The Central American country seeks to attract important fairs and congresses in the coming years
The Panama Convention Center (PCC) has shown, in recent months, its facilities as a venue for congresses and conventions at the most important MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) fairs in the world, assured Rodolfo del Valle, general director of this monumental structure that recently opened its doors.
In one of the most recent fairs in which PCC participated together with Promtur - Panama in Cartagena de Indias, Panama was awarded for three consecutive years the headquarters of FIEXPO Latin America, the most important international fair of the meetings, events and incentives industry in the region. 150 buyers from different countries of the world participated in this business round.
The PCC also showed its muscle as a first-world structure at the 60th Annual Congress of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). This event was held in the city of Cartagena Colombia and was broadcast simultaneously in several countries with the participation of 1,200 people in person and virtually, including major event organizers from the main wholesale companies, conference and convention organizers.
From 3 to 6 November, the PCC attended the global congress of The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI, for its acronym in English), which took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands one of the largest meetings in the trade fair industry commercial, combining international networks and unique content; This was followed by participation in the IMEX America Fair, which took place in Las Vegas, United States, from November 9 to 11, with more than 2,200 exhibiting companies, representing 200 countries.
Before the PCC facilities were delivered to SMG, work was being done on promoting the structure by participating in the twentieth edition of the Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), held in Cancun, from March 23 to 26 ; and at the IBTM Americas fair aimed at the congress and meetings industry, from August 18 to 19, 2021, in Mexico City. This latest event achieved close to 8,000 business appointments and about $ 1 billion in business opportunities.
Del Valle stressed that it was a unique opportunity to sit down with executives from the Barceló group, Keneth, American Express, Northstar, Marriott, among others that are large corporations that move many companies internationally. "Networking is the most important thing when promoting venues, because you have contact with the client and you know what their expectations and demands are."
On this point, he elaborated that UFI has pointed out that virtual meetings have dropped from 3.1 pts in 2020 to 2.8 pts at the moment, which shows that people are choosing to share the table with colleagues from the industries, do that networking that is wonderful and that helps to make deals.
He indicated that he sees a universe of opportunities in the meetings segment in which the country is competing strongly. “Panama was a bit limited with the offer of spaces, compared to countries like the United States and Mexico; however, with this world-class building-PCC-, with air connectivity, with seats and planes and the hotel offer, the country is positioned in a privileged space in Latin America, to attract any type of event ”, he highlighted.
I point out that the main target markets, where there is greater interest to do business with Panama are: the United States, Mexico, China and Latin America, but there is a marked motivation in nations such as: Brazil and Colombia. The business meetings and events segment represents an estimated average daily expense of B / .616.13 per person, which is considerably above the average expense of a tourist seeking only recreation.
On the other hand, Del Valle highlighted that the Panama Cruise Terminal, which recently made the first test berth with the Viking Star cruise ship and the interconnection of the Cinta Costera 3 with the Amador Causeway connecting in turn to the PCC, will be an important added value, for the big events that this monumental structure hosts.