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Flows of People
After Costa Rica, Honduras has the greatest flow of people across its borders in the region. Annual visitors to the country numbered more than 886,000 in 2003, up from 672,000 in 2001, a 32 percent rise. According to officials, a great number of these visitors (i.e., 276,000, or approximately one-third of travelers) are on single-day excursions from cruise ships. The greatest share of cross-border traffic (58 percent) comes from residents of other Central American countries. North American visitors account for 30 percent of total visitors; Europeans, 7 percent; and others, the remaining 5 percent.
In total, arrival by air constitutes the largest portion of cross-border traffic, with Honduras’s two airports receiving roughly 44 percent of Honduras’s arrivals (29 percent arriving at San Pedro Sula and 20 percent arriving in Tegucigalpa), according to immigration agency sources. Approximately 34 percent of travelers cross the land borders; 2 percent travel by sea. Among land crossings, El Amatillo (El Salvador) and Guasule mark the major entry points, with 21 percent each of crossings. Las Manos ranks third, with 15 percent of overall traffic. As noted previously, tourism is one of Honduras’s largest “exports” (the highest export after maquilas), and significant money flow results from the flow of people. Revenue from tourism provided $373 million in 2003, up from $274 million in 2001 (a 36 percent rise).
Overall, Honduran laws and public and private institutions facilitate the flows of trade-related people. Honduras is streamlining processes at land border crossings, upgrading its automation, and amending its laws. However, as with other Honduran public institutions, Honduran people-flow institutions are not professional and are overly politicized. Also, Honduras could do more to simplify its system for handling highly skilled visitors seeking longer stays. Work permits require more than 12 pieces of paperwork and involve five or more government agencies. Further, Honduras can do more to address illegitimate people flows, which remain a significant problem. Honduras’s borders with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are long and porous, and Honduras now serves as a key origin and transit country for illegal immigration to the United States.
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