Pacific Hotel Boom in Panama


News from Panama / Friday, December 9th, 2011

The hotels on the gold coast of Panama are experiencing very high occupancy rates and with the new International Airport coming to Rio Hato I believe that we are going to see another Punta Cana type explosion of rooms in the future

This in from the Panama America

Pacific beaches of Panama, specifically the province of Cocle, have become a focus of attraction for investors and domestic and foreign tourists.

Hotels such as Buenaventura, Breezes, Playa Blanca and Decameron Royalton Luxury are signs that growth, which together have over 2500.

Jorge Loaiza, advisor to the president of the Royal Decameron chain, said that it was precisely the construction of this hotel that triggered the “boom”.

He added that at the time they decided to see a few studies that recorded rainfall in the area, which is an important element “when selling sun and beach.”

Thanks to this factor, he said, it is at different times of the year from Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil.

Europe has greatly contributed to the boom.

But not only foreign visitors come, he stressed that nationals represent 30% and 35% of the tourists.

Before the boom, he added, there has been major investments for expansion in this area of over 200 million dollars.

For Maru Galvez, CEO of the newly built Luxury hotel Royalton, room demand is growing.

He noted that this 300-room resort has been built with an investment of 30 million dollars.

The hotel has for the New Year season, 80% of capacity reserved.

He stressed that in the recent World Baseball Championship athletes who stay there are from  United States, Greece, Japan and China-Taipei.

Convention tourism also generates important tourism revenue in the region.

The Royalton Luxury housed two hundred people from Dismayor, anEcuadorian company that held a business convention in its facilities.

Connectivity, an important factor.
Orillac Ernesto, vice minister of the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) determined that there is a great tourism product differentiation for different destinations.

He admitted that the greatest increases were observed in the province of Panama and the Pacific beaches in the province of Cocle.

He said that one factor is connectivity, being easily accessible by road.

He said that this point is crucial, both for tourists who travel in a defined time and for people who are dedicated to selling projects.

Besides the sun and beach tourism, said that there are other destinations that have been developed with large projections, as is the case of El Valle de Anton.

He said the construction, rehabilitation and improvements that will make Scarlett Martinez Airport, located in the area of ??Rio Hato, will greatly contribute to this market.