Honduras This Week Travel and Tourism

Monday, September 27, 2003 Online Edition 38

Copan Update
By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG

Temptation Island, the mother of all reality shows is back for another season on NBC. In addition to a horde of scantily clad, seriously extroverted, adrenaline and hormone crazed Gen X’ers the show features prominently a beautiful, idyllic Caribbean location-which is none other than Roatan, Honduras’ very own fun in the sun tropical paradise. Roatan’s tourism sector is hoping for nothing less than a mini-boom in tourism as a result of the exposure the island will receive in the coming weeks on US television.

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The Lodge at Pico Bonito is considered by ecotourism literati to be the Holy Grail of Honduras’ ecotourism lodges and one of the finest in Central America. With its spectacular North Coast location amidst the lush tropical forest of Pico Bonito National Park and a host of amenities like breakfast served up the balcony of your cabin, The Lodge has single-handedly carved out the high end ecotourism niche in Honduras all for itself.

From now till Dec 1, foreign Honduran residents and nationals can enjoy the lodge for a special rate of $90 per person. That includes a double occupancy cabin, welcome cocktail, transportation to and from the airport, guided hike into Pico Bonito National Park, a visit to the Butterfly Garden and Serpentarium, donation to the Pico Bonito Foundation, breakfast, dinner, service and taxes. For information e-mail picobonito@caribe.hn, picobonito@psinet.hn, or call 440-0388.

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Since 1999 we have seen sporadic articles in the Honduran national press regarding the proposed construction of the Freedom Ship in Trujillo Bay. According to press reports the ship will be a full kilometer long, 750 feet wide, 350 high-the equivalent of a 25 story building. It will house tens of thousands of passengers and up to 60,000 daily visitors.

The idea is that this “floating city” will sail around the world stopping at various ports for a few weeks at a time. Luxury apartments will go for $14,000 - $3.5 million each. The ship, of course, will have hospitals, stores, restaurants, discos, barber shops, condos, casinos, supermarkets, commercial centers and an airport capable of receiving jets.

Estimated cost according to La Prensa is $8.5 billion. A full color mock up drawing of the ship resembles a cross between an aircraft carrier and the former World Trade Center floating on it’s side. Whether or not this project will ever get off the ground and into the sea is debatable. The price tag alone would make any investor a bit leery, especially with today’s anemic world economy.

If Honduran press reports are any indication, the project is a go, and one day the sleepy Caribbean port town of Trujillo will be swamped with an estimated 10,000 workers who will construct the behemoth ship. But in all likelihood, the project is a pipe dream that will never see the light of day or sail the seven seas.

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Archeological research at Copan is ongoing and healthy thanks to some modern day Indiana Jones’. Copan Ruinas was graced with the presence of two distinguished US academics during September. Dr. Adam Herring, associate professor of art history at Southern Methodist University and Jennifer Ahlfeldt of Columbia University, who is currently in the final stages of her doctoral dissertation, visited the town.

Another friend of Copan, Dr. Allan Maca is currently teaching at Colgate University where Copan Update wishes him much success and many research trips to Copan in the future. It is up and coming academics like these three as well as a host of others which bring to Copan Ruinas a healthy dose of new vitality, new blood and plenty of new ideas for the future.

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Monday, September 22, 2003 Online Edition 37

Website wins prize in tourism boost

By LISA McKIDDIE

A Honduran website for foreign tourists won a “Golden @ 2003” award last Friday at a ceremony attended by President Maduro and Minister of Tourism Thierry Pierrefeu.

The international company Microsoft awarded the prize to letsgohonduras.com for the category of “best website for promoting tourism, investment, services, and products at national and international levels.” They judged the Honduran website to be the best of all entries from Central America.

“This prize is just one example of the good work achieved in tourism,” said Maduro as he accepted the award. He immediately passed the award to Pierrefeu as a gesture acknowledging the Tourism Ministry’s hard work in the promotion of Honduran tourism.

The website was created as part of a specific publicity campaign named “Reserved for you, Honduras, a small country... three big worlds.” The campaign aimed to capitalize on Honduras’ potential as a diverse destination in spite of its size. It uses new media, traditional advertisements, and luminous screens based in bus stations and other strategic locations.

