Panama Bets Heavily on the Convention Market
By Juan Carlos Martinez
Plans by the ATP (Panama's Tourism Authority) indicates that ATLAPA, Panama's single convention center, will be sold and the proceeds will be applied to the construction of a new convention center more suited to the demands of the modern convention market.
The current convention center, ATLAPA, is government owned, was built many years ago and is now outdated. Only one event of a large magnitude can take place there at a time. Modern multimodal convention centers can host several large events at one time. When it was originally built it was one of the most modern convention centers in Latin America but now with the growth of the convention tourism market it is simply too small.
The convention tourism market is important because according to data from the World Tourism Organization a tourist who visits a country for a convention spends between three to seven times more money than a regular visitor. According to the ATP for Panama the convention tourism market could mean additional yearly income of about $100 million for the country. Within the last five years in Panama according to the Convention Bureau of Panama there have been approximately 24 conventions a year with more than 150 participants which translates into an income of $50 million. Projections for this year are at 24 to 26 conventions and half of those have already been registered. It is estimated that a convention in Panama costs up to 15% less than in neighboring countries such as Costa Rica, Venezuela and Colombia.
The new convention center the government proposes to build will be located in Barraza close to Amador. This is a low income neighborhood sitting on some of the most spectacular real estate in the city. Barraza is the first neighborhood you will see to your right after crossing the bridge of the Americas coming into town from the beaches.
The project for the new convention center is one the many infrastructure projects included in President Ricardo Martinelli's five year plan. The center will have at least 15,000 sq. Mts. With a special area dedicated to fairs and will be managed by an international firm. The project is estimated to cost approximately $200 million dollars and construction should take four years. The bidding for this project is expected to be opened by the end of this year posted as required by law in Panama.
In February of this year the ATP director, Mr. Salomon Shamah, met in the United States with the international design firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP who will be in charge of designing the project. The government of Panama is even planning to negotiate with the US to grant tax exemptions to US companies hosting conventions in Panama in order to make it attractive for the US convention market.
Some of the challenges, other than an outdated convention center, that Panama faces is the lack of hotel rooms to handle events for hundreds and even thousands of people running simultaneously although this may soon be overcome as Panama is expected to have 10,000 new rooms by 2012 according to information from the Panama Hotel Association.
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