Summit Briefly Relieves Hotel Crisis in Panama


News from Panama / Monday, March 30th, 2015

PANAMA75

Panama, Mar 26 (Prensa Latina) After two years declining, Panamanian hotels are reporting a sharp temporal rise in employment as a result of the Seventh Summit of the Americas and its collateral events, the Chamber of Tourism (CTP) stated today.

The economic impact of  at least 12,000 visitors arriving to the Summit, could generate revenues between $50 and $80 million USD from April 6 to 11, compared with 15-million government spending in organizing events.

CTP president Jaime Campuzano told the press that many hotels already lack of rooms available for that date.

In addition of lodging, restaurants, car rentals, shops, airlines and other collateral services, will receive the economic impact, which will compensate in part losses from private and public companies located in limited access areas due to delegationsâ?Ö security, the Chamber of Commerce said.

There will also be economic losses for holidays to reduce traffic flow and movement of population on April 9, 10 and 11, when schools and state institutions in the capital and the neighboring district of San Miguelito will rest, while the private sector will close on April 10 and 11.

The country has about 28,424 hotel rooms, 65 percent of them are in the capital, and 21 percent in the provinces of Coclé (center) and Chiriqui (west), said Sara Pardo, president of the Panamanian Hotels Association.