The  outgoing government’s promise that work would be done for Panama to reach  reached 3 million visitors by the end of 2019. appears to be another  unfulfilled hyperbolic  dream as the number of tourists continues to plummet, in spite of the extra boost by the highly promotred and overly expensive World Youth Day.

 The  entrance of visitors in the month of March plummeted 6.2%, to 186,000  the most acute monthly decrease recorded in recent years.  thus closing the high season of  Panamanian tourism, which left more pain than glory reports La Prensa.

The first quarter closed with 647,0000 visitors, an increase of 0.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, but it must be taken into account that in January there was an extraordinary entrance of visitors as a result of the World Youth Day.

A factor that reinforces the bad news in the tourism sector is the spending of visitors , which in the first quarter recorded a marginal increase of 0.5%, with $329 million.

Tourist associations point out that the trend registered in the first quarter will worsen during the coming months, with Panama will be in a low season. The cruise season ended in  May, and until March the number of passengers disembarking in Panamanian ports had fallen by more than 20%.

It was expected that at this point the Amador convention center would be operating, but construction has still not finished.

The lack of an international promotion campaign since the end of 2018 does not help the country attract more visitors says  La Prensa.

In the absence of official data on the occupancy of hotels in the capital city, businessmen commented that the situation is critical, with more than 65% of the rooms vacant. People in the industry say that hotels need a 60% occupancy rate to become profitable.