Tourism companies have denounced underspending in the budget for international promotion of the country and assert that the official figures for hotel occupancy are not real.
Industry representatives argue that the hotel occupancy rate published by the Tourism Authority merely represents a sample of some large hotels in the capital “, while data from hotels in the interior of the country are not even taken into account in the statistics. Added to this problem is the low implementation of the budget for marketing tourism in the country. According to a report by the ATP, “… as of April 30, 2015, not a single penny has been invested of the $2 million earmarked for the development of Panama as a country brand.”
For example, Panamaamerica.com.pa reports that “… In the category of advertising campaigns only 2% of the $6.1 million budget allocated to the ATP has been executed, i.e. $131,251.85”
Sara Pardo, president of the Panamanian Association of Hotels (Apatel) said (regarding the employment rate) that “… the numbers are just a sample of some large hotels in the capital, they are not real numbers, as those in the interior are not recorded by the ATP. ”
“… Businesswoman Ursula Kiener agrees with Pardo, saying that hotel occupancy in the capital is 50% and in the interior, 30%. However, she said that this is just a taste of the real situation because if you take into account small and medium hotels, occupancy only reaches 40%. “
I don’t buy for a second that occupancy in the city is 50%. Just look at the lights in almost any hotel in the city at 8pm. Almost all are off!