe, which is a large volcanic island formed by two volcanoes in the lake. Tourist typically visit and explore the flora and fauna found in the Charco Verde Nature Reserve.

Nicaragua's rich biodiversity attracts many tourists to protected areas such as the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, which holds a higher number in species of trees, birds, and insects than all of Europe.[18]

International tourist arrivals

Visa regulations

Tourists from Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian National Authority, Peru, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Vietnam and Yemen require a visa to enter Nicaragua.[19]

Other tourists can obtain a Tourist Card for US$10 valid for 1 month upon arrival, provided with a valid passport with at least six months to run. There is also a US$32 departure tax.[20]

International airport

Main article: List of airports in Nicaragua
Nicaragua only has one international airport, the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, located in Managua.

Tourist attractions

Volcanoes

Enlarge picture
Sand skiing down the Cerro Negro volcano.
Nicaragua is referred to as "the land of lakes and volcanoes" due to the number of lagoons and lakes, and the chain of volcanoes that runs from the north to the south along the country's Pacific side. Today, only 7 of the 50 volcanoes in Nicaragua are considered active. Many of these volcanoes offer some great possibilities for tourists with activities such as hiking, climbing, camping, and swimming in crater lakes. Most recently sand skiing has become a popular attraction at the Cerro Negro volcano in León. Both dormant and active volcanoes can be climbed. Some of the most visited volcanoes include the Masaya Volcano, Momotombo, Mombacho, Cosigüina and Ometepe's Maderas and Concepción.

Enlarge picture
View from the Volcan Mombacho; this volcano blew its cone into the lake forming an archipelago of 365 islands


The Apoyo Lagoon was created by the eruption of the Apoyo Volcano about 23,000 years ago, which left a huge 7 km-wide crater that gradually filled with water. It is surrounded by the old crater wall.[21] The rim of the lagoon is lined with restaurants, many of which have kayaks available. Besides exploring the forest around it, many water sports are practiced in the lagoon, most notably kayaking.[22]

Another popular attraction is the archipelago of 365 islands known as the Islets of Granada (Isletas de Granada). The 364 islets were formed when the Mombacho volcano blew most of its cone into the lake, thereby creating the archipelago. The islets are popular with both locals and tourists. The islets differ in size and have a community of about 1200 people, most of whom make their living as fishermen. Many visitors take boat rides along the islets, which are abundant with many different species of birds and fish.[23]

Popular destinations

Enlarge picture
Granada's Town Square
Enlarge picture
Corn Island
Enlarge picture
Bahia Majagual Rivas


Department of Managua: Department of Granada: Department of Leon: Department of Rivas: Department of Río San Juan: Department of Estelí Department of Jinotega
  • Jinotega, El Jaguar Cloud Forest Reserve
Department of Matagalpa Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur: Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte:

See also

Further reading

  • Leonardi, Richard (2001). Nicaragua Handbook: The Travel Guide. Footprint Travel Guides. ISBN 1903471141. 
  • Jeffrey Zuehlke, Christopher Dall (2006). Nicaragua in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0822526719. 
  • Randall Wood, Joshua Berman (2006). Moon Living Abroad in Nicaragua. Avalon Travel Publishing. ISBN 1566919878. 

