Nicaragua is reaping more tourism profits

Revenues for the Nicaraguan tourist industry soared to $37.3 million in the first four months of the year, a figure that accounts for a 5 percent growth compared to the first third of 2002. Would this positive pace continue, experts believe the nation could outnumber the earnings that sector snared in 2002.

According to stats provided by the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute, visitors´ stay in the country has jumped from one to three days, while average spending per day has more than doubled from $108 in 1991 to $230 now.

In statements made to the press, Martha Herrera, an official at the Statistics Department of the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute, said the entire Central American region is penciled in as Mexico´s premiere tourist-sending market, with the U.S. holding the runner-up spot.

The institute´s database reveals Nicaraguan tourism grabbed $90 million in 2001. A year later, the sector raked in $106 million for a staggering 570 percent increase compared to the meager $15.8 million the industry made in 1991.