Tourism experienced great growth during Martinelli’s administration

Tourism is traditionally identified as one of the main pillars of Panama’s economic development, as it enables the increase and distribution of wealth, the creation of jobs and the increase of income and well-being. ·

During the current administration presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, tourism showed great growth. The tourism industry in Panama grew between 2010 and 2015, then decreased in 2019.

According to the report ofl Economics of tourism in 2021there has been little or no marketing activity since 2015. International visits to Panama decreased by 15% from 2015 to 2019, while domestic travel increased by 23% over the entire period, partially offsetting lost international demand.

In 2019, the costs of domestic and foreign visitors directly contributed $3.3 billion to Panama’s GDP and had a total impact of 9,000 million (including indirect and induced impacts). This economic activity helped support 285,000 jobs, down from the peak of 325,000 jobs reached in 2010.

Annette Cárdenas, member of the Board of Directors of the Panama Hotel Association (Apatel)he asserted that as a country we are limping in terms of tourism, which is noticeable in relation to neighboring countries and in terms of a real increase in demand.

“We have to take that into account There are still many hotels that are not working at full capacity. “Right now we’re not even comparing apples to apples, and if we did, the situation might be less favorable,” he commented.

The expert recognized that currently, Neighboring countries are stealing our jobs.‘

2010

In 2015, during the presidential administration of Ricardo Martinelli, the tourism sector showed a clear growth, something that did not happen in the last two five-year periods.

“I don’t know if you saw We do not have the latest report on the countries that receive the largest number of tourists, even El Salvador appears. Mexico is number one and El Salvador is number 10, in the middle is Costa Rica, these are the countries with which we can compare ourselves, we cannot compare ourselves with countries such as Colombia and the Dominican Republic,” he pointed out.

Cárdenas stated that we must begin to evaluate the actions takenin matters of tourism, if they are correct and if the country is given sufficient publicity that it needs.

He explained that as a country we were confused for a long time, because It is not possible to identify what we will sell abroad in matters of tourism.

“In recent years, we haven’t sold anything that the state should represent, “Panama is a country that is marked in all surveys as the land of sun and sand.”He said.

On the contrary, the expert said yes Panama is advertised as a country of sustainability and tourism for which we are not ready today handle in volume.

“We have not clarified our identity, We have been confusing the world for several yearsnot giving us the identity we are,” he commented.

He added yes In recent years, various brand slogans of countries have been made.not respecting the one that was selected and approved after study and money invested in it.

“We have to go back to the time when the state supported private companiesa private company must be listened to,” he asserted.