Some thoughts on Tourism in Nicaragua

Nicaragua's been all over the New York Times lately as a hot place to visit. It was voted #3 out of places to go in 2013. Tourism is growing fast. With good reason, it's gorgeous here! There's plenty to see, and as vacation destinations go, it's really not that far from the US. There's plenty of talk now and whether or not Nicaragua will be "the next Costa Rica." There's a lot to bite into with that question, if you're interested, here's an article. Another article, from the NYT magazine "A Delicate Balance" irked me a bit. Mainly because the article was mostly about a photo-shoot and partly because I felt like bits of it were poorly researched. ("We're told that the difficult to-get-to island of Ometepe is a popular destination..." Umm, seriously? There are ferries all the time..It's about a Nantucket on public transportation level of difficulty to get to)....

One of the things I've find really interesting about this coverage though, is this automatic assumption that more tourism will automatically help "the second poorest country in the Americas." I'm pretty skeptical about this. Without a doubt, more tourist dollars flowing into Nicaragua will raise the GDP and create trickle down opportunities for employment through related industries. But the poorest regions of Nicaragua (the Northern mountainous corridor and the Atlantic Coast) aren't going to be affected much by potential tourists, particularly the adinerado ($$$$) sort of tourists the NYT article was arguing Nicaragua should make more efforts to draw in, instead of the usual backpacker hippie types. And it's true, these really are the only types of tourists you frequently see here, so much so that one of my FAQs is "Do Americans take showers regularly?" In my opinion, however, the growth of  giant resorts on the coast will merely exacerbate existing regional patterns of inequality.Which isn't to say that it won't make life better for a lot of people, because there are people living on the edge all over the country, but it's far from a holistic solution to Nicaragua's struggles with poverty.

I had a really interesting experience when I was living with the host family in Carazo. For their equivalent of Independence Day, we traveled to visit Tola, a town that boasts many of Nicaragua's most beautiful beaches. The roads to get to the beaches were all dirt, although a paving project was underway, supposedly supported by a new luxury resort. When we got to the beach we wanted to visit, reportedly the most beautiful in Nicaragua, according to internet research by a family member, we discovered that it was a private resort (I believe it was American owned) and that we couldn't enter. It was an uncomfortable moment: I was traveling with leftist Nicaraguans, conscious of their nation's history and nationalistically minded. And what could I respond, confronted with this situation? Why shouldn't they have a right to visit a beach in their own country? And it's something that Americans can't really relate to: other countries don't really own our stuff, and our territorial sovereignty hasn't been seriously questioned since the War of 1812. Weaned on tales of our own supposed supremacy among nations, we can't really relate to the uneasy feeling that arises from having this type of foreign investment. Sure, there are plenty of private beaches and such in the US, but there's a fundamentally different feeling about it.

When we finally rerouted towards another beach, we found another resort under construction nearby, with giant manicured lawns (despite the dry, sandy coastal climate and the fact that residents nearby probably lacked consistent access to potable water) and armed guards out front. It wasn't clear how local residents would benefit economically from such a space after it was constructed, other than through service industry jobs although who knows where this fortress would find its laborers.

The "Delicate Balance" article referred to not cutting corners and having community oriented projects included in giant resort developments as a "noble, if privileged approach to development." Maybe so, but why shouldn't this be the standard? If we're going to wrest people's country away from them to give rich tourists the experiences they desire, why not make their lives a little better in the process?