QUICK TAKES

Boutique Hotels in Panama
An Interesting Tidbit on Tourism in Panama

By Will Irvine

The Panama Tourism Authority mentioned that it will start conversations with the company Paradores de España, www.paradores.es for the construction of boutique hotels near historical monuments in Panama. Should the two companies be able to come to an agreement then the Spanish company Paradores de Turismo would be in charge of restoring the chosen monuments and would direct 40% of its income to their maintenance and conservation.

The company Paradores de Turismo is the leading hotel chain in cultural and nature tourism. It has hotels in nine cities declared Patrimony of Humanity, more than half of its hotels are located in areas with historical monuments and many others allow visitors to stay in national parks and in the most interesting natural reserves in a country while enjoying all the comforts of a modern hotel. This company has a single stockholder, the Spanish State, as the company is actually an instrument for the country´s tourism policies whose profits support public objectives such as conservation, restoration and maintenance of historic monuments and natural reserves.

The company´s directors are expected to travel to Panama to start conversations with Mr. Salomon Shamah, the Administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority. Among the possible locations in Panama to be included in this type of tourism activity are the Colonial Forts of San Lorenzo and San Felipe in the province of Colon, Pedasi in the province of Los Santos and the Bolivar neighborhood in Chiriqui. In addition to this the Spanish airline Iberia has started studies for a possible direct flight between Panama and Spain.

Should these two projects come to fruition it would broaden Panama´s appeal to European tourists which are a market Panama has been seeking for a long time.

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