The Central American destination has reactivated its tourism and offers unforgettable experiences for all types of visitors
El Salvador is a country that offers a wide variety of options for tourists. There you can have breakfast in the city, lunch on the beach and dinner on the volcano changing landscape and climate easily. To learn more about its offer, during the International Tourism Expo we exclusively interviewed Carlos Umana, president of CASATUR. We share his responses below:
What is the function of the organization and how is it composed?
We are a non-profit, apolitical, non-profit, or religious Association, which is governed by the laws of the Republic of El Salvador and its statutes.
The Salvadoran Chamber of Tourism (CASATUR) was founded in 1978, in favor of the country's tourism development, to promote, promote and encourage tourism, as well as represent the interests of businessmen in the sector, particularly those of the associates.
We are a member of the Federation of Central American Chambers of Tourism (FEDECATUR) and we work in support of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
Our institution works together with the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador, to unify efforts between the Private company and the Government.
What are the destinations most considered by you?
Lately the promotion has turned to our beach destinations, but it is important to note that we have volcanoes, an important heritage of the Mayan culture and colonial towns.
In beach destinations we are very well positioned, above all we have world-famous beaches for surfing, it is a natural blessing, but we accompany it with important infrastructure with hotels such as the Decameron. We have different resorts on various beaches such as El Sunzal, Playa La Paz, Playa el Tunco, Las Flores and Punta Mango among many others. Beyond sports, recreation for the family and rest on the beaches have been developed a lot.
We have always had the visit of surfers, but now family tourism has been promoted. Here we have had two world championships and the qualifying championship for the Olympic Games. Now during May, we are having another world championship and in June another one, each one in different categories. It is interesting because the surfers arrive with their work group and the public that attends also visits us.
What initiatives are you implementing to promote your destinations?
Right now we are focused on strengthening the private sector, after the pandemic and overcoming the difficulties we experienced, the entire sector is looking for its multilateral support mechanisms with the Government, international organizations and jointly seeking these alternatives also from this new modality. that have been opened as new marketing channels, new ways of traveling, new trends, etc. That is the mission in international fairs.
We have scheduled throughout the year in different countries through events, bilateral meetings with cameras. We are focused on generating business for our market. It is palpable of the change of perception about our country. We had a change of government two and a half years ago. The President of the Republic was personally involved in the development and strategy of tourism.
We have a small country, where a visitor can have breakfast in the city, lunch on the beach and dinner on the volcano. You can change scenery and weather easily.
Which issuing markets are the strongest for you?
Our main source market is the United States, then we have our diaspora with about four million Salvadorans living outside the country who return to visit and then the Central American market.