Caracas – Firebrand Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez boosted here Thursday attractions of “revolutionary tourism” in his South American nation, at the same time taking care to reassure rich clients of luxury resorts that their continued patronage also is desired.
The International Tourism Fair, known here as Fitcar, kicked off on Thursday with the Venezuelan leader expressing his desire to offer new proposals to advance “21st century socialism” in the sector.
“This revolutionary tourism includes everyone … There’s a tourist revolution under way … (an alternative to) imported tourism … which is associated only with the five-star hotels of the elite, which we don’t exclude. We include it also and we recognize it,” Chavez said in his speech inaugurating the fair.
More than 300 exhibitors are participating in the second annual Fitcar, which will conclude on Sunday and which this year Cuba – the closest ally of Chavez’s Venezuela – is attending as a specially invited guest.
With the contribution of Spain, last year’s special guest, and Havana, “I have no doubts in saying (that) true tourist activity in Venezuela at last has been born,” the leftist president said.
Chavez alluded to the development of tourist products with the active participation of indigenous communities – including demonstrating their ancestral culinary customs or ways to protect the environment – as well as that of the dangerous poor neighborhoods which are trying to eliminate day-to-day violence.
“We’re already starting to see this whole collection of achievements, successes and advances in different areas on the level of popular tourism … (in) a country that came back to life … and now we’re building ourselves up here with a very special flavor because we’re a beautiful, delicious, happy, Caribbean, Andean, Pacific, Atlantic and Amazonian mixture,” he added.
In addressing those who feel it is impossible to develop tourism on those terms, Chavez reproached them for repeating that Venezuela “is marching toward totalitarinism, (and) that Chavez has a totalitarian plan to do away with freedoms.”
After almost eight years in power and confident that he will remain at the helm for at least several more, he said: “What a terribly evil tyrant I would be if in eight years in Venezuela what has been reborn are freedoms.”
In a communique entitled “The ‘details’ that are missing,” the opposition VenEconomia center said that “it is really difficult to determine what the benefit is that this initiative will bring to the country.”
The organization calling itself “the main publishing house for specialized business publications in Venezuela” emphasized that for the country to take advantage of its tourist potential “much more is needed than a monumental annual tourist fair where billions of bolivares are thrown away each year.”
“Currently, the country is very far from achieving that goal,” VenEconomia said, adding that “in the surveys of departing tourists, a high percentage say that they will never return to Venezuela because of multiple (negative) incidents and bad treatment they received.”
“Instead of spending on Fitcar, the government should be working on creating a tourist culture, guaranteeing the citizens’ security and improving public health and the highway infrastructure,” it added.
Fitcar will focus on Thursday on negotiations between private businessmen and public and cooperative officials to finalize business deals totalling between $95 million and $145 million, according to the calculations of Tourism Minister Wilmar Castro, who added that the fair will be open to the public from Friday through Sunday.
Almost 50 countries are represented at the event held at the La Carlota airport in Caracas, where 14 huge pavilions have been set up in a 23,000-square-meter (243,000 square feet) area for national and foreign exhibitors to display their wide variety of tourist products and services.
Also offered at the fair will be seminars on “social and popular tourism” in different parts of the world, as well as the kind being pushed in Venezuela with the rationale that “it is another route toward the socialism of the 21st century,” the tourism minister said.
