Last year, hotels in Panama City reported an average daily occupancy of 4,571 rooms, 1% less than in 2018.
Reports from the General Comptroller of the Republic indicate that in December the daily average of occupied rooms did not register significant changes with respect to the same month last year, going from 4,307 to 4,281.
After Selina opened its first establishment in Antigua, Guatemala, the international chain announced that next year plans to open five new hotels in different parts of the country.
The chain's representatives informed that for the opening of the new hotels, which will be in the departments of Solola, Escuintla, Guatemala, Alta Verapaz and Peten, an investment of approximately $6 million will be made.
It has been announced that the Sofitel chain is preparing the opening of a 159-room hotel in the old town of the capital.
Laestrella.com.pa review that "... The project, which was built with an investment of $ 100 million, will begin to operate despite the hotel oversupply that hits the sector, with 159 rooms, each with a butler, plaza Open, rooftop bar, Spa service, pool, gym, conference rooms and a ballroom."
In the department of La Libertad, a 4,000 square meter beach hotel is being built, which will include a restaurant for 300 people, a wedding chapel and an event center.
Hotel Acantilados, which is reportedly 85% complete, will be ready to open its doors in September of this year, according to its directors.It is located at kilometer 41.5 of the Litoral highway, in La Libertad, and the total investment amounts to $5 million.
Due to the climate of insecurity prevailing in Nicaragua and cancelled reservations, two hotels in the city of León have announced the closure of their operations.
"As of July 15, it has been decided to completely close operations in the city of León, until there is a safer climate for tourism development," Art Collections Hotels reported in a statement.
The Mexican airline Volaris will be suspending its services as of July 1, and the luxury resort hotel Mukul, in Guacalito, has announced the indefinite closure of its operations.
The crisis that has been going on in the country for the last month continues to harm the tourism business sector.The airline Volaris reported that it will temporarily suspend services to Managua from next week, and the luxury hotel Mukul Auberge Resorts Collection, in the South Pacific, announced on Friday that it will close its operations indefinitely.
The guild of small hotels in Nicaragua says that due to the complicated situation that the country is going through, the sector has stopped contributing around $100 thousand a day, and has been forced to reduce its personnel by half.
This week an establishment affiliated with the Association of Small Hotels of Nicaragua (Hopen),announced the temporary closure of its facilities.Hotels categorized as small and medium are those that have between 5 and 50 rooms.
The Selina hotels chain has opened a new hotel in Granada, which follows the one that is already operating in Maderas beach, and plans are underfoot to open another store in San Juan del Sur.
The growth seen in tourism activities in Nicaragua over the last few years has caught the interest not only of entrepreneurs and hotel brands in the region, but also of other international chains, who foresee opportunities in Nicaragua in the medium and long term.
The Guatemalan association of small hotels has announced that they have started operating a web application that allows tourists to make reservations online and for hoteliers to publish their promotions.
María Renée Cárcamo, President of APEHGUA pointed out that "With this measure, the first step is being taken to make an active association and at the same time the aim is to encourage small hotels to optimize processes and services of the association towards hotels".
Between January and July, occupancy fell by 6% compared to the same period in 2016, and projections by employers for the second half of the year are not very encouraging.
The hotel trade union believes that there are not many options for trying to change the situation in the sector, mainly caused by less tourism promotion at an international level in the last four years.The situation also indicates that perhaps it is not only lack of promotion explaining the low occupancy rates, but also a clear oversupply of rooms.
Already more than 1000 homes are available to rent through the web platform Airbnb, and most of them are centered around the Pacific coast.
The increasing supply of houses and apartments available for short stays is forcing hotels to change their methods of attracting guests in order to survive.In the case of Nicaragua, where the hotel supply is relatively nascent and not as developed as in other neighboring markets, the efforts that businesses in the tourism sector have to make to compete with Airbnb is even greater.
The new law against tax fraud obliges anyone renting houses and flats for less than 30 days to register and pay sales and income taxes.
Services of renting houses, apartments and condominiums for periods less of than one month must pay sales and income taxes, and those who carry out such activities must register as taxpayers of the two taxes, in order to not be subject to fines.
It has been announced that a hotel will be built under the Curio brand, owned by Hilton, called Botanika Osa Peninsula, in the southern zone of Costa Rica.
From a statement issued by Hilton Hotels:
Hilton (NYSE: HLT) today announced the signing of the Botánika Osa Peninsula to Curio - A Collection by Hilton. Botánika Osa Peninsula, Curio - A Collection by Hilton, is slated to open in 2018 and the project developer is Sinergo Development Group.
In Costa Rica between 2010 and 2015, the proportion of tourists staying in rented homes instead of hotels increased from 4% to 11%.
Of the more than 9.6 million tourists who visited Costa Rica in the last five years, almost 700 thousand claimed to have stayed in rented homes using platforms such as Airbnb or Homeaway, instead of hotels.Figures compiled by Nacion.com indicate that the greatest trend was seen in the province of Guanacaste, specifically among tourists coming into the country through the Daniel Oduber airport.
Three out of four hotels reported not having shown an improvement in their operations in 2015.
Results from the study "Tourism sector 2015, challenges to overcome, "prepared by the Association for Research and Social Studies (ASIES), underscores the need to modernize industry, improve strategies for promotion and attracting tourists (50% of the hotel respondents claimed to have no website).