The Central America Tourism Agency (CATA) and the Mundo Maya Organization have officially launched Central America Gateway, an unprecedented institutional campaign that brings together the efforts of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic under a single brand.
Its goal: to strengthen the region’s international visibility and position it as a complete, competitive and accessible destination.
A high-potential market
According to CATA, the region welcomed 28.9 million visitors in 2024, 70% of whom spent at least one night in one of the seven countries. Based on UN Tourism projections, these figures place Central America 17th worldwide in terms of tourist arrivals.
Building on this performance, the program aims to increase the number of foreign visitors by 6% by the end of 2025.
Running until April 2026, the initiative will primarily target European markets — Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands — as well as North America, mainly the United States and Canada.
Nature, heritage and authentic experiences
The campaign’s central message is rooted in the region’s shared values: nature, culture and authenticity.
Travelers are invited to combine tropical forests, active volcanoes and Caribbean or Pacific coastlines while discovering emblematic sites such as Tikal (Guatemala), Copán (Honduras) and Lamanai (Belize).
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Local gastronomy and signature products — cacao, rum, coffee — contribute to this shared image: that of a region united by its heritage and the richness of its traditions.
For professionals, this regional approach opens new opportunities for multi-country itineraries built around themed experiences: nature, culture, adventure or gastronomy.
An ambitious regional cooperation
This model has already proven successful elsewhere: the Caminos Andinos program showed that a coordinated strategy can enhance the international visibility of several nations at once.
Central America Gateway adopts this model on a larger scale, bringing together seven countries with distinct identities and markets under a shared vision.
The goal goes beyond tourism promotion: it also seeks to harmonize marketing, communication and management efforts in an unprecedented exercise of regional governance.
This campaign therefore marks a major evolution: the shift from a fragmented approach to a collective and strategic one, where cooperation becomes a driver of competitiveness.
By creating a common brand, Central America is no longer presented as a mosaic of destinations, but as an integrated product capable of competing with the world’s major tourism corridors.
Beyond a campaign, Central America Gateway embodies an ambition: that of a region that asserts itself, organizes and speaks with one voice.
For travelers, it is the promise of a continent to explore without borders.
For professionals, it signals maturity: Central America enters a new era of tourism, where cooperation becomes the most powerful engine of growth.
Photos: CATA