The campaign was hugely successful for Honduras in other Central American countries, particularly in El Salvador. An increase of 116.75 percent in Salvadorian visitors to Honduras has been recorded since last year, bringing the total number of holiday-makers coming from the neighboring country to approximately 39,000.

Visiting Salvadorians’ average stay in Honduras is 4.4 days, and they spend about US$352 each. So far this year, Salvadorians have contributed over US$14 million to the Honduran economy.

The majority of Salvadorian tourists visited in August, the month when they traditionally leave their country for a holiday. The Honduran Ministry of Tourism’s campaign was at its height in El Salvador during July in order to take advantage of this tradition. The most visited Honduran tourist destinations were Copan Ruins, Roatan, Utila, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba and Tela, where hotels were filled to capacity throughout the month.

Maduro’s government has made tourism a priority, and this year it became the second most active economic sector in the country. Honduras is expecting approximately 800,000 tourists this year, a projected growth of 18 percent.

Potential benefits of this growth include more jobs, increased foreign currency, the strengthening of Honduran national identity, higher development levels, and a better standard of living for Hondurans.

Honduras boasts many places of cultural interest, such as Copan Ruins and colonial cities like Comayagua. Other popular tourist destinations are areas of natural beauty, such as the Bay Islands, the Caribbean coastline, and numerous cloud forests.

However, problems for Honduran tourism include the country’s low level of development, a competitive international market offering other options to potential tourists, and poor security throughout the country. These are challenges that the Ministry of Tourism is working to overcome.

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Copan Update
By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG

The issue of security for tourists is a crucial one if the tourism sector in Honduras is to realize it’s full potential. Tourists are very fickle beasts, even the perception that a destination is risky will lead to a marked decrease in tourist traffic. With the advent of Internet, potential visitors can get a bird’s eye view of the security situation. An endless number of websites offer real time information on the security situation in tourist destinations world wide. One problem associated with the Internet based travel security information boom is that the reader must take into account that the information posted is only as good as the person or organization posting it. Information is subjective and may reflect the personal biases or lack of firsthand knowledge of the writer. For example, is the incident in question (let’s say a robbery on a popular beach) a trend which requires warning potential tourists or an was it an isolated incident? On the web it’s usually hard to say. Another issue is the time sensitive nature of such reporting. Let’s say a bus on a popular tourist route was robbed last week. How long should this information remain on the web? Weeks, months, years? Often times an isolated, one time incident will remain on the web, providing the mistaken impression that the problem is an ongoing one when in fact it is not.

In terms of tourist security in Honduras, the police which face some serious structural and logistical deficiencies have made an effort to ensure security for tourists in key tourism places. A Tourist Police force known as ‘Balam’ or ‘The Jaguars’ are now operating in Tela, La Ceiba, Tegucigalpa, Roatan, and shortly in San Pedro Sula. There are plans as well to bring a contingent to Copan Ruinas as well. Tourism police wear distinctive uniforms, are better educated and receive special (ongoing) training in law enforcement techniques as well as foreign language instruction. An informational meeting held in early September in Copan Ruinas conducted by the Tourism Police and the Honduran Ministry of Tourism gave a very professional presentation to the community regarding plans to establish the tourism police in Copan Ruinas. The community overwhelmingly responded positively, since the need to beef up security is obvious to all.

Although Copan Ruinas has seen a negligible amount of crime directed against tourists, the private sector knows that no destination is an island in and of itself, and as the security situation becomes dicier in other parts of Honduras and Central America, eventually some of those problems will be seen here as well. Thus prevention is the best recipe to safeguard tourists and the tourism sector in Copan. The police post in Copan Ruinas which is responsible for the town of itself (population 6,000) and the largely rural municipality (population 24,000) has only a handful of officers, limited logistics and scant transport capabilities. In addition, Copan Ruinas received some 120,000 visitors in 2002 with a 20% increase predicted for 2003. Obviously, the police are shorthanded and ill capable of handling the law enforcement demands of Copan Ruinas. The injection of a small group of specialized tourism police would do much to beef up the security situation in town.

