Good news on the air.

No Central American country needs an image makeover as badly as Nicaragua. The country seems to make the international press only in times of war, natural disasters or corruption scandals. But that's about to change, even if Nicaragua has to pay for it.

Building on 2003's record-high tourism numbers of US$150 million, the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (Intur) has announced a massive new campaign known as "Come Try Nicaragua" to air on international cable channel CNN's Headline News. The ads feature two 30-second advertisement spots a day to run into 2005. The commercials, which began in April, feature testimonials and success stories from local business leaders and foreign investors that portray the country as business friendly, according to Intur Executive President Lucia Salazar. Salazar declined to disclose how much the campaign cost.

Nicaragua has taken steps to improve its economy, and lenders have been taking note. The country will receive US$382.6 million in debt-service relief from the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank, and another $106.5 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The multilateral lending institutions expect other lenders to provide relief to the country totaling $4.5 billion over time, or 73% of its total external debt.

Forty-five percent of Nicaragua's five million-plus inhabitants live in poverty, and the government is hoping that tourism--the country's primary source of foreign income in 2003--could be the ticket to a brighter future.

"lf we can't change the image of the country, there will be no investment and no tourism," Salazar says.