Stimulating tourism to Lake Atitlán

The public and private sectors of the travel industry have joined efforts to try to increase tourism visitation to Lake Atitlán and its surrounding areas.

The Government via the Guatemala Institute of Tourism will invest $200 thousand in promotion while the hotel sector will of lodgings at 2 nights for the price of one.

The campaign begins this March and will be broadcast nationally in print, television and radio media.

While the sector is aware of the fact that a campaign of this type may not have substantial effects in visitation, they trust that the campaign will serve to recover lost ground, not only due to th economic crisis of 2009, but also due to cyanobacteria found in the waters of the Lake.

Gabriel Queché, President of the local branch of the Chamber of Tourism in Sololá, stated that January occupation rates at local hotels declined to 50% and therefore hopes that the campaign will have some positive effect over visitation to the area.

“We are in bad shape. Visitation numbers have declined substantially and the economic crisis is affecting us.  We had not experienced such a decline previously but in January, travel to the area declined by 50%”.

Queché hopes that the campaign continues for at least two months and if necessary throughout the Easter week season.

To date some 20 hotels located in Panajachel and other municipalities have registered promotional packages.

Among them: Hotel Atitlán, Riviera de Atitlán, Porta Hotel del Lago, Regis, Posada de Don Rodrigo, Cackquikel, Santander, San Simón, Jardines del Lago, Tolimán, Villa Santa Catarina, Hotel Tzampoc, El Bambú and others..

Queché added that efforts have also been made to have restaurants and discotheques participate in the campaign with promotions and “happy hours”.

Alberto Rivera, a member of the group “Todos por el Lago” (Friends of the Lake), stated that travel destinations must have a set of sanitary norms in place, both for the protection of the population as well as for the lake.

“Any human presence will have an impact on the environment, what we must ensure is that the impact not be negative. In Atitlán, 80 of the hotels have waste treatment plants and programs while a good number of the restaurants have some type of treatment system” said Rivera.

Source: www.estrategiaynegocios.net
Photo: www.visitguatemala.com