Our special guest is a businessman with more than 20\nyears of experience in the tourism sector, founder of Puerto Colon 2000, has\npromoted social and economic development of this Atlantic region, making the\npeople of Colon aware of the tourism potential of their province. He is a\nbeliever in the impact of good social responsibility practices for communities close\nto tourist destinations. Steven Tarazi is currently President of the Board of\nDirectors at PROMTUR Panama and he speaks exclusively to us about the hard work\nthat is being done today to promote our country in the world and how he sees\nPanama facing the challenges that lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our country is a melting pot, with cultural\ninfluences from all over the world. How can we enhance these human characteristics\nin favor of the country and our tourism?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first thing that PROMTUR did before starting the marketing work was to understand Panama a little better as a destination, it was a study that we carried out to find out what the tourism brand of Panama was going to, that it be part of a study that was done with a company called Beautiful Destinations, which is one of the best companies in the world for this task. Many focus groups were also held and the entire country was traveled to interview people, Panamanians, foreigners who live here, and from there came \u201cPanama Live for More\u201d. In the study they realized that the Panamanian is a mixture of races and cultures. Being a multicultural destination like us is what makes Panama so special that anyone who comes to the country will feel related. If you are Italian, there is a large Italian community here, if you are German there is also a German community, if you are Chinese, Jewish or of any religion, in Panama you can find them all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have worked directly on projects that have\nenabled people from difficult sectors of Col\u00f3n to contribute the best of their\nhuman talent to tourism. Are there other projects in this region where this\nwork is continuing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cColon is a very good example, and it is a job that\nnever ends. To begin with, you have to start the project with the residents in\nthe town where the project is being developed. At least 90% of the workforce\nfor the construction of Colon 2000 was commissioned to be from Colon. In those\ntimes there was the problem of many crime gangs and we met with the leaders of\nthose gangs and we assured them jobs, they became security chiefs and took\ncourses with government institutions. We have received more than 10 million\npassengers at the cruise port in the last 20 years and there have been maybe\ntwo or three problems, and these were resolved before the ship sailed, because\nthey returned the wallet or cell phone that was taken. It is a project that has\nworked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important that the people know that tourism guarantees\nthe future of their children and grandchildren and for that reason tourists\nmust be treated well, and believe me they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cruise industry is one of the most lucrative\nin the world, distributing wealth to the entire economy. What has been done in\nthis segment to position the country as a world-class cruise “hub”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the subject that I like the most, the cruise\nindustry is what I have dedicated myself to, our company is dedicated to the\noperation of ports, the first cruiseship Port of Colon and now we have the\noperation of Amador Port and it was coincidentally a great dream, because\nPanama became the only country in the world that can have routes in two oceans\nand a canal. Working with the government, it was possible that those cruise\nships that embark and disembark in Panama, that is, use the country as a\n“Homeport” have the right to include the canal in the route and the\ngovernment will reimburse the cost of that transit to motive the cruiselines\nand aftet a while they start paying for it. However, that reimbursement stays\nin the country multiplied by seven or ten, since passengers have to come to\nPanama by plane, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, cruise ships have to stock\nup with local products of all kinds. It\nhas been calculated that a cruise with 2,800 passengers generates around 10\nmillion dollars in the economy and transit costs $400,000, it is a tremendous\nbusiness for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We want to see four to five cruise ships a week\npicking up and disembarking passengers, we would be talking between 15,000 –\n20,000 passengers weekly, which accounts for 50% of hotel occupancy in Panama\nCity. We have already closed deals with Royal Caribbean to start from 2023,\nNorweggian Cruiselines will start in October of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of cruise ship infrastructure, I think that\nwe have what is needed in Panama, but if there was a place that I would quickly\nthink of to add to the tourist offer, it would be Puerto Armuelles, because in\nthe Pacific, instead of tourists leaving money in Costa Rica, cruise ships from\nthat sector could make a stop at this coastal town and make excursions to the\nChiriqui highlands that are not very far away, only two hours away. It would be\nnecessary to improve the infrastructure of the Port, but I understand that\nthere is a company that wants to fix the dock so that it can be used for cargo,\nbut I think it can also be used to receive tourists from these cruise ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can be implemented so that Visitor who\nembarks or disembarks at Colon 2000 wishes to return there the next time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn Colon, everything that was infrastructure, parks,\nnew streets, sewage services, etc. has already been worked on. They are\nstarting to knock down the old buildings that gave a bad impression and the\nFree Port law was created that should solve the problem of the Colon old town,\nbecause it is going to create a free zone for retail sale to tourists and\nnationals. With this law we must promote Colon as a local tourist destination,\nso that those who live in Chiriqui or any other sector can go buy up to $2,000\nper year in products without introduction tax or itbms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Colon 2000 we started with a project that is ready,\nwe are delivering the commercial premises, there are more than 25,000 m2 with\ninternational brands. There is a very focused energy in these strengths that is\ngoing to move throughout Colon City. Colonense has a lot to give, so it’s time\nto enhance all the good things they have.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current tourism infrastructure requires\ninvestment to enhance the Visitor’s experience. Which destinations do you think\nneed it the most and what do you suggest improving or creating?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBocas del Toro is a place where we must improve the\ninfrastructure, however, I see that there are many projects for this\ndestination: enlarging the airport runway, building internal roads, reinforcing\npolice security, communications, electricity and water. It is necessary because\nBocas del Toro has been, is and will continue to be a great destination for the\ncountry. Panama City is quite well I think, we must invest more in tourism\neducation throughout the country. Colon also requires, however, I am very\npleased that they are going to build the road to Mai\u00eda Chiquita in Costa\nArriba, since there is an access problem and this project solves it, it will be\npossible to drive from Panama to Portobelo in 1 hour. \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our special guest is a businessman with more than 20 years of experience in the tourism sector, founder of Puerto Colon 2000, has promoted social and economic development of this Atlantic region, making the people of Colon aware of the tourism potential of their province. He is a believer in the impact of good social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4202,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4184\/revisions\/4202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}