Panama Black Weekend Closes with 50-Million-Dollar Profits

Visitors from Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru, among other countries, benefited from discounts between 30 and 70 percent offered by establishments in products, brands and technology, as part of the initiative, held for the first time in Panama to revive the economy.

The president of the Panamanian Association of Shopping Centers, Nadkyi Duque, told a local radio station that the strong promotion in South America positioned the product Panama Black Weekend as a new discount season in the country. She added that the project was joined by other sectors such as car rentals and travel agencies, airlines, banks, restaurants and hotels with attractive promotions and offers, which also included significant discounts.

She noted that among the products most demanded by customers were electrical appliances, shoes, wallets, clothing and sports accessories.

Duque said that more than 1,500 stores in 12 shopping centers participated in this promotion, which included several meetings with operators in Central and South America, as well as strong publicity in different international fairs for a year.

According to the Administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority, Gustavo Him, the initiative is mainly aimed at the aforementioned markets, ‘from where Panama receives incomes in all currencies: hotel occupancy, commerce and in a general sense.’

In this regard, he pointed out that most hotels near the shopping centers reported about 100 percent occupancy, an unusual figure for this time of the year. For that reason, he considered that the Panama Black Weekend could become a brand, where the country reaffirms itself as a shopping center.

He stated that, historically, September is the month of lowest hotel occupancy and sales in stores, hence that date has been chosen.