Welcome to the Panama Weekly Offshore News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Panama promotes short sea shipping
Panama is in search of new areas of leadership at the regional level to boost Maritime Short Sea Transport (SSS) which is part of the Mesoamerica Project, with the aim of achieving greater integration, increase intra-regional trade and create new jobs.
José Miguel Rovira, director of Planning of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and José Dopeso, director of Maritime Affairs and Ports of the Central American Commission on Maritime Transport (Cocatram) explained that in November the next meetings will be held between cargo owners and shipping companies in each country, to join the criteria on this complementary alternative to land transport, further reducing time and costs, and increase volume, efficiency and safety of handling of goods and promoting trade with other regions of the world.
This was announced by the director of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Analuisa Bustamante. In the same vein, she stressed the importance and the geographical scope of the project to cover Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama and which has already evaluated 49 public and private ports.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
Grupo Hotusa arrives in Panama with the launch of Eurostars Panama City 5*
Eurostars Hotel Company, the hotel division of Grupo Hotusa, has arrived in Panama with the launch of Eurostars Panamá City 5*. The iconic building, which up until now had been run as the Hotel&Casino Royal Sonesta, will become the fourteenth premises operated by the company in Latin America.
Eurostars Panamá City 5* occupies a modern, 27-storey building with 300 rooms, over 900 m2 of space for holding all kinds of professional meetings and events, in addition to a restaurant on the 26th floor with spectacular panoramic views over the old town of the Panama capital. The top floor of the hotel has a swimming pool and sun terrace.
The president of the Grupo Hotusa, Amancio López Seijas, stated that “launching a new destination with a hotel the size of Eurostars Panamá City 5* is a challenge, but it also shows our strong commitment to this destination”. The president of the Spanish company went on to say, “Latin America has been one of the pillars of support for our international expansion, which we have increased recently through various business operations”.
Source: Hospitality Net
Cruisers will Add 75 Million Dollars to Panama Economy
The European Cruise Company Pullmantur (PC) started its Caribbean season 2016-2017, this Monday, from the Panamanian terminal of Colon 2000, expecting to leave some 75 million dollars to the isthmus economy.
Pullmantur activity itself that expects to board some 50 thousand tourists in Colon, could represent an income of 75 million dollars for the country in souvenirs, stays, boarding and disembarking, said Augusto Terracina, manager of the Panamanian port. In what specialized media call ‘a reestructuring’ of PC after a streak of millionaire losses due to the financial crisis in Europe, recently 51 percent of stocks of that Enterprise was bought the risk capital fund of Switzerland Springwater Capital.
As part of its new strategy, Pullmantur will increase by 30 percent its boarding in Colon, supported by the connectivity offered to their clients through the local most important airline Copa, exsecutives of the company assured reporters. ‘As for our activity in Panama we have scheduled 56 trips in 2016-2017’, said Richard Vogel, president of PC, who highlighted that Colon ‘counts with infrastructure that fit perfectly with the needs of our operation’.
Source: Prensa Latina
How Panama Tourism Will Help Diversify & Improve Economy
Panama’s tourist economy dipped in 2014, but has made a strong comeback in 2016, and looks to surge ahead into 2017. In fact, it may be an even bigger part of Panama’s services economy than you previously thought. Here’s more, from our latest blog post.
The importance of tourism on a service-based economy
By definition, the majority of Panama’s current economy is based on what’s called “services.” This spans the board as far as an economic category, but in Panama’s case, it roughly refers to financial services, shipping and logistics, transportation, and real estate. And yes, it also refers to tourism. Panama’s tourism industry is one of the most diverse in the world, due to the country’s natural abundance, massive hotel infrastructure, urban hub, and it’s strategically easy to travel to location for airlines. Panama’s peak was in 2014, when nearly 3,000,000 visitors came through Panama (according to Tocumen).
Continue reading about how Panama tourism helps improve the economy
