Tourism

Where Do You Want To Go?

Tourism

The government of Panama has launched a number of initiatives in an effort to promote the country as an international destination for travelers.

MASTER PLAN

The new investment flowing into the sector is also down to the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP). In 2007, it launched the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development 2007-2020. The ATP set out three main objectives that it would like to achieve before the end of 2020. The first objective is to promote sustainable tourism through the improvement of institutional capacity at both the national and regional level. It hopes do this through human resource development, research, and with planning and strategies for the industry and the government. The second objective is to ensure that the economic benefits generated from tourism reach everyone in the community, and not just a select few. The final objective is to strengthen and solidify the sector by generating a substantial increase in revenues as well as by increasing employment numbers in all segments of society from the national assembly to local communities.

INFRASTRUCTURE

As part of the master plan, Panama is spending huge amounts of money in an effort to develop its infrastructure, including $5.2 billion on expanding the Panama Canal and $1.8 billion on a subway system in Panama City. In addition to these, a number of airports have been earmarked for expansion to create the “Hub for the Americas.” Copa Airlines, which has played a key role in the growth of Panama’s economy, has been focusing on international flights and attempting to create a hub in Panama for the American continent. Copa now offers 280 daily scheduled flights to 63 destinations in 29 countries through is Panamanian hub. In 2013, it managed to transport 10.3 million passengers. Another boost to the sector came when the former US air base in Rio Hato reopened as an international airport in late 2013. It is capable of handling flights from Canada and the US. The airport is expected to help boost development in the area, especially with retirees from the US looking to buy property.

It is not just the airports that are being expanded in Panama, its highways are also undergoing a number of expansions. Connectivity between cities is not only important to tourists, but the citizens of Panama as well. New highways connecting Colón to Panama City as well as David with Boquete are on the books. A new metro system, inaugurated on April 5, 2014, will boost the capital city’s connectivity and make it easier for both tourists and citizens to travel around the city. While it currently only has one line, a further line is under development and Line 1 is expected to be expanded in the coming years.

TRAVEL BOOM

The master plan appears to be paying off for Panama as visitor numbers continue to rise. In less than 10 years, the number of visitors has more than doubled from a little over 1 million in 2004 to 2.2 million in 2013, which was also a 5.6% increase on 2012 when 2.08 million visitors came to Panama. The most popular point of entry in 2013 was by air and through Tocumen Airport, where 1.53 million entered the country; this was followed by sea with 373,505, and a further 172,782 visitors coming over land. In Panama City, over 2013 it welcomed 1.42 million visitors, a 14.5% increase on 2012 when 1.24 million people came to see the city. To accommodate these increasing numbers, between 2010 and 2013 there was a 74.16% increase in available rooms per annum in Panama City going from 2.09 million to 3.64 million. With this massive increase in room nights, average occupation rates have fallen from 66.96% in 2010 to 56.7% in 2013. In 2010, 1.4 million hotel room nights were occupied while in 2013 this rose to 2.06 million.

While these numbers may seem small compared to other regional neighbors or competing countries, the money generated from these tourists is nothing to be ignored. In 2012, the Tourist Development Council (TDC) conducted a year-long study to examine the financial impact visitors were having on the country’s beach tourism industry. The study outlined an in-depth look at visitor profiles based on information from surveys, bed tax revenue, occupancy, and economic impact and visitation estimates. From this study, it found that Panama City Beach experienced 10.8 million visitor nights and yielded over $1 billion in revenue; however, this figure didn’t include non-overnight visitors or year-long visitors. According to the ATP, it estimated that in 2013 the total national contribution from the tourism sector was $3.5 billion, which represents around 10% of the economy.

To help promote Panama internationally, the ATP has been running the “Panama-The Way” campaign in an effort to brand the country. The slogan is intended to associate Panama with traveling, whether it is a person transiting through the “Hub of the Americas,” a tourist looking for an exotic location for a vacation on the beach or in the mountains, a retiree looking for a new home, or an investor seeking new opportunities. The government is hoping with the iconic Panama Canal, its new infrastructure projects, and its geographical location that the travel brand will stick in the popular imagination of global travelers.

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