Cruise ports get it wrong along with IPAT
An article in La Prensa today quotes port authority excuses for declining numbers in cruise ships. There are a number of reason for the decline none of which are mentioned in the article but are obvious to any in the industry. You can read a well written piece about the cruise industry difficulties with Panama on Richard Dietrich's blog. But, what I find so telling is the mentality of the authorities and operators that people are coming to panama to visit the city. Here is a quote.
"Bonilla noted that one of Panama's weaknesses is the relatively few tourist attractions in Colón in comparison to the city of Panama. “Ideally, the terminal would be closer to the city of Panama, so that tourists would prolong their stay, generating more revenue for the country.” Another problem might be the distance between the airport and the port, Bonilla said. But Terracina commented that with the expansion of the Corredor Norte and the road between Panama and Colón, the trip between Tocumen International Airport and Colón will take only 45 minutes."
For some unknown reason Panamanians believe that foreigners want to come and visit the city which is shown time and again to be untrue. They want to see the countryside, the old forts and the indigenous peoples. Certainly the Panama Canal is an attraction, but it does not take a day or two to get your fill of the big ditch.
The number of tourists who arrived at Colón 2000 in April 2008 fell 46.7% compared to April 2007.
The total number of cruise ship visitors for 2008 is expected to exceed last year's figures.
| LA PRENSA |
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| Slight drop:Because of a decrease in the number of cruise ship passengers who visited Panama last April, the total number of tourists visiting the country that month fell 0.1 percent, according to an official tourism report.1047549 |
The Panamanian tourism authority is pinning its hopes on the arrival of two major cruise ships at the port of Colón 2000 in October and December of this year.
That's because the number of tourists who arrived in Panama by sea so far this year as compared to the same period last year has declined nearly 12 percent. And just last April, according to the Instituto Panameño de Turismo (Ipat), the total number of tourists who came to the country on cruise ships swooned 42.7 percent in April 2008 with respect to April 2007.
In April 2008, the number of tourists who arrived at the port of Colón 2000 alone, which is the principal point of entry for cruise ships visiting Panama, fell 46.92 percent, from 39,000 in April 2007 to 20,700 this year , according to a Colón 2000 report. The total number of tourists that Colón 2000 has taken in all this year has fallen 11.78 percent.
Sources at Ipat say that various cruise ships cancelled their visits because of bad weather.
But Augusto Terracina, the director of Colón 2000, said that such cancellations are an aberration because Panama lies outside the zone of influence of extreme weather. “Neither does Panama have to deal with labor conflicts in the ports,” he added, “since they have been privatized, unlike those in other countries of the region.”
Terracina pointed out that some ships operated by MSC Cruceros which came in April 2007 didn't come in 2008. The rest of the cruise lines have continued coming, but with less frequency, he said. Such is the case of Holland America, which brought three cruise ships to Panama in 2007 and only one in 2008.
Ernesto Orillac, vice president of the Asociación de Touroperadores and director of Margo Tours, confirmed that tour operators have felt the falling numbers, too, but he isn't troubled by the decline. He attributes it to the typical behavior of the cruise industry, bearing in mind that Panama is not yet a well-established cruise destination.
That could change on Dec. 7, when Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas embarks for the first time from Colón 2000, making Panama its home port. “Then Panama will be on the map,” Orillac said.
Two months before that, in October, the Carnival Freedom will start bringing 3,500 tourists to the country once a month for the next two and half years, Terracina said, adding that 2008 will then close with an increase of 1.56 percent more tourists arriving at Colón 2000 than in 2007, for a total of 271,200 passengers.
Panama will have to face the challenge of meeting the needs of all those visitors. Fernando Bonilla, executive director ejecutivo of the Autoridad de los Puertos de Puerto Rico, said that Panama's success as a home port will depend on good airlines connections and good transportation between the airport and the cruise port.
Bonilla noted that one of Panama's weaknesses is the relatively few tourist attractions in Colón in comparison to the city of Panama. “Ideally, the terminal would be closer to the city of Panama, so that tourists would prolong their stay, generating more revenue for the country.” Another problem might be the distance between the airport and the port, Bonilla said. But Terracina commented that with the expansion of the Corredor Norte and the road between Panama and Colón, the trip between Tocumen International Airport and Colón will take only 45 minutes.
