Whether you love adventure or exotic, unexplored areas of the world, or prefer the more popular, traditional tourism spots where you can sit back and immerse yourself in nature, learn about the history and customs of indigenous peoples, Central America is the place for your investment dollars.  Right in the heart of the Americas there’s a region of just over 520,000 square kilometers (323,000 square miles) brimming with history, beautiful Pacific and Caribbean beaches and an abundance of biodiversity that will leave you speechless.

Situated at the privileged point where North and South America converge and bounded by both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, this jewel of a territory boasts unique and exclusive natural, cultural and commercial wealth that today needs to be singled out and recognized as this small region’s primary heritage asset.

Natural wealth
Central America’s relatively small territory claims almost 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) of coastline, with mangroves covering over 850,000 hectares (2.1 million acres) and the Mesoamerican Caribbean reef system stretching for over 1000 kilometers (620 miles), making it the world’s second largest reef.  The region has extensive mountain ranges with peaks of over 4,200 meters (13,800 feet) above sea level, annual rainfall varying from 500 mm (20 inches) to over 7,000 mm (276 inches), and temperatures going from 7.5°C (45°F) to 32.5°C (90°F), resulting in a wide array of natural ecosystems such as coastal marine environments, wetlands, rainforests, cloud forests, dry forests and pine forests1.

With less than half of 1 percent of the planet’s landmass, Central America has between 7 and 10 percent of all known life forms and 17 percent of all land species. It is home to approximately 24,000 species of vascular plants, of which 5,000 (21 percent) are endemic.  Of its 521 species of mammals, 210 (40 percent) are endemic; in addition, the region has 1,193 bird species, thanks to the fact that three of the Western Hemisphere’s four migratory bird routes pass directly through the region.

As of 1989, joint action was taken on the issue of natural wealth with the creation of the Central American Commission on the Environment and Development (CCAD) and the signing of the Central American Convention for the Protection of the Environment, forming a foundation upon which the heritage value of these resources is conceptualized and recognized and efforts are channeled into their sustainability. One concrete action deriving from this initiative was the creation of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor only ten years ago, making it, according to the Central American Council of Tourism, the most extensive regional sustainable development platform in the world, aimed at preserving the region’s cultural and natural heritage.

Cultural Wealth
The region’s natural wealth is intertwined with a vast cultural wealth consisting of valuable ancestral assets, such as the archeological remains of Mayan cities and modern cities dotted with well-preserved Colonial buildings.

Unquestionably, the most striking attractions in the region are the impressive Mayan ruins at Tikal (Guatemala), Copán (Honduras) and Joya de Cerén (El Salvador); well-preserved Colonial cities such as Antigua (Guatemala), Granada (Nicaragua) and Choluteca (Honduras); Costa Rica’s well-structured system of national parks and protected areas, including outstanding sites such as Corcovado, Monteverde, Arenal Volcano and Tortuguero; world-class diving off the Bay Islands (Honduras) and Belizean coast; Nicaragua and El Salvador’s lakes and volcanoes; and the culture of the Honduran Garífunas and Guatemalan indigenous groups.

Beaches, which for many tourist destinations constitute the primary attraction, complement and quite often couple with these cultural attractions; they are usually near or within protected areas, archeological sites and Colonial or culturally valuable cities. The countries’ tourist attractions complement each other, creating an opportunity to develop tourist corridors throughout the region2.

The cultural diversity of Central America derives from the coexistence of seven different countries in a rather small territory (Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama).  Each nation has its own unique political and social organization, and although this may lead to profound developmental differences, it is one of the things that give the region its unique characteristics.