Article Courtesy from Business Panama


PRESENTATION BY THE MINISTER OF TOURISM OF PANAMA, RUBEN BLADES, GIVEN DURING THE IV INTERNATIONAL TOURISM FORUM: “DESTINATION: PANAMA, AN AGENDA FOR THE TOURISM INDUSTRY,” ORGANIZED BY THE PANAMANIAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF PANAMA (AMCHAM) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2004.

Good afternoon, your Excellency, Linda Watt, United States Ambassador to Panama, Mr. Herman Bern, President of Grupo Bern, Mr. Lider Sucre, Director of ANCON, Mr. Marcos Ostrander, Director of Tropic Star Lodge and President of the CONAMAR Foundation, Mr. Sam Taliaferro, promoter of Valle Escondido, Mrs. Nancy Hanna, founder of panamainfo.com and The Panama Planner, Mr. Franz Garcia De Paredes, President of Panama Travel Experts, Mr. Thomas Kenna, Director of Marketing for the Panama Canal Railway Company, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, and invitees.



The topic of tourism and its importance happens to present one of those rare occasions in Panama when we all find ourselves in agreement. All sectors of the population concur that we must take advantage of and promote our potential for tourism and that our different components can produce important economic, social and cultural contributions to our Republic. And that is not a small thing. Our abundant natural and cultural resources have such special characteristics, varieties that are so attractive that, once organized and presented as an option, they can make Panama a “must see” destination for the international tourist. There is no area in which we cannot compete and win in terms of tourist attractions: recreational tourism, commercial tourism, rural tourism, adventure tourism, therapeutic tourism, cultural tourism, historical tourism, live cultural tourism, marine, religious, architectural, in sum, there is no doubt that our potential is enormous.

Face to face with this general enthusiasm, and despite the wellspring of popular expectations regarding the topic, bringing this potential to fruition requires actions and strategies, and not university degrees and improvisations. The initial result of any operation, although positive, does not guarantee its long-term success: its continuity and efficiency will do that. Thus, we have to soberly consider a series of factors that influence the creation of a dynamic, healthy, and sustainable tourist industry.

Developing the tourism sector cannot be considered separately from the need to recognize, confront and correct problems resulting from the social abandonment of our citizens and deficiencies in infrastructure that exist in this first case. Our purpose on the national level is to create an opportunity for entry into the tourism industry that will allow the provinces, towns, and rural communities that have been marginalized in the economy to have a chance to become involved in its results, as active participants and, in turn, as parties responsible for its success.. The participation and integration of different tourism options available in the provinces and Indian reservations can result in a rapid, democratic and effective transformation of our country.

Through provincial inventories that identify and determine tourist options, an immediate opportunity for employment can be achieved at every level of capability. This diffusion of opportunities can contribute to a significant and more equitable distribution of income on the national level. When centers generating employment in our provinces and reservations appear, supported by economic efforts managed at the local level, this can effectively start the administrative decentralization process presented and defended by our President, Martin Torrijos, and which was one of his campaign promises.

On the social level, the importance of jobs at the local level allows the residents in the provinces to live close to their family and environment; that factor increases individual and collective self-esteem. Creating sources of jobs at the national level will help to avoid the human exodus from the provinces to the capital, with people looking for poorly paid or non-existent jobs. In large measure this has been the cause of the deterioration and deficiency of our social and administrative infrastructure in Panama City and Panama Province, with its aftershocks of anguish, social decay, corruption and desperation.

But there are other lessons that we can learn, and that points to the impossibility of planning for economic development without paying attention to the social and human problems in the sector. Colon Province is a tragic example in this sense. Abandoned for decades, condemned by policies empty of the will to carry them out, drowned by confusion produced by mediocrity and opportunism, Colon has become a paradigm of “Cannot Do Anything;” a place of impossibilities, a Province judged guilty and abandoned in the abyss of its poverty, where the potential for social and spiritual redemption is considered unlikely, where desperation has become the normal way of surviving.

