From a wealth of picture-postcard Caribbean beaches to the magnificent table-top mountains that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, Venezuelans have no shortage of domestic holiday destinations to choose from.
But surging oil wealth and the restrictions of a dollar-pegged, overvalued currency are driving unprecedented numbers of Venezuelans to travel overseas on holiday, with the number of international flights jumping 45 per cent last month over the previous year.
"It's never been like this - it's extraordinary," says Maria Falvay, a sales executive for Pegasus Travel in Caracas. "If you want to fly out of Venezuela over the next few weeks you might as well forget it, we're fully booked. At the moment, we're taking bookings for December."
Flight sales so far this year have risen by 28 per cent to $428m (€317m, £215m) compared with the same period in 2006, while the number of tickets issued is 40 per cent up. This far exceeds the number of overseas travellers when previous records were set during Venezuela's last oil boom in the late 1970s, when Concorde used to fly to Caracas.
According to Alejandro Grisanti, an economist at Ecoanalitica, the rise reflects the growing affluence in Venezuela, pushing up overall consumption. This in turn is feeding the highest inflation rate in the region - 17.2 per cent in July.
Venezuela's consumption is being fuelled by inflation that is outstripping interest rates so fast that consumers prefer to spend rather than see their money eroded in bank accounts. Banks are providing a further stimulus to spending through cheap credit.
Mr Grisanti argues that rising overseas travel is also a consequence of Venezuela's overvalued currency, which has been fixed at 2,150 bolivars to the dollar since March 2005. On the parallel "black" market, the dollar is now worth more than twice as much.
"The government is subsidising people to travel, effectively giving away the difference between the official and the parallel exchange rate," he says.
Although currency restrictions have caused the parallel market value of the dollar to shoot up over the past year, tickets with international airlines are paid for at the official rate, so have dropped in cost compared with other consumer goods. Despite the scarcity of dollars at the official rate locally, Venezuelans travelling abroad can take advantage of an allowance provided by the government of up to $5,600 at the official exchange rate.
Travel agents point out that travel to Venezuela's high-priced top destinations is now more expensive than a trip to the US, a favoured destination for Venezuelans. Nevertheless, internal flights this year have still increased by 37 per cent from 2006.
The problem is compounded by insufficient supply to keep up with demand for flights. Although international carriers such as American Airlines have asked to increase the frequency of flights to keep up with demand, permission has not been granted by the government, which is seeking to protect local airlines.
Fewer international airlines now operate in Venezuela, with leading carriers such as British Airways and KLM having ceased to fly the route in recent years.
Umberto Figuera, of the Venezuelan Airline Association, admits that local carriers are unable to fill the gap in demand. "The fundamental problem is that there aren't any big local airlines that can cover the routes run by international airlines," he says. "Not a single one flies to Europe. They just can't compete."
He believes that Venezuela's airline sector needs a proper government policy to resolve its problems.
