An estimated economic spill of US$902 million was generated for the country, from January to June 2023, as a result of the international tourism marketing and promotion strategy PROMTUR Panama, a figure that exceeds by 17% what is estimated in this same period, the entity announced.
The figures for the first half of 2023 of PROMTUR, indicate that tourism in Panama continues to recover consistently, in fact, the percentage of occupancy stood at 58%, 3 percentage points above compared to the period of 2022, which was 55%.
As for the volume of international tourists, taking as a reference the official data of the ATP, from January to April 2023, Panama has recovered 98% of the 2019 values. Through ForwardKeys flight data, it has been detected that the recovery is led by leisure tourism, and that the performance of May and June has been as expected.
The best-performing priority issuing markets have been the United States and Argentina, which have surpassed the 2019 values. Considering the current behavior, PROMTUR estimates a 105% recovery in the arrival of tourists at the end of the year (2023 vs. 2019), through all ports.
Another relevant indicator is the capacity of aerial seats. In the first half of 2023 we have reached 103% of the values of the year 2019. In this category, the priority issuing markets with the best performance are: Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Argentina, Canada, Spain and France.
With regard to the hotel industry, a recovery of 133% of total revenues stands out compared to those obtained in 2019, while the rooms – night sold recovered by 107%. These data are derived from the information that hotels provide to STR (Smith Travel Research) one of the most recognized international firms in data analysis of the global hotel industry, with more than 37 years in the market.
The percentage of occupancy stood at 58%, 3 percentage points above compared to the period of 2022, which was 55%.
Regarding these results, Denise Guillén, General Administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority, indicated that: “The tourism sector has demonstrated an impressive resilience. We have achieved proposed goals and the consensus in strategies between the public and private sectors, have led us to extraordinary achievements. In this process, we have maintained a firm commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a vision fully aligned with them; we are creating a future in which tourism not only enriches our lives, but also takes care of and respects our natural and cultural heritage.”
For his part, Fernando Fondevila, CEO of PROMTUR Panama, said that: “We are very satisfied and motivated with these results. The international promotion strategy has shown an extraordinary performance, generating a return of approximately 57 times the value of each dollar invested. Our goal is to generate the greatest possible economic impact and social development to the country as a result of our strategy and investment, seeking the best balance between the volume of travelers, length of stay and average daily spending per tourist; the results of this first semester indicate that we are on the right track and that by the end of the year we will reach our goal of generating an economic spill of $1.8 billion dollars.