Panama climbs in tourist rankings

PANAMA CLIMBED three positions in the Panama climbed in the ” Travel and Tourism, Competitiveness Report, 2015 of the the World Economic Forum and is now ranked 34 out of a total of 141 as the number of visitors increases.

In the Central and South America region it ranks third behind Brazil (28 worldwide) and Mexico (30).
 Since the departure of former tourism chief Salomon Shamah who loved to lavish money on a Panama City Carnaval which attracted few tourists and spent a fortune on a poorly functioning website, , visitors to the country have continued to rise. From January to March 2015, entered Panama 761,176 visitors entered the country 13.8% more than last year.
The downside of the report focuses on three aspects: Security and crime (89 in the ranking); Difficulty of recruiting foreign staff, women and customer service specialists (95 in the world), and low offerings in cultural tourism (63 in the ranking).