Turismo de segunda residencia: Balance de un desarrollo en la costa Pacifico Sur de Nicaragua

Attractive coastal regions of Central and South America have recently experienced a rapid growth of second home developments. While the benefits of tourism to regional economies are put forward by private investors, the contribution of the holiday home sector to sustainable development in peripheral areas is far from being established. This paper, which draws upon both primary and secondary qualitative data, examines the nature of the recent second home developments that have taken place on the South Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. The challenges of this segment to generate tourism activities and sustain local communities are also questioned. The main impacts identified consist of conflicts over land use and ownership, low-income employment generation, an increased burden of municipal budget to provide public infrastructure, and environmental degradation. It is argued that the second home tourism sector, strongly driven by private real estate investors, fails to induce the desired socio-economic benefits that would benefit local communities. In addition, this study indicates that municipalities concentrating on the second home tourism segment may deprive other forms of tourism activities access to resources.