Oppenheimer: L. America tourism needs to improve

Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer is surprised to note that tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean is weak compared to the rest of the world. He cites the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 which ranks countries like Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil in 41^st, 49^th, and 59^th places respectively and wonders how Latin American states can be outranked by countries like Malta and Estonia. Oppenheimer estimates that the tourism sector is largely ignored by Latin American governments even though tourism can be a great resource for the region:

“While Latin American and Caribbean countries are attracting growing numbers of foreign tourists -- not just because of their natural beauties, but because they can also offer some of the world's best music, food and soccer -- the region could get a much bigger share of world tourism.

When it comes to tourism, Latin America is sitting on a gold mine, and could do much better”.

Links- Miami Herald, World Economic Forum

Image- CNN (Floods inundated the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun after Hurricane Wilma in 2005)