Rivas, Nicaragua
On a recent Tuesday morning, three of the U.S.'s most influential travel agents were hiking on a cliff-side trail overlooking the Pacific Ocean, gazing at the pristine beaches below and watching a group of howler monkeys in a nearby tree. Leading them were executives of Mukul, a not-quite-open 37-room $40 million luxury resort. The scenic tour was just the beginning salvo in a three-night, all-expenses-paid trip organized by the hotel to convince the travel agents to promote the property to their wealthy clients.
Nicaragua Seeks Luxury TravelersView Slideshow
Andrew Kaufman for The Wall Street JournalA day bed on Manzanillo Beach at Mukul, a new $40 million resort in Nicaragua.
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With its 24-hour butler service, lavish spa and a golf course created by the celebrated Scottish designer David McLay Kidd, it would seem an easy sell. But there is one complication. The resort is in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the hemisphere, one with a war-torn history�and a place where none of the agents had ever sent a client, or been themselves.
"I was thinking about Ortega, Sandinistas," said Rina Anoussi, president of the Travel Business in New York, whose clients include art-world and entertainment celebrities. "I'm trying to absorb what kind of people I can sell this to�people with illicit love affairs? No one will see you."
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