That the government has the will to send tourism police to Copan and the local populace seconds the idea is a given. The only issue that remains is the financial one since the community must provide funds to cover housing, food, transport and communications infrastructure for the new police. Local businesses, the Municipality, as well as the Institute of Anthropology and History must break bread at the bargaining table and hammer out a package that will provide ongoing funding. To sustain the tourism police force.

Monday, September 15, 2003 Online Edition 36

Massive Tiger Hunt on Roatan

Tiger found prowling on bow of golfer´s private yacht.

Written expressly for HTW
By DON PEARLY & MS MARGARITA ROBERTSON

After an un-official sighting near the Roatan airport, men, women and children were commissioned to begin scouring the island, looking for a Tiger. Yes, that is what we said, a Tiger right here, on beautiful Roatan. After two days, this reporter followed the trail to Fantasy Island Resort, only to find the prey had scampered aboard an 80 ft yacht and set out for the West End of the island. Arriving at West End just at dusk, we spotted the craft laying about a half mile off shore. Party lights showed definite activity on the vessel, and one could hear music over the surf sounds from time to time.

No one really knew who was aboard the craft, but all of the clues pointed to the elusive Tiger. Now we were really close. Remembering how territorial these creatures are, we waited patiently, like professional Paparazzi, again near the Fantasy Island dive shop. We staked our blind out there because people in the know said the ship would be returning shortly so the guests on board could experience some Roatan style SCUBA diving. We did hear on the Discovery Channel Tigers love the water.

Finally, after a four day intensive search with scouts and beaters in the bush, we caught a glimpse of the creature. Red Baseball cap, smiling face full of bright white teeth, we had our target. None other than Tiger Woods, the world famous golf pro. We petitioned the skipper of the yacht for an interview and were told the guests requested complete privacy. Not actually being the hard-core paparazzi type, we settled for permission to photograph the ship itself. The name on her stern told the entire story.
We left word for him not to be so timid and to let us welcome him properly with keys to the dock or something. The skipper did say they would be cruising locally for a time so keep your eyes and ears on, looking for “El Tigre.”

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Monday, September 1, 2003 Online Edition 34

Transitions Abroad: A Conversation with Clay Hubbs

Clay Hubbs discusses Transitions magazine

By RON MADER

Few people have dedicated as much time in teaching travelers how to travel abroad in a responsible manner as Clay Hubbs, founder and publisher of Transitions Abroad www.transitionsabroad.com.

You launched Transitions Abroad more than a quarter a century ago. What was the original purpose or vision of the magazine?

In March 1977 I announced that Transitions would be “a new kind of travel publication. Its purpose is to provide the non-touring traveler with up-to-date information that is practical and usable on educational travel and study abroad.” The title, I explained, was meant to suggest the changes that occur as a result of immersion in a foreign language and culture.

Travel that changes us, travel that is mind-expanding, travel that involves learning has been the focus over the last 26 years as the magazine has covered all the opportunities to enrich one’s life through travel.

Could you paint a picture of the travel publishing scene in the ‘70s?

For the travel industry (which includes publishers), travel, then and now, is either business or recreation. Either way, it’s expensive. That’s the way it’s sold. Mass travel is cheapest — booking blocks of seats and blocks of hotel rooms. That’s the way it’s sold. Of course lots of us know different.

I certainly did, having lived in Europe and traveled in Africa and Asia for years. Camping is cheapest — we did it from Morocco to India in the early‘60s and the length of the former USSR in the ‘70s. And we did it with kids. The cost — excluding the used VW bus and gas — was about $1 a day. Hotels in Europe cost us maybe $3 a day. The same for meals. Again, we always use our own transportation — buying a car when we get there and selling it back when we left.

Anyway, that’s not how most people travel. Only Rick Steves was doing a decent job of telling people how to travel comfortably and cheaply in the ‘70s. And of course Arthur Frommer, but he was still very middle of the road. There were a few backpacker books (Marcus Endicott’s Vagabond Globetrotting was a classic) and a few more. Lonely Planet was starting up. But the revelation that you could travel cheaply on your own was just starting to sink in.

