Central America was an enormous hit with European visitors in 2012 consistent with new figures released by the ministries of tourism of the seven Central American countries.
In total Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – received 832,567 European visitors last year, a rise of nearly 16 per cent compared to the former year.
The German and British markets experienced the most important growth last year, and were up by nine per cent and 7 per cent respectively.
Spain is still the most European outbound marketplace for Central America with 151,202 visitors in 2012, followed by Germany (120,911 visitors) and the united kingdom in third place (107,101 visitors).
While Costa Rica remains to be the preferred destination for British visitors, a growing interest inside the Maya culture and the celebration of the beginning of a brand new era consistent with the Maya calendar led to a major surge in visitors to Guatemala, which received 31,286 British visitors in 2012, 27 per cent greater than in 2011.
Honduras, another destination with an enormous Maya heritage, attracted four per cent more British visitors than within the previous year.
The total collection of visitors from all over to Central America in 2012 was 12,545,313, an overall increase of one.36 per cent when compared with 2011.