Two Officials Are Selling Nicaragua to the World as Sanctions Bite
Politics
Key Facts
—The pair. INTUR co-directors Anasha Campbell and Mara Stotti are the two officials still travelling the world to promote Nicaragua as a destination.
—The backdrop. The United States has revoked or denied visas to more than 2,000 officials tied to the Ortega government and their relatives.
—The reach. In early 2026 the two attended fairs in Spain, Germany, Russia, China, Canada and six US trade shows.
—The stunt. INTUR bought a Times Square billboard during the World Cup to catch the crowds gathered to watch matches.
—The gap. INTUR has stopped publishing its statistical reports, so the two officials’ statements are now almost the only source of tourism figures.
The Nicaragua tourism pitch abroad now rests on two people. That unusual fact says as much about the country’s isolation as about its beaches.
The two officials are Anasha Campbell and Mara Stotti, co-directors of the national tourism institute, known as INTUR. According to the independent daily La Prensa, now published in exile, they are the only regime figures still crossing borders to court visitors.
That they can travel at all is the point. Washington has revoked or denied entry to more than two thousand people linked to the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, along with their families.
Why Nicaragua tourism leans on two people
The pair have kept up a punishing schedule. By their own account they appeared at leading tourism fairs across the first half of the year, in Spain, Germany, Russia, China and Canada, and at six US trade shows.
Stotti opened the year at the big Madrid fair, where she says she greeted Spain’s king and queen. Campbell has worked the US circuit, appearing at travel and adventure shows in Los Angeles, South Florida and Chicago.
The most eye-catching move was a billboard. INTUR ran an advert on a screen in New York’s Times Square during the World Cup, hoping to catch the crowds who gather there to watch matches.
The aim, Stotti said, was to ride the tournament’s energy. She wanted to put Nicaragua in front of people from all over the world, in a spot where everyone passes and everyone looks.
The outreach also reached deeper into markets the West has ceded. The two travelled to Russia twice and to China, and joined regional showcases in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica through a Central American promotion agency.
Can the Nicaragua tourism figures be trusted?
That is the harder question. INTUR has stopped putting out its annual statistical reports, so the numbers now come almost entirely from what these two officials choose to say in interviews.
The figures they offer are upbeat. Campbell said Nicaragua received nearly two hundred and seventy-nine thousand visitors in the first quarter, up about eleven percent on the year, with average daily spending above forty-nine dollars.
By her account the United States still leads the source markets, followed by neighbouring Costa Rica and Honduras. Nearly nine in ten of the arrivals, she said, stayed overnight rather than passing through.
What neither official would say is how much public money funds all this travel and advertising. That silence, with the reports gone, leaves the promotion effort largely unaudited.
Selling a country the world is sanctioning
The deeper tension is one of image. The same government whose officials are being barred from Western capitals is spending to attract Western tourists to its shores.
Nicaragua’s international reputation has been battered by years of repression, from the crushing of the 2018 protests to the stripping of critics’ nationality and property. Tourism marketing runs directly against that current.
It also fits a wider pattern of official optimism that outside observers treat with caution. As with the country’s headline growth and investment figures, the tourism story is one the government tells loudly and verifies quietly, if at all.
The comparison is exact. A recent record foreign-investment figure turned out, on inspection by a United Nations body, to be mostly profit reinvested by firms already there rather than fresh money arriving.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is promoting Nicaragua tourism abroad?
Anasha Campbell and Mara Stotti, co-directors of the national tourism institute INTUR. They are the only regime figures still crossing borders to court visitors.
Where did the two officials travel in early 2026?
They attended tourism fairs in Spain, Germany, Russia, China and Canada, plus six US trade shows. They also joined regional showcases in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
What visitor numbers have they reported?
Campbell said Nicaragua received nearly 279,000 visitors in the first quarter, up about eleven percent on the year. Average daily spending was above forty-nine dollars.
Why are the tourism figures hard to trust?
INTUR has stopped publishing its annual statistical reports. The numbers now come almost entirely from what these two officials say in interviews.
Why should a foreign traveller or investor care?
Tourism is one of the few sectors where Nicaragua actively wants foreign money, yet the data behind it is now hard to check independently. Optimistic arrival numbers should be read with that caveat in mind.
For a traveller the calculus is more personal. Nicaragua remains genuinely beautiful and, by regional standards, cheap, but the same state promoting it also tightly controls what visitors may photograph and where they may go.
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief