Tourism good times - Panama visitors up 6.4%, spending 19%
Panama tourism continues on the upswing with a 6.4% increase in visitors and spending in the first eight months of 2012.
Cruise ships brining tourist dollars and canal revenues.
That translates to 89,600 additional visitors bringing the total to1.4 million compared to the the same period of last year says Tourism Authority Director Salomon Shamah.
The breakdown of arrivals shows that in the January through August period 999,651 visitors arrived at Tocumen International Airport.
There were 215,718 cruse ship passengers and 110,311 people entering the country at the Paso Canoa border.
Visitor spending was an estimated $1.491 billion, representing an increase of 19 percent over the same period in 2011, equivalent to an additional $238 million.
Panama received two million visitors in 2011, the largest number in its history. They spent an estimated $2 billion. With four months still to be figured in, a new record seems to be on the way.
