During a recent Canal 6 interview, Anasha Campbell (Co-Director of Nicaragua’s Tourist Institute – INTUR) said that “The tourism sector has achieved a recovery of 87% of the pre-pandemic figures. The World Tourism Organization has projected a worldwide average of about an 80% recovery to pre-pandemic figures; therefore Nicaragua is a little above average when compared to the rest of the world”. (Interview in Spanish)
So far in 2023 (January to October), tourism in Nicaragua has shown an increase of 42% over the same period last year resulting in 873 thousand tourists visiting Nicaragua. This gives Nicaragua’s Tourist Institute hope for 1 million tourists visiting Nicaragua in 2023. In 2022 that figure was 620,000 tourists and in 2021 it was 312,000.
In addition, Campbell pointed out that foreign exchange is up by 10% compared to last year; “We hope to reach US $600 million by the end of the year”.
Lastly, Campbell observed that there has been a shift in way tourists reach Nicaragua. It used to be that about 65% entered by land but that has changed. Today 61% of tourists enter Nicaragua by air and around 38% do so by land.
Tourist Survey
The National Institute of Development Information (INIDE) has reported on the statistical picture of tourism for the third quarter of 2023 using data from their Tourism Survey Results.
Daily Spending and Length of Stay
Daily expenditure per tourist (those identifying as non-resident, inbound tourists) was an average of US $48 per day with an average stay of 10.2 days.
The average daily expenditure for all tourists in 2017 (Nicaragua’s best year for tourism) was US $44.90
Expenditure by Country of Origin
The highest daily expenditure per capita was by those tourists from South America with US $65.10 and an average stay of 11.7 days. This was followed by North America (Canada, USA and Mexico) at US $64.20 and 13.1 days, Europe; US $ 48.40 and 16.6 days and Central America; US $31.30 and 7.5 days. All other countries came out at an average of US $49.10 dollars per day and an average stay of US $12.7 days.
