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Business & Economy Briefs
 

Highlights of the 2005 AMCHAM tourism forum

by Eric Jackson

On October 5 the American Chamber of Commerce held its fifth annual tourism forum, a major event for the nation’s tourism industry. As has become the norm, the most anticipated presentation was that of the IPAT director. The talk that Rubén Blades is the subject of a separate article herein.

But if there was continuity from previous years’ events, there were also some important differences.

For starters, with one exception the forum was conducted in Spanish, and it turned out that the translation for English-speakers who are not bilingual didn’t happen. This reflects the present reality of AMCHAM, which is primarily an organization of Panamanians with business ties to the United States rather than of American expatriates doing business here. There were few complaints about the lack of Spanish-to-English translation.

This year forum coordinator Nancy Hanna skipped the gushy cheerleading by travel writers that we have seen in earlier versions. To this reporter, this was an improvement.

Besides Blades, the speakers included Randall García from Costa Rica’s National Institute of Biodiversity and William Rodríguez from the Costa Rican National Chamber of tourism; Nilson Ariel Espino from the Office of the Casco Viejo; web designer Jorge Arango of Boot Studio; Keyes C. Hardin, the developer of an upscale tourism project in Pedasi; and the Gamboa Rainforest Resort’s Fidel Reyes. One speaker who had earlier been scheduled but couldn’t make it --- to this reporter’s dismay --- was Raúl Arias de Para, the man behind the celebrated Canopy Tower.

In general there was a series of PowerPoint presentations, all of which contained some useful or interesting information. However, the highlights from this reporter’s perspective were those of Mr. Arango and Mr. Hardin.

Jorge Arango’s discourse on how to build an effective tourism website was for the most part an exercise in common sense --- but wisdom honored so frequently in its breach, especially by Panamanians used to the hard sell if not outright juega vivo that it really needed to be set out in this presentation.

In a perfect world, Arango would not have had to put telling the truth at the top of his points for attention. But there are so many fraudulent misrepresentations online --- and let me without naming names note that at least one of the forum sponsors has been guilty of that --- that the emphasis was warranted.

Arango pointed out that a business wants its website to focus on its visitors’ needs --- things like ease of use and type large enough to read if the people to whom it’s directed are neither all that young or all that sophisticated about computers. “Flashiness detracts in many cases,” he warned.

Arango said that a good, pro-consumer and clearly stated privacy policy is important to many people when they decide whether to do business online. He condemned the use of spam in no uncertain terms, and may or may not have known about the notorious spammers among the forum sponsors.

Human beings, not technology, are the important factors in a website’s success, according to Arango. He advised to include complete contact information, including phone numbers and a physical address in a business website. (Hmmm --- which federal penitentiaries should Marc and Tom list as physical addresses for their next online ventures?)

Arango thinks that appearances are important. And so they are, but of course different groups of people will have different perceptions about such matters.

Hardin came across as a daring entrepreneur --- but maybe not all that daring. He’s not taking the path less traveled, he’s doing something that hasn’t been done, period. He’s building an expensive luxury resort on the Azuero Peninsula.

However, Hardin, unlike the norm in Panamanian business, has done some market research. He knows whom he wants to reach and how to reach them. He has a business plan that’s not, like those of some of the forum sponsors, based on conjecture and wishful thinking.

“Don’t try to be all things to all people,” Hardin advised. He touted the blessings of being unique and the benefits of good press (rather than paid-for hype). He warned against the commercial “touristy” look and trite propaganda that, for example, uses the word “paradise.”

So did Hardin have specific ideas to be successfully copied? Probably not, but hearing him explain how he has gone about things was an invaluable exposition in an intelligent approach not usually found in Panamanian business.