Boom in tourist apartment rentals
PANAMA APARTMENT owners illegally renting to tourists and visitors have been given a second 30-day extension to get official permits or face heavy fines.
It is estimated that between 7% and 10% of visitors who arrive in the country are staying in unauthorized accommodations. On average about 160,000 thousand tourists come to Panama each monthmeaning more than 9,000 are not staying in hotels.
Their numbers have been increasing over the years, to the point that today there is no official statistic that sets how many apartments are offered as public lodging in the capital city reports La Prensa.
At the end of the housing boom in Panama City in 2009 and 2010, many apartments were not sold creating fertile ground for the emergence of this business also recorded in large cities like New York.
In an attempt to curb the business, in 2012, it was established that any lease for less than 45 days that didn’t have have permissions for public accommodation would be considered illegal.
Despite the monetary sanctions, this business continues to attract more customers, now with the development of phone apps that let people compare prices worldwide.
To achieve more concrete results, the Tourism Authority of (ATP) in May and June gave notifications to people who provide these accommodations, and gave them a period of 30 days to process permits.
The 30-day period ended in late August, but the ATP granted an extension of 30 days to complete all the bureaucratic process. After September 30 they will return to imposing fines.
