Margarita off the rocks: Venezuela's Margarita Island works to become a tourist hotspot as travelers trickle back in.

After a drop in the number of international tourists visiting Venezuela due to the political turbulence over the last few years, the government is working on a program to promote and sell Margarita Island as the country's welcome mat.

"The island has been through a very rough time. Political circumstances gripping the country have taken their toll," says Jairo Cuba, executive director of Fondo Mixto, a quasi-private tourism agency for Nueva Esparta state, which is largely Margarita Island, located in the southeastern reaches of the Caribbean Sea. "We had to work hard, particularly with the national market and now we are working hard at the inter national market."

In 2003, when a nationwide strike tried but failed to squeeze President Hugo Chavez from office via forced resignation, the island welcomed 1.5 million tourists, the lowest figure in five years, according to Corpotur, another Nueva Esparta tourism agency. During such time, governments in countries such as the United States and Germany were warning their citizens not to travel to Venezuela. Today things are different. "We are in the middle of an aggressive, global re-launch of Margarita as a tourist destination," Cuba says. "We have designed a strategy that includes the press and television to attack foreign markets." In 2005, the island's tourism recovered somewhat, with 2.1 million visitors arriving, a 12.4% increase from 2004, according to Corpotur. The agency hopes to post a 15% increase this year.

"Tourism is Margarita's petroleum."

Business leaders and public officials have been traveling to tourism fairs to get the word out worldwide, especially in Colombia--which currently sends more international visitors to the island than any other country--as well as in Puerto Rico, Germany, Brazil and Ecuador.

During Easter Week, two weekly flights fly in from Ecuador. Many here see Brazil as a key growth market. Like Colombia, Brazil has its own stretches of white, sandy beaches. Yet Corpotur believes Brazilians living in places like the northern city of Manaus will find the Venezuelan island closer than beaches in the northeastern corners of their own country.

Tourism is a big deal for the economy as well. "Tourism is Margarita's petroleum, accounting for 75% of productivity," Cuba says.

One of the promotional campaign's chief selling points is the Port of Guamache, which handles cruise ships. Since 1993, Guaritico, a private concessionaire, has operated the shipping terminal. The facility has traditionally catered to cargo ships although cruise ships began calling on the port three years after privatization. "We began in 1996 with three ships and for the 2005-2006 tourist season we officially registered 100 ships. We are predicting 125 ships for 2006-2007," says Guillermo Moron, the port's president. In five years, the port expects to handle up to 300 ships a year.

Today, the port has generated 1,000 jobs and another 2,500 indirectly, figures that could double thanks to an increased flow of government money to the island. "The Venezuelan government doesn't need to keep going into debt at a time of excess oil revenues," Moron says. "The budget was calculated at $20 per barrel and we are taking in roughly $56 a barrel. These resources will find their way into the ports."

Guamache will receive $6 million, which Hill help finance construction of two new wharves, storage facilities, a passenger terminal and improve electrical systems, among other projects. "Two more wharves Hill let us receive two ships per wharf and three in the bay, which means we could simultaneously handle between 12,000 and 14,000 passengers," Moron says. Today, the port can handle two or three ships at the same time and move 5,000 tourists.

Cargo shipments account for 60% of Guamache's revenue, while tourism picks up the rest. However, the two sectors should evenly divide total revenues some time in the future. In 2004, total revenues hit $1 million, an amount that doubled a year later. For 2006, the port is expecting $5 million once the new wharves are built.

"Shipping companies are looking for a port in Venezuela that can handle vessels of 300 meters in length and a 3,500-passenger capacity," says Manuel Gustavo Vesga, general manager of operations at Rovelli Maritima, a Venezuelan company that consults cruise ship lines. There are only three ports in the country that handle tour boats, with widely varying levels of capacity. The port at La Guaira, just north of Caracas, only takes in 10 such ships a year while ports in Puerto Ordaz in Ciudad Bolivar handle six.

A ship arriving with 2,000 passengers will generate income of $25,000. Each tourist will spend an average $60 for every six to 12 hours spent on Margarita Island, with the hope being that many return.

Investments. In recent tourist seasons, the island suffered from a lack of space to house tourists. To fix that, the public and private sectors are coming together to invest money "We feel that Margarita grow a great deal. We currently have 8,970 rooms but we have an agreement with the Ministry of Tourism to raise that figure to 12,000 over the next three years," says Salvador Nunez, Corpotur's president.

On the other hand, Spanish hotelier Celuisma invested $60 million buying and remodeling a hotel as well as on upgrades on two other hotels that it already owned. It also built a new property on the island of Coche, located 10 kilometers off Margarita. Pueblo Caribe, a Venezuelan hotel operator, is building a 250-room hotel on Margarita as well as 120-room facility on Coche, which is also part of Nueva Esparta state. Furthermore, the government has unveiled mechanisms to entice foreign capital into the tourism sector, including preferential interest rates and tax cuts on profits on new projects in the tourism industry and infrastructure.

The government has also rolled out programs designed to create jobs in the sector, including foreign-language courses as well as classes on differentiating tastes and travel preferences among different tourist groups from around the world. "For Margarita, national tourism represents 70% of the sector but we are working hard on European and Latin American markets," Nunez says.

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MARISOL RUEDA * MARGARITA ISLAND