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Ana Royo

Anita –as her friends call her- studied tourism and marketing. She served an 11-year stint in the Hertz affiliate at the Tocumen Airport where she first got in touch with the hospitality industry before spending seven more years at Dollar Rent a Car. Any conversation with her on the future of her country’s travel industry is always an interesting experience.

Her views are marked by her longstanding tenure at the helm of APOTUR and her teaching experience at the Inter American Tourism Institute. She speaks English, a little bit of Italian and French, and is convinced that Panama’s tourism requires more technicians and polyglots than managers. She now runs her own private tourist company –Experience Panama- that started up back in 1997. Excelencias brings to its readers the opinions of this executive who never gives in when it comes to selling dreams.

How does the Panama Tour Operator Association see the perspectives of the travel market in light of the new tourism act?

They look great now because the former act was obsolete. There was a need to upgrade and update that act with some new elements and change others, like the tour operators’ transportation. Now each tour operator could use any transportation means of its choice, based on its own needs or interests, and without having to depend on the dealers.

What new goals do the Panamanian tour operators intend to meet this year in a bid to strengthen tourist arrivals from Europe?

We intend to step up the promotion of destination Panama and as part of the Central America multi-destination efforts. Now with increased airlift from Europe, we hope to reach out to other European markets with the help of the Panama Tourism Institute (IPAT), reach out to countries where we used to have no presence at all, like the Nordic nations, and IPAT is trying to open markets there.

How can you stack up the Panamanian market this time around against last year’s results in terms of travel operations?

The Panamanian market is becoming more aware and more matured in terms of tourism growth. We’re seeing more visitors walking down the streets, visiting landmarks, beaches and restaurants. We’re waking up to a new reality and far more tourists are flocking in. We don’t see scarcity of visitors in the tourist facilities across the country anymore. 2007 was a good year, especially for the hotel sector. So many investors came in that we didn’t have an off-peak season. However, our tour operators are doing a whole lot better this year because there are far more tourists, more requests from the wholesalers, and travel agencies are beginning to make a name for themselves in Panama.

What main actions is the Panama Tour Operator Association conducting this year?

We’re beefing up our association. We’re looking for new strategic alliances to come up with our own offices and with an executive director. We’ll keep on working with the Tourism Chamber and IPAT in laying out the guidelines of the new tourism act and in the implementation of the Master Plan.