References

1. ^ "Ortega banks on tourism to beat poverty", Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
2. ^ "Travel And Tourism in Nicaragua", Euromonitor International. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
3. ^ Alemán, Giselle Alemán. "Turismo en Nicaragua: aportes y desafios parte I", Canal 2. Retrieved on 2007-07-29. (Spanish) 
4. ^ "Central American Tourism Boom", Travel Industry News. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
5. ^ "Background Note: Nicaragua", U.S. State Department. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
6. ^ "Destinos", INTUR. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
7. ^ Wedner, Diane. "Nicaragua's Corn Islands, an unspoiled Paradise", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
8. ^ Stevens, Jennifer. "Nicaragua update: More tourists & greater", Escape Artist. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
9. ^ Carter, Jimmy. "Jimmy Carter's Nicaragua Trip Report", The Carter Center. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
10. ^ Kerr, Michael. "Contra to expectations...", Telegraph, 2007-06-02, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
11. ^ "Nicaragua Travel Guide", Travelotica. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
12. ^ "Nicaragua’s Evolution", Transitions Abroad. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
13. ^ "CECOCAFEN, the Coffee Cooperatives Central in the Northern Regions", Cooperative Coffees. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
14. ^ Butler, Felicity. "Rural and community-based tourism harvests greater yields". Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
15. ^ "Nicaraguan Ecotourism", Nicaragua.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
16. ^ "Nicaragua Travel Guide - Overview", World Travel Guide. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
17. ^ "Eco-tourism in Nicaragua: Green Giant", Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
18. ^ "River of dreams", Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
19. ^ "Know Nicaragua Visa and Passport Regulations", Nicaragua.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
20. ^ "Consular Information Sheet: Nicaragua", U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
21. ^ "Volcanoes in Nicaragua: Apoyo Volcano", ViaNica. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
22. ^ "Activities in and around the Apoyo Lagoon", ViaNica. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
23. ^ "Boat trip among the Granada Islets", ViaNica. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 

External links

 •  • [ e]
Tourism in North America
Sovereign statesAntigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama* Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago* United States
Dependencies and
other territories		Anguilla Aruba* Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Netherlands Antilles* Puerto Rico Saint-Barthlemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Turks and Caicos Islands U. S. Virgin Islands
 •  • [ e]
Tourism
Types of tourism Adventure tourismHikingTrampingMountaineering Agritourism Archaeological tourism Backpacker Tourism Bicycle touring Bookstore tourism Cultural tourism Dark tourism Disaster tourism Drug tourism Ecotourism Extreme tourism Female sex tourism Free Independent Traveler Garden tourism Heritage tourism Literary tourism Medical tourism Music tourism Naked hiking Neo tourism Pop-culture tourism Perpetual tourism Pilgrimage Sacred travel Safaris Sex tourism Space tourism Sustainable tourism Virtual tourism Volunteer vacation Wine tourism
Tourism in Australia (Sydney) Brazil Canada Cuba  Dubai Mexico New Zealand Nicaragua Papua New Guinea USA
Africa Burkina Faso Cameroon Nigeria Rwanda Sierra Leone
Asia Bahrain China (Hong Kong Macau) Cyprus Indonesia India Israel Japan Jordan (North Korea South Korea) Kyrgyzstan Laos Malaysia Maldives Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka TaiwanThailand Uzbekistan
Europe Albania Andorra Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Gibraltar Greece Ireland Isle of Man Italy Lithuania Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine UK (England Scotland Wales) Vatican City
Misc Gift shop Lonely Planet Passport Resort town Roadside attraction Transport Tourist trap Tourist apartheid Tour guide Travel agency Tourist attraction
HospitalityHotel Hostel Hostelling International Hospitality Services List of vacation resorts Package holiday
See also World Tourism Organization World Tourism Rankings World Tourism Day Tourism in literature Tourism geography Tourism technology
Anthem
Salve a ti, Nicaragua


Capital
(and largest city) Managua

..... Click the link for more information.
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born 11 November 1945) is the current President of Nicaragua. For much of his life, he has been an important leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional or FSLN).
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Salve a ti, Nicaragua


