The Ministry of Tourism has announced plans to publish this month a tender to develop an international tourism promotion campaign, worth $2 million.
The tourism minister, Jose Napoleon Duarte, said that the contract for the international advertising campaign will be for $1.9 million and the request for proposals will be published before the end of February, on the state procurement website.
Protests have been made in Costa Rica over the Treasury's intention to charge sales tax on services provided in recreation centers, contravening a ruling made by the Administrative Court in 2015.
The National Chamber of Tourism said that three companies in La Fortuna de San Carlos received notification from the Directorate General of Taxation which indicated that they were required to pay sales tax of 13% on recreational services offered to tourists.
Through a shared publicity agreement between the ATP and AirPanama, promotion will made for the arrival of charter flights to Cocle airport with tourists from Costa Rica and Colombia.
As part of the agreement, the company AirPanama Vacaciones will market tour packages for the months of June, July and August, mid-season in the Panamanian tourism sector.
From June 19 to 23 companies working in convention tourism will be meeting in Antigua with international buyers and suppliers in order to develop business opportunities.
From a statement issued by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute:
Guatemala January 26, 2017.The Guatemalan Tourism Institute, INGUAT together with the Convention Bureau of Guatemala, announced that the City of Antigua Guatemala will host the Latin America Meetings and Incentives Travel Exchange, Lamite, from June 19 to 23.
From October 6 to 8 San Salvador will be hosting a regional tourism promotion fair, in which it is expected that 80 wholesalers from Europe, the US and South America will take part.
The eleventh edition of the event will be organized by the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador and the Federation of Chambers of Tourism of Central America.
The company's proposal states that in just two months it could start making tax
payments, putting to the test the responsiveness of bureaucracy against the speed of the real economy.
Airbnb, one of the leading global companies that is taking advantage of the momentum that the technological revolution has provided to the collaborative economy, has now created a housingsupply available for seasonal rental in Costa Rica which is equivalent to 18% of the supply of hotels.
The strongly demanded promotion abroad to attract travelers to the country can begin, now that the contract with the VML International agency has been countersigned.
From a statement issued by the Tourism Authority of Panama:
The Honduran government has announced that from April 2017 and for six months, the airline Air Europa will operate one direct flight per week between Madrid and San Pedro Sula.
A statement issued by Coalianza of Honduras states that "...The European airline will leave the Spanish capital on Wednesday and return to San Pedro Sula on Thursday on an Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 275 seats in economy class and 24 in first class."
Two months after the award of a $20 million contract for an international promotion strategy, the adjudicating company is still carrying out its analysis.
Once the company VML International has completed the contract review process, it must then be approved by the comptroller general, which could further delay its implementation.
The number of visitors from North America who came into the country between January and July fell by 3% year on year, while the flow of European tourists grew by almost 7%.
In order to recover some lost ground in the US, Canadian and Mexican markets, an important part of international tourism promotion contract for the next two years will be run in North America.In the first months of the year the number of Canadian tourists who arrived in Panama fell by 27% compared to the same period in 2015, the flow of Mexican tourists fell nearly 5%.
The continuous increase in the flow of tourists coming to the country explains some of the 10% growth seen in the hotels and restaurants sector up to June.
This growth in hotel activity is based on an increase in tourist arrivals, which in 2015 grew nearly by 5% compared to the previous year.Figures from the Monthly Index of Economic Activity by the Central Bank show that in the first half of the year the activity grew by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2015.