Central American countries will try to attract more tourists and investors at the 26th International Tourism Fair (FITUR) to be held in Madrid so as to boost their tourism industry, Panamanian Tourism Minister Ruben Blades said on Tuesday.

The countries will share a 382-square-meter pavilion at the fair starting on Wednesday until Jan. 31, which is considered to be the second largest in the world after Berlin's International Tourism Bourse (ITB).

According to Blades, some 6.6 million tourists spent more than 4.6 billion U.S. dollars in Central America in 2005, a rise of 12 percent in the number of tourists and 15.7 percent in the amount of revenue.

In 2004, some 5.9 million tourists visited Central American countries, spending around 4 billion dollars, he said.

Panama will solicit help from Spain to improve its airports and help it open a Valencia School of Hotel Training, Blades said.

Jaime Cornejo, director of investment and development at Panama's Tourism Agency, said that Panama will try to seek European tourists and investors, especially from Spain, at the fair.

The fair will cover nearly 90,000 square meters and see a 4.3 percent increase in the number of exhibitors.

More than 200,000 visitors registered last year for the fair, of whom more than 102,139 were tourism professionals, including nearly 800 company representatives and more than 11,500 exhibitors.

Source: Xinhua