tourism

Visitor arrivals increase

la prensa

Increase: Visitor arrivals are at record levels, tourism officials say.1109624

The number of visitors who came to Panama between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1 of this year was 1.1 million, a 13.1 percent increase over the same period last year.

It marks the first time that Panama has received more than 1 million visitors for the first eight months of the year.

The vast majority of the visitors, an estimated 830,500, arrived via Tocumen International Airport. This was a 22 percent increase from the same period of 2007.

At Paso Canoa, which is the entry point to the country from Costa Rica, a total of 88,737 visitors entered the country, an increase of just under 14 percent from 2007.

The number of people arriving in the country by ocean-going vessels, primarily cruise ships, continue to lag behind the other means of entry.

In the first eight months of the year, the country received about 191,900 visitors who arrived via the ocean, primarily on cruise ships. This was just under 16 percent less than in 2007.

The hotel occupancy rate through the beginning of September in Panama City was 66.4 percent, while hotels with more than 100 rooms reported a rate of 78.5 percent.

Panama has not yet begun to experience a slowdown in the number of visitors due to the global economic crisis, something that has taken place in Costa Rica.

“Costa Rica is more dependent on the United States for tourists,” said Jorge Loaiza, president of the Panama Hotel Association. “Our market in the United States is business related, and that has not yet been impacted.”