Juan David Latorre
“Nicaragua is a country that visitors love because of its originality and authenticity,” said the Nicaraguan Minister of Tourism, Anasha Campbell, during her visit to the FITUR2024 Tourism Fair, which ends today at IFEMA in Madrid.
We are talking about a country that has 50% of its territory as protected areas,” the minister began to point out, “four biosphere reserves, 7% of the world’s biodiversity, 26 volcanoes, seven of them active with a very varied flora and fauna, and which offers, in addition to these natural beauties, its living culture, the human warmth, hospitality and friendliness of our people, who always welcome visitors with open arms and a big smile. These great virtues, both natural and cultural riches, are what make our Nicaragua unique and original”.
Referring to the issue of tourism and hospital infrastructure and in terms of security, Anasha Campbell stated that “in these last 17 years there has been a significant investment in the health and hospital sector, and health is free, not only for Nicaraguans, but also for those who visit us. In addition, we are the safest country in the Central American region and one of the safest in the Americas in general (according to the United Nations Office on Crime and Crime and the World Economic Forum), with the best roads in the region that allow our visitors to move quickly.
In a perfect x-ray of all of Nicaragua’s tourist attractions, the minister gave a detailed overview of the different sun and beach destinations on the Pacific. San Juan del Sur, for example, “where you can carry out different activities or enjoy the massive lining up of turtles in the La Flor reserve, which is in this town, or enjoy its nightlife or go to a heritage city that has a very well-preserved colonial architecture and that this week will be 500 years old, Granada”.
“Granada, the minister pointed out, offers visitors the possibility of taking a tour by car through the streets of the city, a boat tour of the 365 islets that are in the Great Lake of the Mombacho Volcano National Park or enjoying a panoramic view of the city while eating a vigorón (a typical dish made of cassava cooked with pork rinds and accompanied by a salad) in the central part of the city. Tourists can also visit the Museo Convento San Francisco and learn about the daily life of the people of Granada and their history, as well as enjoy some of the best preserved pre-Columbian statuettes to be found in Latin America. From there you can go to the Masaya Volcano, a formation that has two volcanoes and 5 craters with something unique in the world: a lake of living lava. The crater of this volcano can be reached on foot, by bicycle or by car, making it one of the most accessible volcanoes in the world. To continue with the Katarina viewpoint where there is a spectacular view of the Apoyo Lagoon, which, added to the two bodies of water such as the Pacific Ocean and the Nicaraguan Caribbean, also offers the possibility of diving in three different bodies of water: in the Pacific, in the Caribbean Sea and in the crater lagoons”.
The minister also highlighted the capital, Managua, and its tourist sites, such as Puerto Salvador Allende, the island of love and also enjoy the Bride of Xolotlan, as the Nicaraguan capital is also known, or go to see the historical part of the city, visit for example the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío, which “is one of the iconic buildings of our history and which survived the 1972 earthquake, recognised by The New York Times as the fifth best theatre in Latin America not only for its architectural beauty but also for its great acoustics”, stressed Anasha Campbell.
The minister did not forget the city of León, with its baroque architectural style, its cathedral and its ruins that were buried by an earthquake, or the north of the country with the Río Coco geopark, its coffee routes, the Matagalpa area. “But our most important Caribbean jewel, he said, is Corn Island, where one can disconnect from the world and enjoy an interaction with nature, a cuisine based on milk, coconut and seafood, as well as diving, snorkelling and sport fishing.
From a backpacker to someone with a much higher purchasing power,” Minister Anasha Campbell concluded, “they have a visit in Nicaragua suitable for everyone, and all the information that the tourist needs can be found at www.visitnicaragua.es or at www.mapanicaragua.com, with all the tourist offer of the 153 municipalities of our country, with their hotels, restaurants, tourist guides, rent a car, tour operators, travel agencies, airline flights, etc.”.
