tourism

Ipat develops rural inn project

The inns would give families in rural areas an opportunity to venture into tourism.

The first inns will be built in the provinces of Coclé, Colón, Veraguas and Chiriquí.

Jorge Fernández/la prensa

Demand: Tourists are looking for accomodations in rural areas of the country where none currently exist. 1003673

The need for tourist accomodations in the country's interior has motivated the Instituto Panameño de Turismo (Ipat) to promote the development of country inns that would give people in rural areas an opportunity to get involved in the tourism business.

Architect Gilberto Barrio, head of Proyectos Especiales at Ipat, said that when they first began to analyze the situation, they encountered many people who were already making inroads into rural tourism but who, lacking adequate knowledge of how to go about it effectively, were not in the best position to do so. This led the institution to develop a rural tourism project in which it would mainly provide interested people with the blueprints for building accomodations with materials appropriate to the country's different cultural regions.

For a modest cost not exceeding $10, Ipat will provide complete architectural drawings with options for expanding the facilities should the need for additional accomodations become necessary. The inns would be built in three different architectural styles: Caribbean, which would be suitable for areas such as Bocas del Toro, Colón and the Darién; Azuero, which would serve in the central provinces; and Mountain, which would be appropriate for areas such as Boquete, Cerro Azul and Altos de Maria.

Courtesy Ipat

Model: The basic design can be adapted to different regions.

The structures could be built in six different sizes for between $5,000 and $11,000, although costs would ultimately be determined by such factors as the cost of materials and accessibility of the construction site.The architectural plans have been developed in such a way as to allow families to grow the size of their inns to include a total of nine guest rooms, but not so large that they would lose their family character of personal contact and service.

Ipat's plans are currently under review and pending approval by the Municipio de Panamá, which has already made some comments on the project, and which is consulting with the Sociedad Panameña de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, a regulatory organization.

According to reports from Ipat, at least ten families from different provinces of the country have expressed interest in the inns. The prototypes are expected to be built in Coclé, Colón, Veraguas and Chiriquí, with the hope that they will spread to the rest of the country and give a boost to the development of agrotourism in Panama. According to the Barrio, Ipat is seeking funding from the Inter-American Development Bank so as to create a general fund which interested families could have access to credit. They are talking to other organizations as well.