Failure to promote to non-voting tourists
Failure to promote to non-voting tourists
The failure of the administration to promote tourism once the pandemic is over is mind-boggling. There was even a “tourist cabinet” that we wondered what it did during the months of confinement and confinement since they were not able to draw up a plan to reactivate the sector now that the worst of the respiratory pandemic has passed. There is no coordination or strategies; nothing has been achieved by government initiative, except by inertia. To date, hotel occupancy does not exceed 60%. It is not those leonine laws of tax incentives that will launch tourism. It takes imagination, creativity, and a good dose of will to get things done. We have 5,000 closed hotel rooms and that investment seems to matter little to the Government, which stands by while this industry loses competitiveness. Panama needs to increase the flow of tourists, as it is an important way to recover the economy, but the incompetence is such that everything indicates that pre-pandemic levels will not be recovered this year either. We have already seen prestigious hotels close, simply because this problem – in pre-electoral times – is insignificant for politicians and officials on duty. as tourists do not vote. LA PRENSA, Jan. 7.