Today we are talking enthusiastically about the economic potential offered by the diverse and rich combination of resources and natural attractions of our Panama. But we should not forget that the best and most valuable resource in our country is our people. Without giving due consideration to that human resource, motivating and educating it, nothing positive or sustainable can come out of it, no matter how rich the nation is, how honest the public administration is, or how much the best days of her people deserve it.

That is why we have added an indispensable ingredient to the proposal for national tourism development, which is social skill training and professional education. This is especially the case for Colon Province. We are talking here about training and not rehabilitation, since it would be wrong to try to rehabilitate people who were never prepared in the first place. Our strategy for Colon proposes physically transforming the city and Province with goals that result in an economically sustainable program. However, closely tied to its creation is the urgent need to simultaneously transform the spirit and thinking of the citizens of Colon. The plans and projects that we have looked at, which aim to promote the successful development of Colon, previously have not considered how to resolve the human problem of its people who today are underutilized and living in deplorable conditions, within areas having enormous economic and tourism potential.

To correct this deficiency, we have begun conversations with the administrative and civil authorities in that Province and have also begun studies of its socio-cultural problems. Among those being consulted is the sociologist Gilberto Toro, who has been asked to assist in creating the pertinent programs. I have no doubt whatsoever that once this element has been added to the delayed action plans, such as the study done by Price Waterhouse Coopers in 1997, we can get a positive response to our requests for investment in Colon.

But Colon is not the only area needing our help and support. From Bocas del Toro to Darien, basic concepts that inspire our initiative for provincial inventories will result in identifying potential tourist attractions and tell us how to exploit them and train the human resources needed to promote them, care for them and improve them. Those provincial inventories will help us to diversify our options at a time when the worldwide tourist industry is constantly becoming more competitive, selective and demanding. Once the resources have been defined, and the corresponding priorities established, we will offer these destinations, using communications strategies focused on specific markets so as to achieve the best possible results for our country’s economy. The design of these strategies in the future will be the responsibility of the Tourism Authority, after having consulted with the interested parties prior to creating the campaign. Publicity campaigns will carry out that strategy but will not be its creators or initiators.

Our publicity campaigns will be constant and not only directed at the foreign market. We are going to energetically promote and inspire national tourism. Those efforts will be vital to creating high levels of self-esteem at the national level and ones that translate positively into interaction between foreigners and our citizens. A country that does not know or respect itself can do little to make a foreign visitor respect or appreciate the culture they are experiencing. Our internal campaigns will educate the Panamanian people about the importance of tourism as a source of employment and generator of a positive image for the country and the ethnic groups that make up our nation.

We are organizing trips all over the Republic in order to create and activate the provincial directors who will represent the Tourism Authority at the national level. These directors will have areas assigned to them, along with specific plans and they will be periodically evaluated based on their results. Employees who do not carry out their tasks and assigned duties will be replaced by qualified personnel. These will not be recreational jobs, or political “appointees.”

We are planning meetings with all the governors of the Provinces, with all the mayors of each municipality and with their town councils to begin conversations to gain their participation and cooperation in carrying out a National Plan for Tourism. This plan will include Tourism Towns that will be designated as such, based on a series of conditions and rules upon which their accreditation and certification will depend. Furthermore, we will listen to the opinions and suggestions of the elected administrative figures in each Province, to all the active citizen and social groups, to ecclesiastic leaders and local residents in order to incorporate what we consider to be vital and necessary to achieving the greatest possible success during our administration. We will work together with the pertinent Ministries and social sectors. We have already begun informal talks with the Ministries of Housing, Health, Education, Youth, Women and Family, Foreign Affairs, Public Works and Agricultural Development as well as with Panama’s Maritime Authority and the Environmental Authority so that with their advice, council and technical cooperation, we can successfully carry out all efforts related to tourism at the national level. Nothing will be decided in secret by these administrative entities, since we understand that, in great measure, the positive outcome of any national tourism effort will depend upon your timely participation and intervention.

In general terms, I will present some points that we consider to be representative of our common concerns regarding the tourism industry.

