GUATEMALA CITY, December 5 (EFECOM).- The United Nations Regional Director for Tourism in the Americas, Gustavo Santos, confirmed to EFE on Friday that Latin America and the Caribbean are “the most promising region for tourism in the future”, thanks to its authenticity, nature and cultural identity.
Latin America and the Caribbean have “tremendous potential” to become the region with the greatest tourism attraction and experience capacity in the global future, according to Santos, who on Friday participated in the launch of Guatemala’s Sustainable Tourism Master Plan 2026-2036.
This expectation is based on the unique resources of the region, such as nature, identity, heritage reserve and “living cultures” that tourists from all over the world are beginning to demand.
The new paradigm, driven by the advancement of artificial intelligence and virtual ubiquity, will make technology and digital both “commonplace” and “vulgar,” Santos explained. On the other hand, the most ambitious and demanding will be the “real” one, that is, the “distinctive, identity-based and authentic experience.”
“The true, distinctive and defining experience in Latin America and the Caribbean is authenticity, it is nature and it is territory, with great opportunity for tourism to become its main development factor,” the UN tourism official stressed.
According to Santos, the Central American region is already showing “extraordinary dynamism and remarkable growth in tourism.” It is the fastest growing sub-sector in the region, driven mainly by Guatemala and El Salvador, along with Panama.
UN Tourism stresses the importance of innovative plans to ensure that this positive response remains sustainable. Specifically, in Guatemala, foreign exchange income from tourism grew by 35% in 2024 compared to 2019, and last year (between 2023 and 2024), it grew by 22%.
For Santos, tourism should be viewed as a “wealth redistribution agent” and an “export sector.” In the case of Guatemala, tourism is currently the second factor in earning foreign currency. The difference with traditional export is that people come directly to the country and leave money behind, which becomes “reverse export.”
The potential to attract wealth supports major tourism source markets, according to the United Nations Tourism Organization’s Regional Director for the Americas, who noted that the United States alone spends more than $160 billion annually on tourism. “It is very important for the region to try to obtain the largest amount of tourism spending from a developed country,” he noted.
On the other hand, the region is also influenced by other important source markets, such as those in Europe and, further afield, those in the East, highlighting China, which spends $200 billion annually on tourism, Santos said.
In addition, he considered that Latin American countries are our “main clients,” as Brazil spends $18 billion annually on tourism and Argentina spends $12 billion annually, without forgetting Colombia’s very important spending.
UN Tourism’s message to the region is that the product to be offered “is to be ourselves”. It is not necessary to invent, but to “be who we are, taking care of what we have, our natural heritage and our cultural heritage.” Aficom
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