business & economy

Also in this section:
The upper-end fishing boat business
Blades lashes out at tourism reporting
Will the return of traffic save Avenida Central?

El Mercadito
De facto urban renewal

Competition by vilification and litigation loses ground
Business & Economy Briefs

Blades levels blast over tourist visa and immunization law reports

by Eric Jackson

As a part of the recent emergency crime bill, the National Assembly and President Torrijos reduced the term of tourist visas from 90 days with a possibility of renewal to 180 to 30 days with a possibility of renewal to 90 days. Although this part of the crime legislation was specifically about tourism, the IPAT tourism bureau that Rubén Blades heads made it through the cabinet on which Blades is a member and then through a legislative process in which IPAT did not take part in the committee hearings.

In a separate set of political developments, Panama signed a World Health Organization agreement on epidemic prevention and the cabinet sent it to the legislature for ratification, and that change in the law includes provisions to ensure that people coming into this country from abroad are immunized against certain communicable diseases. In the long run it's likely that all international travelers will have to carry immunization cards along with their passports, but there won't be any change in the procedures to visit Panama until the legislation is passed and the implementing regulations are formulated and decreed, a process likely to take several months at least.

Both of these developments were noted in the English-language online press and widely discussed in the Panama-related English-language email discussion groups and blogs. But Blades and IPAT were caught unawares, and on June 11th issued the following press statement:

The Minister of Tourism, Ruben Blades, denied rumors regarding legislation to reduce tourist stay in the country to only 30 days and that Panama was requesting vaccination to enter the country.  “Those commentaries are completely false and only seek to discredit Governmental actions. We would like to make clear that tourists can stay in Panama up to 90 days, with two extensions after the first 30 days, both for visas and tourist cards.”

These statements were related to irresponsible information currently circulating through the Internet indicating that the total amount of days tourists can stay in Panama had decreased and that a vaccination card was required to enter the country. “Unscrupulous people have taken to the task of circulating rumors to harm the country”, warned Blades.

The Panamanian Tourism Bureau was not initially consulted on the draft of a health law seeking to improve sanitary controls, in agreement with international sanitary regulations. As of Monday June 11, 2007 IPAT will participate in the meetings that will take place. “The development of tourism activities implies factors that are not in our legislation; we would like to make it clear that the law has not been approved and that the Minister of Government and Justice, Olga Golcher, will send a note to all airlines and the diplomatic corps explaining that the vaccination issue has not been officially sanctioned, stated the Minister of Tourism.

On the other hand, the highest tourism authority in Panama, asked the National Migration Direction to adopt the pertinent measures so that tourists interested in extending their tourism visa granted for thirty (30) days, and extendible to sixty (60) additional days, can do so in any of the offices of the Migration Direction at the national level. “It is an important measure that we believe will benefit tourism”, affirmed Blades.

Note the choice of words: "irresponsible information" rather than incorrect information. Note the broad and vague attack on "the Internet" and on unspecified "unscrupulous persons."

The Spanish-language dailies, which had not been reporting this story, did report the Blades denial of something that they never ran. Nor did they point out that the central argument in the press statement, denying "that the total amount of days tourists can stay in Panama had decreased," was factually wrong and that the truth of the matter can be readily determined by reference to the legislation itself.

Nor did the Spanish-language corporate mainstream, nor the more obsequious elements of the English-language media, note the admission that IPAT and the tourism minister had been uninformed about legislation sure to affect tourism. It seems that among the 732 people on the IPAT payroll, nobody has been assigned the task of following the National Assembly's agenda and advising Blades of matters of importance to tourism.

People in the tourism industry with whom The Panama News talked had mixed opinions about the effect of the visa changes. It seems that those from Canada and the northern tier of the United States who like to spend the cold months in tropical climes are most likely to be affected, with some snowbird regulars likely to opt for pensionado visas if they qualify and other visitors in this niche likely to either avoid Panama or spend just part of their time abroad here and another part of it somewhere else. There is a fear that the shorter stays will make it more difficult for those who wish to explore Panama in search of a place to retire. But other segments, like the people who come here for fishing or birding trips or particular events, are unlikely to be affected at all.

The upper-end fishing boat business
Blades lashes out at tourism reporting
Will the return of traffic save Avenida Central?

El Mercadito
De facto urban renewal

Competition by vilification and litigation loses ground
Business & Economy Briefs