Is it impossible for Venezuela to catch up in tourism?

Venezuela is worried about not being able to catch up to world standards anymore when it comes to travel and tourism.

On Tuesday, a sewer line burst affected the transit of passengers moving across Terminal 5 of Maiquetia International Airport in Venezuela. Such incident faithfully represents the state of the country’s tourism infrastructure. And it helps us understand the huge task that would represent the pledge by Andrés Izarra, the tourism minister, of putting Venezuela on the map of favorite tourist destinations in the world.

The question is how to satisfy a million tourists with international quality standards, a goal to reach by Izarra in 2014, if the nation’s main airport is in such bad shape. Because, as we all know, it is not only the busted sewer lines what is troubling the passengers, but power failures, lack of water and luggage theft.

And this is not just about an airport, but the entire tourism infrastructure of the country. It is an unquestionable truth that Venezuela has an extraordinary potential to become a preferred destination by both foreign and local tourists. The beauty of its landscapes from north to south, and from east to west is incalculable. It is thousands of miles of beautiful beaches, tepuyes, the majesty of the Gran Sabana and the Andean peaks. The vastness of destinations for ecotourism is even more varied than other countries in the region, which did find a way to exploit that activity for years, one that has generated revenue, created jobs and startups for its locals.

Notwithstanding, tourism has always been the “black sheep” of the nation’s productive activity, which today has more burdens than ever before keeping it from spreading its wings, no matter if Izarra says otherwise. The problem is that activating tourism is much more demanding and requires more determination than violating the Constitution to build a communicational hegemony by turning to expropriations, illegalities and violations to property rights, something which Izarra was once very good at.

The promotion of tourism must be structural, not “revolutionary.”

It takes, for instance, besides airports and ports in perfect sanitary and infrastructure status, a hotel network in the hands of fearless private investors who do not care about their facilities being invaded by homeless people as a result of heavy rains and force them to lodge these people for months (or years) backed by the threat of being expropriated. Or state-owned hotels where backers of the Revolution are the only customers welcomed, such as the case of the former minister of tourism, Alejandro Fleming, who ordered not to take in any person at the State’s Venatur hotel network who had “offended the memory of Commander Hugo Chávez.”

It is quite determinant to have a flexible foreign exchange policy that makes investment affordable to the pockets of both foreigners and locals.

It also takes a tip-top road infrastructure, which the Government recently admitted has collapsed after President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency last week.

Tourism in Venezuela also requires a safe, reliable and comfortable transportation system, without the setbacks caused by interruptions in the service.

It is just as indispensable that tourists feel a “sensation” of security, something impossible to achieve since the country ranks among the most violent on the planet, with 16,000 homicides in 2012 alone and projected to rise to about 20,000 by year-end.

Lastly, it demands a culture of tourism that is harvested in the minds of all Venezuelans to make our visitors feel welcomed; to meet all their demands in a friendly manner. This is a task for the top government; for everybody involved in the industry, including all Venezuelans.