Tourism
From The Report: Panama 2014
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One of four key pillars of economic growth in the Strategic Economic Plan 2010-14, the tourism sector has experienced rapid development in the past decade. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the sector contributed an estimated 13.1% to national GDP and was responsible for 12.4% of total employment. Panama City has seen a surge of international hotel chains enter the market in recent years, while the high-end beach and luxury segment is set to receive significant government investment. Moreover, Panama’s strong biodiversity lends itself to a nascent ecotourism sub-sector. Although hotels in Panama City are facing short-term pressure in the form of lower occupancy rates and reduced prices, this is expected to be temporary. Increased investment and major infrastructure projects promise to boost visitor numbers to the capital and ensure long-term growth, especially as incomes rise throughout South and Central America.

This chapter features an interview with Ernesto Orillac, Deputy Minister of Tourism.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Growing significance: The government’s efforts to boost the tourism sector are paying off
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The stable economic and political progress that followed the country’s return to democracy in 1989 has had a lasting impact on the development of the tourism sector. After planting the seeds of growth throughout the 1990s, the tourism sector has experienced rapid development in the first decade of the new millennium alongside broader economic growth. Panama City and the Panama Canal remain the country’s primary attractions, with the capital city seeing a surge of international hotel chains enter…

Interview

Connecting up: OBG talks to Ernesto Orillac, Deputy Minister of Tourism
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Interview:Ernesto Orillac How would you assess Panama’s rise from 56th to 37th place in the World Economic Forum’s “2013 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report”? ERNESTOORILLAC: We have worked on three key pillars to raise competitiveness. Firstly, we have improved levels of connectivity, both domestically speaking and on the international stage. Panama is now connected to more than 70 cities in the Americas. We have also attracted new carriers and frequencies from Europe.…

Analysis

Enticing developments: A review of the fiscal incentives used to promote tourism investment
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Coupled with a supportive investment incentive framework, Panama’s innate strengths in the tourism industry have made it a natural destination for investment, both foreign and domestic. While in recent years much of that investment has been channelled into Panama City and its growing cadastre of three-, four- and five-star hotels, funds are now beginning to flow away from the capital into developing the country’s leisure, sun and sand, ecotourism and adventure tourism segments. Indeed, the current…

Analysis

Untapped abundance: Sector operators are beginning to create new ecotourism offerings
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Although Panama is only slightly larger than Ireland, it is home to an abundance of biodiversity that has helped support the nascent ecotourism industry. Indeed, ranked 118th globally in terms of geographic area, Panama punched well above its weight in the World Economic Forum’s “Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013”, ranking 11th in overall natural resources, 18th in terms of the number of World Heritage Natural Sites, 18th in total number of known species and 30th for terrestrial…