ATLAPA has a budget of its own to run on and invest with. These funds will let open up new ways for better national and international operations

The organization of the Fourth International Book Fair in Panama gives us a chance to talk with Humberto Aranguren, Chief of the ATLAPA Convention Center, on the present and the future of this strategic facility. He says, «the Panamanian government and the Tourism Institute have decided to put their smart money on an all-out transformation of this Center, thus remodeling one of the nation's top facilities for the promising future ahead as far as congresses and events are concerned. Now ATLAPA has a budget of its own to run on and invest with. These funds will let us make sea changes in infrastructure and open up new ways for better national and international operations.»

«This center -he says- is Panama's number number-one convention fairgrounds, a state-run entity managed by the Panama Tourism Institute. It was built back in the 1980s, some 26 years ago, yet its infrastructure is quite rundown, it hasn't been streamlined or repaired for years and now the place is in a shambles.»

«With that view in mind, the country's current administration, and mainly the Tourism Ministry, decided to give this facility a new lease on life. Last year, Panama grabbed 1.2 million visitors, mostly sunbathers looking for Panama's beaches and other attractions. However, a good chunk of those tourists came to the country to attend fairs, congresses and expositions.»

«In this relaunching process, ATLAPA is a member of the Panama Convention Bureau, yet we feel this organization is not doing the best it can. It needs to go stronger, bank on a larger financial support, be more functional and better organized, and count on better human resources. We, as both ATLAPA and the State, stick to the policy of giving the Bureau our full support and all the information it needs because we feel it (the Bureau) ought to play a more meaningful role both in the turf and overseas.»