Of course, TA was never just about cheap. You’ve heard all my rhetoric about how travel enriches, so I won’t repeat it. In the ‘80s Arthur Frommer took up theme but I’ve had few other imitators. To most travel is still consumption, not education — you don’t go to the Mall of the World to learn but to buy. There are lots of ways that TA broke the mould, but I suppose my insistence on responsible travel was most important. My simple reasoning was that if we visit other countries for our benefit in order to learn from them, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to mess up their culture and environment.

Anyway, there were publications on where to travel — including magazines like Great Expeditions which became Escape that paid some attention to green travel to “exotic” destinations with pretty pictures — but not many like the People’s Guide to Mexico that were more concerned with how to travel and why travel in the first place.

What type of travelers seek news about responsible travel?
I guess your answer is in your question — those who travel responsibly. The Peace Corps, the mushrooming volunteer programs, even the missionaries, but especially students and teachers have all contributed to a growing trend in enlightened travelers, people who recognize what an incredible PRIVILEDGE it is to be invited to someone’s home and how disgusting it is to shit on the floor.

The golden rule is more and more recognized as the first rule of travel and adventure travel and I’m told that group organizers are rewarded by their customers for observing it.

What are the major trends you noticed in the past quarter century?
Well, of course, ecotourism has been the big thing. What can I tell you about that? But I think most important is cultural travel. Most of it may just be one-upmanship (“I found this wonderful little farm couple in Tuscany where they produce their own olive oil and wine and cook just for you”) but a lot goes a lot deeper than that. It’s now possible for the educated to travel, as well as the rich.

What’s new with Transitions Abroad this year?
As of 2003, Transitions Abroad has a new publisher — the Abroad View Foundation. I will continue as editor, and the magazine’s mission will remain the same as when I founded it 26 years ago: to provide international travelers with practical, usable information on cultural immersion travel, work, living, and study abroad.

What are the advantages of the new publishing arrangement?
Most importantly, it will free up its editor from the day-to-day chores of production and distribution so that he can devote more time to working with writers and contributing editors. The new arrangement will also allow him more time to expand the Transitions Abroad web site to make it an ever more useful adjunct to the magazine and our resource directories: the Alternative Travel Directory (for study, travel, and living) and Work Abroad (for paid and volunteer work).
AUTHOR BIO — Ron Mader lives in Mexico and hosts the award-winning Planeta.com website — www.planeta.com. Ron is the author of the Exploring Ecotourism Resource Guide.

Travel Agency Adapts to Changing Times

Gina Agurcia and Monique Casanova run Alas Travel Agency

BY ALEJANDRA PAREDES

The growth of the Internet economy has dramatically altered the way business is done worldwide. Travel agencies are no exception. In fact, travel agencies are amongst the most affected in the business world, traditionally making money out of selling airline tickets. In the year 2000, the 10% commission was reduced to 6%, as airlines began benefiting from tickets purchased online. The situation worsened when on April 15th 2003, the commission was cut down further to 1%, a symbolic number that basically left the agencies alone in regards to the way they made their living.

When the first commission cut-down came into effect in 2000, Monique Casanova from Agencia Alas in Tegucigalpa knew that it was an either do or die situation. So she did what any self respecting businesswoman would do: adapt to the changing times. Joining forces with another tough player in the local industry, Gina Agurcia from former travel shop Honduras Copan Tours, they made a daring move, becoming partners to tough it out and face the new challenges together as Agencia Alas.

These days, to walk into Agencia Alas is a trip in itself. There is action and activity everywhere. Salespeople are busy on the phones and in their computers, executives run in an out of the locale, striving to provide the best service possible to their clients. A service that today has an additional cost. “We have the best executives, the best salespeople, even the best housekeeper.”, says Ms. Casanova. “We can no longer limit ourselves to selling tickets, we have gone beyond the call of duty to provide an overall better service”.

“We have become travel advisers”, adds Gina Agurcia. “We sell airline tickets, bus tickets, we rent cars and hotel rooms, and we find our clients the best deals possible. Of course, we charge for these services.” “At first, some of our clients left, unaccustomed to paying extra fees for the services rendered.” said Monique “But when they realized that planning a trip can be a complicated, time-consuming task, they have returned, happy to pay the new fees.”

