Week of Super Offers in Panama to attract
tourists from Latin America
The week of
super commercial offers Panama Black Weekend will be held from September 14 to
18 to attract tourists from Latin America and with the expectation of
generating sales of about 100 million dollars.
Source: EFE
About 2,500
businesses in 17 shopping centers in Panama will offer products with up to 70%
discount during this week, said the president of the Panamanian Association of
Shopping Centers (Apacecom), Nadkyi Duque.
She stated
that tourists from Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, the Dominican
Republic, among others, have already announced that they will come to the
Panama Black Weekend, which will celebrate its fifth edition this year.
"We are
optimistic about turning the month of September into the second month of the
year with the highest sales in shopping malls. In all its versions, the Panama
Black Weekend has managed to boost the economy, reaching sales of up to 100
million dollars, and it is the same expectation that we expect this year,"
he added.
This week of
super offers was publicized during the Tourism Promotion Caravan that toured
the Colombian cities of Bogotá, Cali and Medellín last July, with the
participation of 15 Panamanian companies, including tour operators, hoteliers,
the Chamber of Tourism (Camtur), the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP) and
Apacecom, according to official information.
The
administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen, pointed
out that the Panama Black Weekend is part of the strategies of the Tourism
Demand Reactivation Commission, which expects to attract more than 3,500
visitors from Latin America.
"We see
the product of purchases, according to the Tourism Master Plan, with a high priority
to reactivate the economy in the short term," said the ATP administrator.
Tourism has
been one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, which caused Panama's
gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 17.9% in 2020. That year Panama
received 70% fewer visitors than in 2019, the year prior to the health
emergency, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
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 7,000 million dollars in
foreign currency, detailed the ATP.