In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Boris Iraheta, Secretary General of the Central American Tourism Promotion Agency, CATA, which is the agency in charge of promoting the SICA region, made up of Central America plus the Dominican Republic.
What is the reception you are having in this Central America Travel Market?
Very good. I definitely think that we have achieved, not only from Cata, but mainly from the marketing and promotion units of each of the countries, an important thing that is to change the perception of Central America a little. Central America has been working to improve the relationship between positive and negative news, so that perception begins to change. Usually there were more negative news, now there has started to be more positive news and that has improved perception. This has been a good support for many world-class operators to visit us now, and do business with local tour operators.
Why is the Dominican Republic part of CATA?
It is because CATA is part of an entire effort of the Central American Integration System, SICA, which is made up of different regional offices that work in different areas. One of those areas is tourism. The highest authority of the Integration System is the chancellors and the presidents, the heads of government. The Dominican Republic is constituted in them, and is part of it, and that is why the Dominican Republic is part of CATA. The Dominican Republic is like the island part of Central America. Strategically it is linked more to Central America on a political level.
CATA brings together all countries. What is its main objective and how is it coordinated to promote all countries?
The highest authority of Cata is the board of directors, which is very important because it is made up of the public sector and the private sector of each of the countries, with which we have the tourism authorities and we have the presidents of the chambers of tourism. It then becomes a type of private public agency, where the sector has a say in the actions that CATA carries out. This allows us to coordinate with each of the countries the strategic plan that we present as an agency at the beginning of each year.
And for example, when working together, do you define what market origins you are interested in?
Of course, it is in fact in the constitutive agreement in the CATA statutes. There are markets in Europe that are of interest such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Holland and Italy, and also Asia and North America. Starting in 2020 due to the pandemic, the first ones to activate were the priority markets, our main markets in Europe. For each of the countries separately, their main issuing market is the US and North America in general. We specialize more in penetrating the European, South American, and Asian markets, which are those markets in which countries need that reinforcement, they need promotional support.
From a connectivity point of view, how is CATA working?
It is an important issue for the region. Last week we met in Santiago de Chile with IATA and where the director for Latin America of the UNWTO, now UN Tourism, participated. We are increasingly making more types of outreach efforts with the industry and meeting with different actors such as UNWTO, IATA and airlines, to sit down and talk and see what actions we can take to improve connectivity to the region. And for intraregional connectivity, which is an issue that is being worked on, there is the Secretariat of the Central American Integration System, which constitutes an important partner in this because one of its members is the commission that organizes airspace in the region. They are key agents, with whom we have to talk together with the airlines, the airports, to improve connectivity. We are trying to bring together all those actors led mainly by Honduras and Guatemala to sit down and dialogue, and be able to improve connectivity in the region.