A request was made by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP), to the National Government to allocate the money that corresponds to the Panama Tourism Promotion Fund (PROMTUR Panama).
In a statement, the CCIAP reiterated that tourism should be a priority sector given its ability to boost the other productive activities in the country and therefore generate hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs throughout the national geography.
“PROMTUR is an initiative that arises from the private sector with the purpose of having a well-planned, executed and sustainable international destination promotion, which is not affected every five years by government changes,” said Marcela Galindo, president of the CCIAP. “We began to see the first results of these efforts, when in the business intelligence report of PROMTUR Panama from January to June 2022, which is based on figures from credible international measurement sources, it is highlighted that we are on track in the process of recovery and that, if it continues like this, without further damage due to demonstrations that affect free transit in the country, the trend indicates that we will be reaching the levels that the sector had in 2019 by the end of the year, as indicated by the latest figures from the sector hotelier,” he said.
The CCIAP estimates that reaching the 2019 figures is important for the tourism recovery process, so it is appropriate to support the work that PROMTUR Panama is carrying out in terms of international promotion by allocating the funds that legally correspond to it, so that it can meet the commitments made and continue executing its important work. “We need to attract tourists from the main markets and this is done through constant and frequent promotion with a unified message ‘Panama, Live for More,’” Galindo pointed out.
For the business association, it is worrying that the work carried out is lost, not only going back to the genesis of the problem, lack of continuity over time, since it would take the country a long time to resume promotion at the international level, impacting negatively to the sector, the economy and the reputation of Panama. “There are already international commitments acquired between participation in prestigious fairs worldwide such as the development of international events in our country whose execution is in danger due to the lack of these resources.”
