Panama is positioned as an ideal destination for meetings and congresses at an international level. With only one year of operation, the Panama Convention Center doubled the estimates of visitors and scheduled events. “We had a planned goal of 6 events and 48,150 visitors. We are going to close with a forecast of 60 events and just over 100,000 visitors,” said the Director General of the Panama Convention Center, Rodolfo del Valle. Del Valle indicated that the goal for 2023 is more ambitious. The convention center has already confirmed events such as Expocomer, Expo Máquina, The World Robotics Olympics, Tobacco Congress and Our Oceans.
According to authorities, this confirms Panama’s positioning for meeting tourism. In large part, the destination is attractive for its geographical location, air connectivity and hotel rooms. Holding events in Panama represents an important economic injection to the country.
“It represents that people have to invest in air transport, land transportation, lodging, food, entertainment, souvenirs, tourist walks. And on the other hand, for Panamanian companies this means a great source of employment because at the same time assembly, registration and decoration companies are needed,” Rodolfo Del Valle, Director General of the Panama Convention Center.
The Minister of Tourism, Iván Eskildsen, explained that they recently visited the IVTM America fair, in Mexico City, where they were able to talk with buyers, who are the organizers of international events and are constantly looking for places to hold congresses and conferences.
These statements were made during the CITES COP19 convention, with the attendance of more than 2,500 visitors and a projection of an economic spill to Panama of $10 million.