Venezuela sees tourist surge

[Flanker]

If President Bush's attacks on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's brand of populism are meant to sour Americans on visiting the latter's homeland, the campaign appears to have backfired. Caribbean beaches of Venezuela's Margarita Island are getting serious competition from mainland destinations that, until recently, many tourists avoided due to safety concerns

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Global Exchange has 12 two-week trips coming up in 2006, costing an average of about $1,300, not including international airfare. Tours visit literacy classes, cooperatives and media outlets, and visitors meet government ministers, lawyers and oil company officials.

In June, the organization will open a Spanish-language school in Mérida, at the foot of the Venezuelan Andes, and some tours will include language study.

For information, call [phone] or go to www.globalexchange.org.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/26/TRG02HFH0120.DTL