New Tourism chief with knowledge of the industry

PANAMA’S tourism industry will welcome the appointment of a man with knowledge related to the industry, as the new head of the Tourism Authority (ATP)

Jesus Sierra who was to have started a year as president of the Panama Hotel Association has been chosen for the job by President-elect Juan Carlos Varela, He participated in the creations of Varela’s proposals for the tourism sector. 

The lawyer is founder of the firm Guerra, Sierra & Atienza which numbers among its clients the Panama Restaurant Association, the Hotel Association, resorts, coffee growers and shipping companies.

He replaces Salomon Shamah, who had no experienced related to the tourism industry, but was a Martinelli  insider who survived the announcement that his U.S. visa had been revoked because of DEA investigations, and was reported to be the man heading the CD dirty tricks campaign in 2009 and was questioned for being the mastermind behind the smear campaigns against Varela during the last election.
Shamah’s predecessor was singer and actor Ruben Blades.
Sierra, is a member of the board of the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep) and will have the challenge of increasing tourist arrivals to the country, at a time when hotel occupancy in the capital does not exceed 66%, due to an oversupply in the number of rooms.