Panama forecasts an increase of 7 thousand rooms

The Hotel Association of Panama – Apatel, has announced that their projections reveal an increase of 7 thousand hotel rooms for the country by 2011.   This would bring the total inventory of hotel rooms to 23 thousand. 

According to the Association, 10 new hotels will come online this year while another 23 are expected to open in 2011. In 2009, 5 new hotels were inaugurated with 2,000 new hotel rooms.

Presently, the participation of Spanish hotel chains in Panama is relatively small. According to the latest HOSTELTUR Ranking, only Sol Meliá has opened a hotel in the country; the Meliá Panama Canal in Colón. However, several hotel chains have started projects in the country.

As reported by HOSTELTUR, RIU for example has selected the capital city as site for their first urban local, the Riu Panama Plaza. NH Hotels as well as AC Hotels are planning projects in the country. The Spanish Grupo Mall is currently building a hotel in Panama City to be operated under the dubaití Jumeirah brand.

A year ago, Carl-Fredrik Nordström Vice-Minister of Tourism for the ATP, stated that the country was in need of more hotel rooms. According to his statements, the country needed to have another 24 thousand hotel beds within the next two years.

Source: www.hosteltur.com