Oct 17, 2006, 7:40 GMT
Managua - Nicaragua is determined to attract more European tourists to its indigenous nature, its volcanoes and its beaches on the Caribbean and the Pacific coasts.
'Visitors can discover many adventures,' Tourism Minister Maria Neli Rivas told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The Central American country intends to follow the example of neighbouring Costa Rica and build mainly luxury hotels in the jungle in which tourists can experience the economically unexploited rainforest regions first hand.
In order to improve conditions, the state is planning new infrastructure, according to Rivas, although they also intend attracting private capital.
The minister pointed out that Nicaragua remains in great need of development in the field, and tourism is the country's most important source of foreign currency with around 250 million dollars.
Rivas indicated that the figures for Nicaragua's tourism have improved greatly in the past one-and-a-half decades. In 1990, the country, ravaged by war and dictatorship, received 106,000 foreign visitors. By 2005, the figure had increased to 705,000 tourists, especially from the US and Canada.
Only 58,000 Europeans visited Nicaragua last year, and only 21 flights a week go to the Central American country from Europe.
'We want to improve the situation step by step, through publicity and the building of infrastructures,' Rivas said.
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