Destinations International, the world’s largest resource for official destination organizations and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), today announced that registration is open for the 2023 Annual Convention.

The Panama Convention Center (PCC) was selected as a finalist in the category of Best International Venue at the prestigious EN Awards 2023, held in the city of London.

Sofitel Legend, the modern French luxury brand with iconic properties around the world, will unveil its first hotel in North & Central America, bringing its quintessential art de vivre to the historic city of Casco Viejo, Panama, A UNESCO World Heritage Site

PCMA President and CEO Sherrif Karamat, CAE and Latin America (LATAM) Regional Director Lucio Vaquero today announced the 2022 Regional Advisory Board comprised of 10 members who will act as regional-local ambassadors to amplify the voice and presence of PCMA within the LATAM region.

Panama has been selected to host the third edition of the Sustainability Research and Innovation (SRI) Congress, the world’s largest transdisciplinary meeting for the global sustainability community, to be held in June 2023.

Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) and International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) have officiated their global collaboration on the International Journal of Business Events and Legacies (IJBEL) at IMEX Frankfurt today.

In the context of a fully-reopened economy and featuring an important ranking with regards to regional biosafety programs, Panama’s MICE industry backed the re-emergence of its meetings sector earlier this week through a hybrid-formated forum organized by the Meetings Panama platform and the National Tourism Chamber of Panama (CAMTUR).

the “Discover Your Panama” website, potential visitors can turn their dream itinerary into a reality by entering a sweepstakes for a chance to win an unforgettable seven-day trip to Panama

Destination weddings: A tourism niche with great potential

Created five years ago by the Global Associations of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), World Exhibitions Day (GED) is an annual series of activities designed to promote the visibility of this major pillar of the MICE industry, and the year 2020 will certainly not be an exception.

Attention, MICE-industry members! This year, FIEXPO will host two major international trade events in Chile. They are the Workshop & Technical Visit (March 23-26) and the 2020 Motivation Luxury Summit 2020, which has been scheduled for October 11-15, 2020.

Things are moving smoothly for The Santa María, a Luxury Collection Hotel& Golf Resort, Panama City, and it seems that its extraordinary location on the eastern sprawl of the Panamanian capital has a lot to do with its success, according to Fidel Reyes, its general manager. “We are referring to a different concept that fills in what the city requires.This is a resort located within city limits that conveys the feeling of being elsewhere, despite its closeness to the downtown area”.

Panama’s med students will have a great challenge ahead of them during the course of the next eight months: the organization of the “2020 August Meeting” –the second and most important annual assembly of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, which will be held in Panama City August 2-8, with ‘pre-assembly’ activities starting on July 30.

With over 40 years of service in the tourism industry, Las Américas hotel chain is now officially a single international hospitality group with properties in its country of origin (Colombia), as well as in neighboring Panama, where the chain’s most recent property, Las Américas Golden Tower, operates in the exclusive Paitilla district, in Panama City.

The organizing committee of the 2022 FIATA World Congress in Panama is already working on the details of the event, which is considered the most important of the freight forwarding industry at the global level.

The management and promotion of the new Amador Convention Center is now the official responsibility of the U.S.-based company, SMG World –this is, through an ‘order to proceed’, which was recently signed by company executives and the Panamanian government, the latter of which was represented by Iván Eskildsen, Administrator of the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP).

SAHIC, one of Latin America’s most important conferences specialized in hospitality/real-estate investments, will host its 13th version in Panama City next year. The event was announced in the 12th version of the conference, which took place in Quito, Ecuador last month.

With regards to tourism, Panama is like a sleeping giant, but although the subject of this article (Antonio Alfaro, president of Panama’s National Tourism Chamber –CAMTUR,) did not actually say so, readers will be able to confirm this statement as they follow through.

Panama’s Tourism Marketing Fund (PROMTUR) and the Spanish airline, Iberia, recently signed a marketing agreement with the purpose of strengthening Panama’s visibility as a tourist destination in Europe.

Due to its privileged geographical position, Panama attracts many world-class professionals who, with their knowledge and experience, strengthen the various sectors that comprise the country’s tourism industry. One of such professionals is Idu Ribeiro, General Manager of the Marriott Panama Hotel. A native of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Ribeiro engaged in his most recent professional transition in December of 2018, by being transferred to his current position after managing the Marriott Executive Apartments, which are also located in downtown Panama City. Commenting on the experience, Ribeiro stated, “Although both properties belong to the same chain, they cater to different markets. The Executive Apartments are a long-stay establishment featuring, as their name suggests, apartments equipped with kitchen, living/dining rooms, etc. –in other words, a residential experience complemented by a hotel-style service. The Marriott Panama, on the other hand, is a full-service hotel designed for conventional travelers. One of its main fortes is its catering service –and most especially our ‘outside catering’ service which is unique in Panama.  His expectations on Panama’s tourism industry Ribeiro believes that the challenges a hotel manager faces are the ‘micro’ version of those faced by the tourism industry as a whole, and therefore sees the […]

Several major international organizations related to the aviation sector (IATA, ACI, AAC, ALAP & ALTA) have joined forces to host the Aviation Day Panama –a top-level discussion on the opportunities and challenges of the field in Panama. Featuring industry experts, senior airline and airport executives, and government authorities as keynote speakers, the event will take place on September 10 at the Hilton Panama City Hotel.