First: we are immediately going to conduct studies to produce a fair and balanced evaluation of the existing tourism infrastructure, to determine areas needing improvement and necessary maintenance, and to avoid losing what has been effective up until now.
Second: an evaluation is needed of the performance of the available human resources to determine how we can improve their productivity and whether decisions made up until now have been adequate regarding those serving that infrastructure.
Third: once potential options resulting from provincial inventories have been identified and evaluated, we will create a report on the infrastructure and basic needs for quality in order to guarantee that the appropriate information gets to interested investors, thus allowing for prompt commencement of the respective tourism operations.
Fourth: we must define priority destinations and tourism products, in order to control expenses, to avoid creating useless competition and duplication of efforts. You would not put a Santeño to work making “molas”. Those in Kuna Yala do this better than anybody else!
Fifth: we should explore all kinds of ideas and possibilities. The agrarian sector will be impacted as a result of international agricultural competition, which is highly subsidized. Thus, we should consider redirecting efforts in this industry towards other production goals. Rural tourism is one possibility and the Tourism Authority can help, providing advice to those involved in agriculture regarding this type of activity.

Another possibility would be the creation of production centers for agricultural products that exclusively serve demands resulting from tourism and cruise ships, for example. To do that, we will rely on advice from the Ministry for Agricultural Development and the corresponding administrative agencies that guarantee that products offered meet the international standards demanded for their consumption. We have a series of additional projects and goals over the short, medium and long term, in the process of development or close to being finished. We have presented a formal request to the Executive Branch to create a Pro-Tourism Bond, that can help us get the financing needed for these projects in the tourism area.

Some of our short-term goals will be presented to the Legislative Branch as a group of Legal Proposals designed to create a solid legislative underpinning to develop tourist activity in our country. These include:

1. The draft of a law creating the Panamanian Tourism Authority and which makes the position of Minister of Tourism official, but without creating a Ministry. This will preserve the general autonomy of the institution. Eventually, we hope to achieve real economic autonomy that would allow us to control our income, while always maintaining the necessary administrative and supervisory controls needed to guarantee judicious and effective utilization of public funds.

2. The draft of a general Tourism Law, that would create a system for tourist security, including the creation of insurance for the visiting tourist, and the legal support necessary, in case it should be needed. This legislation is based on the principles of an ethical code for tourism suggested by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and establishes the basic principles regarding the rights and obligations of private companies involved in this activity

3. The draft of a law that would replace the current Law of Incentives for Tourism Activity, whose fiscal benefits, as is generally known, are due to expire next year. The difference between the new proposal being presented is that the new document strives to achieve sustainable development from an environmental, cultural and economic viewpoint. Similarly, it provides small entrepreneurs with the means for training and actual promotion of their products.

4. Once again, a law which was already presented will be reintroduced, one in favor of conservation and increasing the value of buildings in the City of Colon.

Continuing with short term goals:

1. Working to finalize the inventories in the Provinces, which we plan to finish this year, God willing;

2. Beginning a study of the reality of the social situation of the 15,000 people living in Colon, in order to design a plan for social, spiritual and occupational development;

3. Doing an “on-site” examination, together with the Minister of Health, personally looking at the problem of waste water and garbage on land in Bocas Del Toro and the dilapidated dock that is currently being used in that area;

4. Meeting with tribal representatives of Kuna Yala to study recommendations and potential solutions to the problem of garbage, its collection and elimination from that area;

5. Reviewing the current system for educating and training tourist guides;

6. Designing a plan for public parking in Casco Antiguo (Colonial Quarter).

7. Organizing a 2005 Carnival Commission, with the support and advice of the private sector;

8. Improving IPAT´s installations and services at Tocumen Airport and the conditions under which its employees are working.
   
    

Over the medium term:

1. We are going to decisively intervene to produce a solution to the current problem of tourist transportation. This situation helps nobody in the industry and must be resolved, and shall be resolved.

