business

Visitor spending increases sharply

Noriel Gutiérrez/La Prensa

cash flow: Panama has seen millions of dollars flow into its economy due to an increase in the number of people visiting here.1077274

Visitors to Panama in the first half of the year spent $677 million, representing an increase of 19.7 percent over the same period last year, according to the government's report of main economic indicators.

Each month saw a double digit increase in spending as compared to 2007. A particularly busy month was May, when visitor spending totaled $104 million, a 27 percent increase from 2007.

When compared to previous years, the spending increase is even more dramatic. The $677 million spent this year is 45 percent more than in the first six months of 2006 and 76 percent more than in 2005.

Jorge Loaiza, president of the Asociación Panameña de Hoteles, said that, if the current trend stays the same, visitor spending for the year will top $1.4 billion.

But he said that to maintain this trend, the government must take care of the industry, and especially the safety of visitors. “The number of visitors to the country has grown exponentially in recent years, but the number of uniformed Tourist Police has not been increased in eight years,” Loaiza said.

Not surprisingly, the number of visitors to the country has also increased.

In the first half of the year, 765,000 people visited Panama, 11.4 percent more than during the same period of 2007. Of that total, 605,000 spent at least one night in Panama. The country has seen a large decrease in the number of “excursionists,” such as cruise passengers, who visit the country for a short period of time.

There were 160,000 people in this category, 21 percent less than 2007.