Recommend May 2015 - (Page 56)
The Guatemala
Travel Experience
latinamerica
GUATEMALA TOURISM BOARD
carla hunt
Volcano trekking, hiking
and mountain biking are
some of the activities
Guatemala offers
adventurous travelers.
An awesome inventory of temples and pyramids left behind by the
ancient Maya. Horizons of sacred volcanoes mirrored in pristine
lakes. Quiche Maya people weaving and wearing traditional dress.
Well-preserved colonial towns and villages. Weekly markets and
folkloric festivals-a kaleidoscope of color.
Without doubt, few countries in the Americas can match
Guatemala in cultural attractions. At the same time, Pedro Duchez,
director, Guatemala Tourism Board (INGUAT), points out that "we
are focusing on positioning the country in new sectors. While one of
our greatest strengths and appeals is the living legacy of the Maya
culture, there are many other experiences to enjoy in Guatemala."
Last year, travel agents learned about the various ways to plan and
sell leisure travel to Guatemala during the tourism board's training
sessions in Toronto, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami; this
year's seminar schedule kicks off in Dallas and Houston in May.
Adventure tourism-volcano trekking, white-water rafting, mountain
biking, spelunking, sportfishing, and kayaking-is one avenue that
Guatemala is particularly keen on promoting, notes Duchez.
Duchez is interested in promoting another kind of adventure
product: community tourism. "We want visitors to not only know
our archaeological sites but also to know our people. We continue
to push the Maya Trek, a trek in the Buenavista Valley, renowned as
the main route of trade and communication in the El Peten rainforest
during the pre-Hispanic eras. The 3-day trek begins in the community
of Cruce dos Aguadas within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which
protects both wildlife and the important Maya city of El Zotz, and
ends at Tikal National Park. This is a trip for the well-conditioned, true
adventurer, for each day, walking time runs six or seven hours (there
is an option of using horses part way), and accompanying members
of the community provide fully trained guides, as well as food, water
and full campsite setup (visitguatemala.com/about-mayatrek).
Less rigorous are the activities within communities that many U.S.
tour operators incorporate into itineraries: tours to learn the workings
of coffee farms, visits to banana and cacao plantations, chocolate
workshops-bean to bar-cooking lessons with local chefs in
Guatemala City and Antigua, weaving workshops in the villages
around Lake Atitlan, and language classes. A few tour operators offer
homestays; for instance, Adventure Life has a home-stay package
in the village of Totonicapan in the highlands around Quetzaltenango.
Additionally, the hotel sector is expanding with both international
brands and boutique properties. For instance, Guatemala City will
be home to a Courtyard by Marriott and a Hyatt Place, both
scheduled to debut in 2016. And Duchez outlines briefly that five
international airlines-American Airlines, Avianca, Delta Air Lines,
56 may 2015
56 LA Guatemala.indd 56
Spirit Airlines, and United-link Guatemala City with nonstop flights
to eight U.S. cities; the newest of these are the direct flights to New
York and Washington, D.C.
book it
Latour offers an 8-day Magic and Mystery of the Mayas by Private
Car that visits Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Tikal and Gautemala City. It
includes activities that offer travelers the chance to hang with the
locals such as visiting some of Comalapa's local painters who continue
the tradition of naïve painting; touring the San Juan La Laguna Village
local textile cooperative to see how they still color with natural dyes,
and visiting the home and workshop of local artists in the village; and
touring the Azotea Coffee Farm and Museum.
cruise news
International cruise business plays an important role in the overall
growth of the country's tourism industry. Guatemala has made
numerous in-country investments to upgrade the cruise experience,
including adding and training more personnel to attend to visitors
arriving by sea. The training focused on offering custom-tailored
services to visitors once on the ground, as well as improving
security procedures. Other investments were directed at improving
the infrastructure of the ports' terminals, greatly enhancing first
impressions for disembarking passengers.
According to Duchez, this past season Guatemala welcomed over
120,000 cruise passengers, which translates to an approximate
11 percent increase. This coming season, Guatemala expects to
welcome 79 cruises, with 16 more cruises in the process of being
negotiated. Thirty-two will operate out of the Santo Tomas de Castillo
port located in Izabal on the Caribbean coast, where passengers most
frequently explore the Rio Dulce area by small boat and visit Quirigua,
a UNESCO World Heritage site; 42 of the cruises will disembark at the
Puerto Quetzal port on the Pacific coast, signing up for day excursions
to colonial Antigua and even day charter flights to Tikal.
Cruise lines currently operating to Guatemala include Azamara
Club Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Holland
America, Regent, Oceania and Royal Caribbean. ●
Archived related articles
(available on recommend.com/magazine/issue archive):
Checking-In to Latin America (December 2014)
contact information
INGUAT: visitguatemala.com
Latour: latour.com or isram.com/iw_travel/index.htm (agent login)
recommend.com
4/21/15 12:13 PM
http://www.visitguatemala.com/about-mayatrek
http://www.recommend.com/magazine/issuearchive
http://www.visitguatemala.com
http://www.latour.com
http://www.isram.com/iw_travel/index.htm
http://www.recommend.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend May 2015
Editor’s Notes
Lodgings Take Comforts to New Heights
Exclusive Group Travel
What’s New in All-Inclusives
Riu Palace St. Martin
Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Cancun Resort & Spa
Trinidad & Tobago Travel Agent Specialist Program
Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta
Andalucia, Spain
Israel
Different Routes to Southeast Asia
The Guatemala Travel Experience
New Ships Bulletin
What’s New in Orlando
Orlando World Center Marriott
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