The Panamanian Association of Professionals in Conferences, Exhibits, and Events (APPCE) recently elected its Board of Directors for the 2019-2021 period.

The eighth version of the ICCA Latin America and Caribbean Meeting, an event that will coincide with the 13th edition of the Client Supplier Business Workshop, will take place in the city of Salta, Argentina, August 5-8.

The most influential congress and meetings tourism trade show in America and The Caribbean will bring you in its 23rd edition a MICE specialization program aimed at professionals

Good news for Panama’s MICE industry! The signed contract between the government of Panama and the firm, SMG Latin America for the management and promotion of the new Amador Convention Center (CCA) was recently approved by the former.

Coinciding with the celebration of its 500th anniversary, the city of Havana will host the 23rd edition of MITM Americas. Scheduled October 14-17 at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the event is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba, Gran Caribe Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Nacional de Cuba.

The Chilean capital is getting ready for the 12th version of FIEXPO Latin America, the largest MICE-industry trade fair in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place June 10-12.

Although there certainly can be no life on this planet without water, for Panama, the abundance of H2O represents a universal contribution, not only because it sustains one of the most diverse biological corners of the globe, also because it has forged Panama into an important link in international trade.

The adoption of international standards and the accreditation of professionals are two of the main objectives of the 34th Congress of the Union of Pan American Valuation Associations (UPAV), scheduled October 16-18 at Panama City’s Megapolis Convention Center.

The promotion of secondary and main destinations, the responsibility of destination management, and the difference between tourism and meeting-industry services are some of the topics to be addressed during the 6th Latin American Political Forum on the Meetings Industry, which will take place June 10 in Santiago, Chile.

Thousands of passengers from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala will soon enjoy better air connectivity to Europe, thanks to a recently-signed code-share agreement between Copa Airlines and Air Europa, the latter of which will start flying between Panama City and Madrid on June 3.

They constitute a fundamental element in virtually every major international congress, conference, or meeting, yet there are still many people out there who refer to them by the wrong term as they perform their duties –microphone in hand—inside a booth.

The third version of the Global Business Form successfully concluded today in Panama, gathering public and private-sector leaders from throughout the Latin American and the Persian Gulf regions. The event, the theme of which was “New Hubs, New Regions”, sought to explore the perspectives of amplifying economic cooperation and the forging new alliances between both parts of the world.

Panama will host the XVII Central American Small Hotel Forum –a byproduct of the country’s designation as FECAPH’s temporary presidency.

The most important golf circuit of the region, the PGA Latin American Tour, will start this month at Buenaventura Golf Club of Panama’s Pacific coast, according to a recently issued press release by Hotel Hilton Panama, one of the event’s sponsors.

This coming Thursday, April 4, the MICE sector will observe the Global Meeting Industry Day, a special occasion for a field that, according to Luis Ricardo Martínez, president of the Panamanian Association of Professionals in Congresses, Exhibits, and Related Activities (APCCE), represents an economic impact of 7% of the GDP of countries where tourism is a major source of income

Created five years ago by the Global Associations of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), World Exhibitions Day (GED) is an annual series of activities designed to promote the visibility of this major pillar of the MICE industry, and the year 2020 will certainly not be an exception.

Between June 5-6, approximately 1,500 local and foreign professionals will take part in the second edition of EXMA –Expo Marketing 2019. Described by its organizers as “…the greatest and most influential regional-level marketing platform,” EXMA will be hosted at Panama City’s Atlapa Convention Center. The main topic of the event will be “The Marketing Economy, According to Market Demands,” and will offer a cluster of world-class keynote figures, such as former Apple creative director Ken Segal (‘Simplicity’ as the effective power behind marketing in the future;) Pepsi-executive Diego Ruzzarin (“Foodlosophy;”) James Hardy (former director of Alibaba;) Omar Carrión (General Manager of Fidelidad, who will speak on “Mass Consumption,”) and Innovation Researcher Gabriel Alzate (“Digital Transformation.”) Just as last year, the event is expected to attract representatives of advertising agencies, banks, insurance companies, government entities, mass-consumption firms, automobile-industry companies, and hardware businesses, among other sectors. The sheer magnitude of the event has prompted its promotion at the regional level, especially in Colombia and Costa Rica, with the support of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP). Regarding EXMA, ATP Marketing Manager Enrique Sánchez stated, “EXMA is an excellent platform that allows marketing-industry professionals to keep current on present market trends through renowned international […]

The most important golf circuit of the region, the PGA Latin American Tour, will start this month at Buenaventura Golf Club of Panama’s Pacific coast, according to a recently issued press release by Hotel Hilton Panama, one of the event’s sponsors.