Asked if 9/11 had had a negative effect on travel to Honduras, they answered that this was not necessarily the case. If anything, they believe that internal tourism is increasingly being considered a viable alternative. Traditionally, Hondurans have not been interested in travelling within the country. Honduras has a lot to offer and the travel agents are here to provide the information, the reservations, and the best advice possible, based on their extensive experience and updated information.

Today, being a travel agent is not only about selling tickets. It is a personalized relationship that becomes a refreshing alternative to the lonely act of punching numbers into a computer, or talking to a recorded, automated voice. Technology may have forever changed the way travel is done and the way agencies do business. But Agencia Alas in 2003 proves that change, faced with a positive attitude, is always for the best.

Copan Update
By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG

Utila is the kind of island that doesn’t register on most Caribbean bound tourists radar screens, it’s diminutive size, budget oriented accommodations, funky dining options, lack of infrastructure and amenities and scarcity of white sand beaches make Utila a bastion for alternative tourists seeking a truly ‘ Lonely Planet ‘ tropical island experience. Getting to Utila is a snap as there are many budget, quick options. Sosa and Atlantic run two puddle jumper flights per week. There’s an am and pm flight and for $18 o/w the fare can’t be beat. Utila has a relatively new brand spanking new paved airstrip. Don’t expect much in the way of infrastructure once you land however, you won’t find much, save the long strip of asphalt ... no control tower, no terminal, no bathrooms, no ticket office, nothin’. On the way back we opted for the ocean experience.

The Utila Princess runs two trips a day to and from La Ceiba. The price is $8 o/w and the trip was comfortable and quick. Most hotels on Utila are easy on the wallet. We settled on the Bayview Hotel, perched right on the water, a short walk from downtown, the place offers simple, clean, basic rooms with hot water, table top fans and a great view out into the bay with a view of the mountains of La Ceiba, $25 for a triple. In terms of food, choices for a really good meal are somewhat limited. Cuisine is simple and basic at most places. The Island Cafe for seafood is a great spot. The place fills up on Sat nights with exhausted divers from a dozen nations as well as a healthy showing of local islanders out for a family night. Fish here is fresh and good. I had the shark fillet which comes with the requisite sides of steamed veggies, rice, cole-slaw and a wonderful gooey slathering of mashed potatoes and gravy.

The entire plate will set you back $4 ... in fact just about every restaurant in town will set you up with a fish dinner with all the fixins’ for the same price .. a bargain in anybody’s book. For breakfasts the venerable Thompson’s Bakery has been in the same funky location serving up home cooked am fare for what seems like forever. Recommended are the fresh baked cinnamon rolls - best in Honduras I might add. Each little warm, moist contraption will set you back 30 cents a piece. For those seeking a more complete breakfast there are pancakes, eggs n’ ham and Johnny cake biscuits. The place is an Utila institution. For BBQ enthusiasts, RJ’s which opens only on weekend’s packs ‘em in with fish and beef served right off the wood fired grill. In case you haven’t already gotten the idea, a plate will set you back $4. For dessert aficionados there is one and only one option for an after après dinner sugar fix, the Gelateria offers up a seldom seen treat in this part of the world, authentic, knock your socks off gelato. Although cheap it ain’t .. a single scoop will cost you $1.75 ..... it’s a splurge well worth taking. And man is it a welcome relief after the sugary, chemical laden, mass produced ice creams we are used to eating in Honduras.

After a filling meal of sea creatures, followed by that requisite dollop of chilled Italian creamy delight what else to do but head for one of the ubiquitous bars which dot the town of Utila. My favorite was Coco Loco, conveniently located just steps away from Island Cafe and the Gellateria . How convenient can you get! Don’t even consider going to the Coco before 10pm or you may wind up having a very interesting and intimate conversation with your bottle of Port Royal. Come after 10pm for crowds of party ( and beer ) hungry, adrenaline soaked young divers who are seeking to relax, debrief and schmooze with other divers. The crowd is young, hip with a large representation of Europeans as well as numerous North Americans as well as a smattering of young Hondurans from the big city. Dive shops abound with 2 day certification courses running $150 ... a bargain to be sure, some shops are better than others so a word to the wise .. choose carefully.

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