At present, tourism in Honduras is in a period of robust recovery. In Copán Ruinas, tourists have been plentiful since Christmas, indicating a quick start to the post crisis recovery period. In fact, the rapidness of the recovery since the end of December surprised me, as I was clearly expecting a much longer period of slow, steady recovery taking at least six months, with full recovery to be seen by July, which is the traditional start of the summer high season. I have been extremely pleased to see a strong and sustained uptick in tourism during January, which is an excellent indicator that the crisis is now behind us and that tourists are returning in ever-increasing numbers.

Honduras has a few advantages which will help speed its tourism sector recovery, amongst them are:

* The newly inaugurated Mahogony Bay Cruise Ship Port on Roatán built by Carnival Cruise Line. Carnival is estimating a half million cruise ship passenger visits this year.

* The synergy created by the common border between Guatemala and Honduras which is an historically strong entry point for many Honduras bound visitors. Many Guatemala-based international travelers enter Honduras for a side trip to complement their Guatemala trip. Some venture only as far as the ruins of Copán and others as far as Roatán and the north coast, and still others continue south to Nicargaua, Costa Rica and Panama.

* TACA Airlines, the key regional international carrier is now offering an increased menu of flights into Roatán and Honduras, and the airline is heavily promoting deep dish discounted airfares within Central America in order to stimulate regional tourism. Their newest flight, San Salvador to Roatán, will do much to promote Honduras in the all-important Salvadoran regional tourism market.

* Honduras is seen as a bargain destination, especially when compared to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador which are all more expensive.

* Honduras is also seen as an up and coming new destination, particularly Roatán. One must travel as far north as Belize to find reefs and diving as spectacular as in Honduras, and one must travel as far south as Costa Rica to find virgin nature as spectacular as La Mosquitia in Honduras. Both Belize and Costa Rica are much more expensive and developed tourism destinations.

* It should be noted that the political crisis, for better or worse, has put Honduras on the map. Depending on one´s political affiliation and ideolgical bent, the crisis, set off by the removal of former President Manuel Zelaya, was either an audacious act of courage to save the country from a leftist government allied with Venezuela or a cowardly act of brutal aggression by the military and elite class. It is now for historians and Latin American experts to sort out the rights and wrongs of the past six months. In the eyes of international tourism, the important message right now seems to be that Honduran tourism is once again open for business -- a much welcome refrain, especially as the country is now learning that Mr. Zelaya bankrupted this already poor country. With the potential to reach US$1 billion in tourism income during the next four years, tourism may be the one bright spot in a very bleak economic panorama.

All this takes me back a decade to our last crisis, Hurricane Mitch, which also significantly set back the tourism sector. As with the Mitch disaster, tourism surprisingly bounced back quickly. During that recovery period, I remember writing copy for an ad for Honduran tourism which read... In Honduras: Tourism is Job One, or En Honduras El Turismo Es Primero. Once again, crisis has hit Honduras and once again the tourism sector is being called upon to help pull the country´s battered economy up by its bootstraps. New day, new crisis, but same philosophy. (photo of Yuscarán courtesy Internet)