Capital
(and largest city) Managua

..... Click the link for more information.
The Cuisine of Nicaragua is as diverse as its inhabitants. It is a mixture of criollo style food and pre-Columbian dishes. When the Spaniards first arrived in Nicaragua they found that the Creole people present had incorporated foods available in the area into their cuisine.
..... Click the link for more information.
Nicaraguan culture has several distinct strands. The west of the country was colonized by Spain and has a similar culture to other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
..... Click the link for more information.
Managua Managua 1,262,978 10 Estelí Estelí 201,548
2 Matagalpa Matagalpa 469,172 11 Granada Granada 168,186
3 Chinandega Chinandega 378,970 12 Jinotepe Carazo 166,073
4 León León 355,779 13 Rivas Rivas 156,283 Managua
..... Click the link for more information.
Education in Nicaragua is free for all Nicaraguans. Elementary education is free and compulsory although this is not strictly enforced and many children are not able to attend due to their families need to have them work.
..... Click the link for more information.
Public holidays in Nicaragua
Date English Name Remarks
January 1 New Years The majority of Nicaraguans celebrate New Year's Day at the beach.
February 1 Air Force Day Held on the 1st of February in honor of the nation’s air force.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Literature of Nicaragua can be traced to pre-Columbian times with the myths and oral literature that formed the cosmogonic view of the world that indigenous people had. Some of these stories are still know in Nicaragua.
..... Click the link for more information.
Life in Nicaragua

Art
Cinema
Cuisine
Culture
Demographics
Education
Health
Holidays
Human Rights
Literature
Music
Politics

Tourism

Music of Nicaragua is a mixture of indigenous and European, especially Spanish, influences.
..... Click the link for more information.
Nicaragua

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Nicaragua

  • Constitution
  • President of Nicaragua
  • Daniel Ortega
  • National Assembly
  • Political parties

..... Click the link for more information.
Sandinista National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on the broad leftist principles of the popular front.
..... Click the link for more information.
Tourism is travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes or the provision of services to support this leisure travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists
..... Click the link for more information.
landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.
..... Click the link for more information.
flora (plural: floras or florae) has two meanings. The first meaning, or flora of an area or of time period, refers to all plant life occurring in an area or time period, especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life.
..... Click the link for more information.
Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.

Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Wildlife of Nicaragua includes its flora and fauna. Nicaragua has a wide variety of wildlife, most of which live in wildlife reserves and live in rainforests, lakes, mountains, and volcanoes throughout the country. Bosawás covers 1.
..... Click the link for more information.
Nicaraguan culture has several distinct strands. The west of the country was colonized by Spain and has a similar culture to other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
..... Click the link for more information.
See also: List of terrestrial volcanoes
This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Nicaragua.

Name Elevation Location Last eruption
meters feet Coordinates
..... Click the link for more information.
Televicentro

Founder Octavio Sacasa Sarria
Owner Televicentro de Nicaragua, S.A.
Launch date 1966
Website [1]

Televicentro Canal 2 is a nationwide terrestrial television channel from Nicaragua owned by Televicentro de Nicaragua, S.A.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is a form of tourism which appeals to the ecologically and socially conscious. Generally speaking, ecotourism focuses on local culture, wilderness adventures, volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways to live on the
..... Click the link for more information.
Agritourism is a style of vacation which is normally on farms. This may include the chance to help with farming tasks during the visit. Agritourism is often practiced in wine growing regions, as in Italy and Spain.
..... Click the link for more information.
dollar (often represented by the dollar sign: "$") is the name of the official currency in several countries, dependencies and other regions.

History

The name Thaler (from German thal, or nowadays usually Tal,
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Himno Istmeño


Capital
(and largest city) Panama City

Official languages Spanish
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.


Central America (Spanish: Centroamérica or América Central) is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as the southern portion of North America, which connects with South America on the southeast, or a region of
..... Click the link for more information.
Granada

La Alhambra from Mirador San Nicolás

Flag Coat of Arms
Location

Coordinates : Coordinates:
Time Zone : CET (GMT +1)
- summer: CEST (GMT +2)
General information
Native name
..... Click the link for more information.
León is a city in Nicaragua, Central America. In full the legal name of the city, granted in Spanish Colonial times, is Santiago de los Caballeros de León, but this is little used. It is the capital and municipality of Nicaragua's León department.
..... Click the link for more information.
Masaya, called the City of Flowers, is the capital city of the Masaya department of Nicaragua. It is situated approximately 14 km north of Granada and 17 km south from Managua.
..... Click the link for more information.
Rivas can mean:
  • Rivas, Nicaragua
  • Rivas, Costa Rica
  • Nelson Rivas, a Colombian footballer

..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.