Panama expects to receive 1.8 million tourists throughout 2022
“We are talking about 800,000 people until the month of June, and we are aiming at the projection of 1.8 million visitors” to close the year, the administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen, told reporters.
Source: EFE
Panama expects to receive 1.8 million tourists this year while trying to recover the sector's pre-pandemic figures, said the Panama Tourism Authority
In 2022, "the recovery efforts of the sector are advancing in a very positive way", since "the figures reported by the Comptroller's Office as of June is four times the number of visitors from last year and already very close to the levels of visitors of the year 2019,” explained Eskildsen.
"In January 2022 we were still 45% apart from what we were in 2019, but in June we are already 15%, the gap is narrowing," added the ATP head.
Tourism was one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, which caused the gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 17.9% in 2020, the year in which Panama received 70% fewer visitors than in 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO).
In 2021, hotel occupancy did not even reach 10%, according to data from this sector of Panama, where tourism represents 10% of GDP and contributes 7 billion dollars in foreign currency, according to ATP data.
This year's improvement is due to tourism for conventions, meetings and congresses in Panama, although the Central American country seeks to position itself as a green tourism destination, like its neighbor Costa Rica.
"I want to mention, specifically, that we were in Mexico promoting the segment of meetings and congresses," said the Panamanian minister.
"We are advancing in a very powerful area to position Panama as an attractive venue for its connectivity and the new convention center, it is exceeding expectations, there is talk of more than 72 thousand visitors this year (...) which has helped a lot to reactivate the hospitality industry in the city”, Eskildsen concluded.