Representatives from the country’s hotel industry enjoyed an opportunity to gather in San Pedro Sula this month and discuss their opinions and experiences regarding tourism in Honduras. The II National Hotel Congress was inaugurated by Tourism Minister Thierry de Pierrefeu and included the participation of the Honduran Hotel Association. It was also the setting for I Expo-Hotel, the country’s first hotel industry exposition.

At the event, small and mid-sized hotel owners were encouraged to implement new computerized technologies to facilitate and optimize business. Workshops were also held on how to forge strategic alliances, develop new products and diversify products and services.

The 727 hotels currently operating in Honduras employ 8,000 Hondurans and offer 15,986 rooms and beds for 24,841 guests - all in close proximity to a wide variety of tourism attractions.

Of the total number of hotel rooms available in the country, there are 254 on the North Coast, 177 in the Central Zone, 99 in Western Honduras, 91 on the Islands, 59 in the Eastern Zone and 47 in the South. Of these, Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Roatan and Choluteca offer the greatest choice of hotels, with 120, 81, 50 and 24 respectively.

With support from the private sector, the Tourism Ministry has also created the Honduran Convention and Visitor Bureau, an agency whose primary goal is to strengthen and provide incentives for a series of strategies aimed at encouraging growth and development in the hotel sector. One such strategy is to promote Honduras as an excellent option for conventions and seminars.

The II National Hotel Congress and the I Expo-Hotel spotlighted new trends and opportunities in “the hospitality industry” - a key player in the development and expansion of the country’s very promising tourism sector.

Both local and foreign speakers participated in the three-day Congress. Participants also included hotels both local and foreign, large and small, urban and rural, beach and mountain.