In the first half the year the Tourism Authority of Panama granted 33 permits for the establishment of new hotels and 11 new licenses to travel agencies.
$102.8 million is the total amount invested in the first six months of the year in new hotels in the country, according to estimates by the Tourism Authority of Panama. "...Of the total ... 10 will be located in the province of Chiriqui, nine in Panama and four in the province of Los Santos.
Tax incentives for the construction of hotels in the interior of the country are behind the increase in the number of operating permits issued since the implementation of the law in 2012.
With up to six years to start their projects, investors interested in developing hotel infrastructure in the interior of the country have until 2020 to benefit from the tax incentives which include total exemption from import tax, including transfer tax on goods and services (ITBMS), for a period of 20 years for the purchase of equipment, furniture, fittings and equipment used in the construction and equipping of the complex.
The hotel Crowne Plaza Panama Airport will offer 126 rooms starting February 2015 and will be located in the Global Business Terminal complex at Tocumen.
From a press release issued by IHG Hotels:
"Located near Tocumen International Airport, the Crowne Plaza Panama Airport hotel is part of the Global Business Terminal complex, a modern office building of 52 thousand square meters with a conference center and parking for over 700 vehicles."
A group of Central American business people are building the luxury resort Dreams Las Mareas in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Operations are expected to start in November at the luxury resort Dreams Las Mareas in Guanacaste, whose construction started months ago having been set up by a group of businessmen in the region, using an investment of $125 million.
The hotel chain will invest $11 million in opening a 125 room hotel within the Altia Business Park in San Pedro Sula.
The project, will be developed by Grupo Karim's and its opening is scheduled for the last quarter of 2015. "The property is located in the northern part of San Pedro Sula, within the Altia Business Park which undoubtedly is the first smart city in Honduras," reported Latribuna.hn .
The resort in the Caribbean of Honduras in which $98 million has been invested will open in early 2014.
The project is located in the Bay of Tela and has a golf course, a five-star hotel, spa and other areas . "The important thing is the impact it will have on the community, as more than 400 people will work on the project, most of the area, and I think the resort will bring great benefits to this region," said Camilo Atala, president of Indura .
Despite the low hotel occupancy levels between 2013 and 2015 $650 million will be invested in the construction of 23 hotels which will add 6,593 rooms.
2013 closed with 11 new hotels, some of which are already operating. In 2014 there will be 8 projects added to the list and in 2015 another 14 will be built. Among the projects that are planned to be built in 2015 are The Queen Hotel which will feature 324 rooms, Planet Hollywood with 309 rooms and Embassy Suite with 306 rooms.
Situated on the Azuero Peninsula, the Cubitá Boutique Resort & Spa hotel comprises of 100 luxury rooms, a convention center, a shopping mall and a residential area.
From an article published by Grupo Cubitá:
On October 12, 2013 a new chapter will be written in the history of the Azuero Peninsula with the official opening of the acclaimed Cubitá Boutique Resort & Spa, the first project of its kind in the Republic of Panama.
The number of boutique hotels is growing, mainly in the central provinces, driven by the construction of the new airport in Rio Hato.
Included in this category are those establishments characterized for their luxury, and personal attention to customers and which have no more than twenty rooms.
"One of the hotels which is preparing for the approaching new situation is the Los Mandarinos, located in Valle de Anton.
There are currently 812 hotels registered offering a total of 18,500 beds in 11,200 rooms, which in 2012 had an occupancy rate of 66%.
A total of 432 new hotels were built between 2006 and 2012, representing an increase of 113.6%. At the end of 2012, the country had 11,189 rooms.
Data provided by the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) reveals that last year (2012) occupancy rates in the country were 66% ."Before we did not know much about the hotel industry, with all this support we can see that the hotels that are emerging are characterized by customer services, the attention, the measurements of the rooms, meals, in short, I think it has improved a lot," said Sandra Mejia , president of the Association of Small Hotels of Nicaragua (Hopen).
The Novotel hotel, which has 102 rooms, is the result of an agreement between the Panamanian company PD Hospitality and the French group Accor, which manages 121 other hotels in Latin America.
It is expected that the project, in which $14 million will be invested, will start operations in August.
This is the first hotel in the region under the Novotel brand, it is located on via Argentina and will have 102 rooms, said the president of PD Hospitality, Jose Antonio Paredes.
The hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group announced the signing of two contracts for Holiday Inn Express hotels in Managua and Tegucigalpa respectively.
In total the two properties represent an increase of 220 rooms for the Holiday Inn brand family in Latin America and the Caribbean, where there are currently 18 Holiday Inn Express hotels and 24 Holiday Inn hotels.
The Sheraton Hotel in Escazu which will be inaugurated on June 13, is valued at $40 million and has 172 rooms, 3 bars, 2 restaurants and a 1,500 square meter casino.
The hotel, since two weeks ago, now operates 24 hours a day and is located adjacent to Multiplaza. "Although it was initially announced that it would operate under the brand Sonesta, the hosting center decided to market its offering with the distinctive Sheraton brand, owned by the Starwood Hotels Company", reported Elfinancierocr.com.
With an investment of $30 million the Croc Casino Resort will be built in Jacó, which will have 17 floors, and is forecast to open in December 2014.
The complex will have 152 rooms and 44 luxury condominium residences as well as a beachfront pool, restaurants, a nightclub, a spa, the "Croc Habitat" retail shops and facilities for meetings and conventions.
With an investment of $20 million the Crowne Plaza Panama Airport will be constructed, one minute from Tocumen International Airport.
Intercontinental Hotels Group and Bern Hotels & Resorts have signed an agreement to build the Crowne Plaza Panama Airport, which will be located on the premises of Global Business Terminal in Torremolinos, Tocumen.
The project which will open in the next 24 months, will be the closest to the Tocumen International Airport, a distance of about one minute.The hotel will have 126 rooms, a restaurant, exercise room, business center, bar and meeting rooms, however there are plans to increase the number of rooms to three thousand in the future.