Private companies and the municipality of Panama City are developing a plan to offer tourist activities in the capital to passengers who are in transit through Tocumen airport.
While tourism and hotel operators are still looking for alternatives to improve the sector's sluggish figures, the municipality of Panama intends to develop a plan that encourages passengerswho are waiting for connections at Tocumen airport to go out and visit some tourist attractions in the city. Routes related to religious tourism, others focused on the history of Panamanian athletes who are famous worldwide and thematic shows that show how life was during different periods of Panamanian history, are some of the ideas that have been suggested so far.
In light of the announcement of a campaign to promote tourism in Nicaragua "through embassies and consulates," entrepreneurs are recommending the utilization of professional methods.
Tourism entrepreneurs believe that the "Pride of my country" campaign is insufficient to achieve the impact required to Nicaragua as an important tourist destination in the region.
Over thirty wholesale companies from the United States will participate in business roundtables with local operators on October 23rd and 24th in the capital.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador (MITUR):
Over 30 wholesalers from the United States, will be in the country for the second edition of the El Salvador Travel Market 2014 (ESTM2014), which starts on Thursday 23 October and which includes business meetings in a hotel in the capital.
The Chamber of Tourism and the Tourism Authority of Panama have presented a tourism promotion strategy to increase the number of visitors during November.
From a statement by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP):
With the support of the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP), the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama and CAMTUR have presented a tourism strategy to boost the tourism sector.
The event held at the Atlapa convention center on September 26th and 27th will bring together wholesale companies from Europe, America and Asia with tourism companies from Panama and the region.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP):
(Panama, June 17, 2014). Over 150 wholesale operators from America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean who have great interest in tourism in Panama, will meet in the fifth edition of the INTERNATIONAL TOURISM EXPO, to be held on 26 and 27 September.
Tourist Companies in Central America will be presenting their services and participating in business conferences from 14th to 16th of May in San Jose.
The Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (ACOPROT) will be holding on the 14th to 16th of May, the Expotur International Tourism Fair 2014. More than 300 representatives from tourism companies in Costa Rica and Central America will gather in San Jose to present their services and take part in business conferences.
Af the end of the second exhibition for tour operators projections are that $5.7 million has been transacted in business deals which will materialize in the medium term.
This was confirmed by Ana Mercedes de Lembke, president of the Guatemalan Chamber of Tourism (Camtur). The activity which ended yesterday, included 1,145 business meetings between 40 local tourist service companies and international buyers from 15 countries where Guatemala was not included as a tourist destination.
From 10 to 16 October there will be a meeting of wholesalers and tour operators to promote the country's tourist destinations.
The event will be held at the Hotel Barceló Guatemala City. So far 1,600 appointments have been arranged , and projections are that deals will be closed worth $4 million, according to the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism (INGUAT).
With the European crisis and the fall in the number of visitors from that region, the Guatemalan Tourist industry is promoting itself in emerging countries and others where there are travelers with high purchasing power.
Pedro Pablo Duchez, director of the Guatemalan Institute, Inguat, spoke at the opening of the Travel Market, saying,
"We have identified that European tourists have restricted their trips and are traveling inside Europe which is why we need new spaces for promotion ....
From 26 to 27 November the Guatemala Travel Market Expo & Conference 2012 will take place at the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel.
The event is being organized by the Guatemalan Chamber of Tourism and the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, and aims to be a window for promoting the country as a tourist destination and a platform for generating business among participants in the tourism sector.
From 5 to 7 December 2012 the 18th interactive edition of the fair will take place in Panama in which tour operators from Central American and the Caribbean meet with buyers from Europe and the U.S.
MITM is a two-day interactive exhibition of, which is now 15 years old, providing market-oriented incentives, meetings and events, where tourism companies and travel agencies from the Americas and the Caribbean meet, in the form of pre-arranged individual appointments, with buyers from Europe and the U.S. to organize and set up incentives trips, meetings, conferences, congresses and events. Buyers are invited to participate in MITM after a rigorous selection process.
The Ministries of Tourism in Central America have announced their intention to form a regional strategy to promote tourist destinations in the isthmus.
Reinforcing some intentions expressed in previous ministerial meetings, the government sector is proposing offering tourists the region "in one trip."
An article in Prensalibre.com reports that the chief executive of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), Mario Salinas, said: "We are going promote on the website, in European tourism fairs, two, three, four, five countries (as a destination), and not promote Panama or Nicaragua only, we will encourage (them to come and see) Central America. "
During 2010, tourism revenues were $7,341 million, of which $2552 were generated in Panama, $1961in Costa Rica, $1378 in Guatemala, $650 in Honduras , $518 in El Salvador, and $281 in Nicaragua, .
According to a preliminary report by the Central American Tourism Integration Secretariat (SITC in Spanish), tourism revenues in the region grew by 0.9% compared to 2009 and the number of visitors increased by 3.8%.