Venezuelan Minister of Tourism Ali Padrón. Photo: Prensa Latina.
The 15th edition of the International Tourism Fair of Venezuela (FITVEN) began on Thursday, November 24, in the state of Anzoátegui, as Venezuelan authorities are trying to turn the tourism sector into an engine for the development of the national economy.
“This is going to be a great meeting… it will be the most resounding Fair that the Bolivarian Republic has had in its entire history because it is designed with a vision of future,” said the Venezuelan minister of Tourism, Alí Padrón, in an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina.
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“We want to promote the reality of a diverse, multi-destination territory, because we are one of the most diverse countries on the planet,” the minister said.
Padrón commented that only 17 out of 193 countries registered in the United Nations are considered mega-diverse, together possessing 60% of the planet’s diversity.
Among these, Venezuela ranks seventh as the most diverse country in the world, owing to the beautiful beaches, forests, snow in the tropics, large plains, and a great biological diversity.
“We also have a significant infrastructure, but we have never had the vision of a tourist country, like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Caribbean region, and that is a weakness,” the minister explained. “We have lacked the vision to have the infrastructure and a society prepared to serve tourists.”
Minister Padrón pointed out that one of the plans is to develop this potential, to be able to create different routes to different destinations, and to train Venezuelans to change the vision of a rentier state, which allowed people to prefer tourism abroad, to that of a country of productive economy.
(Prensa Latina English) by Luis Linares Petrov
