New general secretary Boris Iraheta said to achieve this goal, CATA must attract corporate investment from firms outside the region.

“Our goal is to raise the profile of Central America in Europe, where our main markets are, as well as our tour operator product,” he told TTG@WTM. “We need to find more funding sources and not just rely on our country’s contributions.”

Iraheta, who started his five-year term as CATA general secretary last month, said the agency would look to promote emerging market segments, such as surfing and cruise, in Europe.

“The UK, Germany, Spain and France are our four main markets,” said Iraheta. “After that, we have Italy and the Netherlands.” 

He confirmed CATA countries had achieved 88% of its pre-pandemic visitor numbers. In 2022, Central America welcomed 21.2 million visitors, compared with 24.1m in 2019.

The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras had “fully recovered”, while Panama and Nicaragua were “close” to achieving pre-pandemic levels, he noted. 

“We’re expecting to reach record numbers next year,” he said. “It feels as though everybody is looking to Central America.”

However, Iraheta added: "Right now, we’re in competition with South Asia as they have a very similar offering to us.”

 
In June 2023, the US issued an advisory to its citizens, telling them to “exercise increased caution” when travelling to the Dominican Republic, saying there had been a rise in violent crime.

However, Iraheta dismissed the advisory, saying: “It’s not realistic. People always go to Central America and say that it’s not dangerous. Europeans should keep us in mind because there are many countries to visit.”