2. We will design a strategy in order to already have the infrastructure prepared for when we are awarded “Distant Port” status.

3. We will begin the process of organizing the criteria to create a comprehensive national program for tourism education, with a curriculum for all branches of the industry and a national institute for tourism education and training.

4. We will undertake conversations with other countries that are tourist destinations in order to reach agreements about “multi-destinations” and strategic alliances that can help us increase the number of nights and days that tourists stay in Panama.

5. Remodeling and modernizing the Atlapa Convention Center.

6. Updating studies regarding the competitiveness of Panama’s installations and providing services such as convention centers and making them a priority in promoting tourism.

7. Making the necessary contacts with tribal authorities in indigenous communities of our country to produce a new, common ground of interest and cooperation in the tourism area and open the way for their integration into a National Tourism Plan under the Tourism Authority.

8. Creating the most competitive possible conditions to increase the number of retired foreigners who select Panama as their retirement location.
   
    

Among the long term plans and goals that we have are:

1. Increasing the contribution from the tourism sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

2. Generating and cultivating new jobs throughout the country.

3. Distributing income more fairly on the national level.

4. Increasing investment in the tourism sector, at the national level.

5. Creating a legal and administrative structure that fosters continuity in the growth of the tourism sector, without emphasis on whatever political group is in power or who is the nation’s President.

6. Creating a doctrinaire, on an objective, intelligent and professional basis that cannot be seen as skewed by special interests that go against the best interests of the Panamanian nation. This should allow for a continuity of activities and decisions that are linked to long term strategies in the tourism area, and that project the advancement of our relationship of friendship and cooperation with the international community.

With the advice and counsel of the IPAT Board of Directors and professionals in the tourism sector, along with the participation of representatives of the different professional organizations and guilds in the industry and together with the advice and support of our public administrators, I believe a promising future is awaiting us. We are totally ready to listen. Our commitment is serious and formal. In our administration, there will be no place whatsoever for corruption. To help guarantee this commitment, our draft of the Tourism Law lays out a framework so that the process of investing in tourism shall be supervised by the Tourism Authority which will act as a representative of the investor in relation to the corresponding administrative entities. It shall speed up the paperwork required by law, eliminating intermediaries and delays, and reduce the potential for investors, domestic or foreign, being solicited for bribes.
In addition, coordinated efforts are needed to produce better security for both domestic and foreign residents, and for those who visit us. There is an urgent need to begin conversations with the Ministry of Government and Justice and its departments to help coordinate strategies that create a climate of greater security in our country.

We live in a time of uncertainty. The Tourism Authority wants to participate and cooperate effectively and responsible so that Panama is considered both nationally and internationally as a safe destination, as a country that condemns violence and terrorism, and as a brother and friendly nation…

I know that I have not covered all the possible topics, but I believe that this introduction is a good start. Believe me, in the future, no opinion will be ignored; no possibility will be left unattended. We hope to make a worthy effort, supported by our administrative team and the magnificent contribution of all the IPAT employees. Without their devotion and hard work, without their professionalism and spirit, our task would be simply impossible. Under different administrations, IPAT has developed an institutional pride that deserves the applause and recognition of us all. I hope, that with their help, and God’s guidance, I will be able to continue to follow the path of their good example.

I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to remind you that this September 15th, we will be celebrating another anniversary of IPAT. It would seem fair and appropriate to take this opportunity to publicly recognize the efforts of Jose Rogelio “Pinky” Arias, General Manager of IPAT from 1969 to 1978. It was his vision, enthusiasm and dedication to the tourism industry that resulted in the creation of Atlapa, the first convention center in Latin America. He contributed to creating the foundations for the professional spirit that today characterizes the institution. From here on, those of us who have been selected to continue and improve the road that he and the other managers coming before me have laid out, Liriola Pitti among them, I would like to say “Thank you, Pinky,” and we reiterate that your work will not be forgotten and you will always be remembered with affection by a nation, grateful for your patriotic efforts.

 

Article Courtesy of Business Panama
The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)
and Deal Inc.
 

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