Panama: Airbnb asks to eliminate restrictions on accommodations in the capital

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Airbnb looks to strengthen its growth in Panama to attract more tourists and visitors to the country.

Carlos Muñoz, General Manager of Public Policies for Central America and the Caribbean, said Airbnb wants to work with the authorities to transform local legislation and authorize the operation of the lodging platform in Panama City, because it is currently limited inside the country.

"There is a prohibition of short accommodations such as the Airbnb model in the capital city, outside Panama City accommodation is perfectly allowed and what we are looking for is to eliminate that prohibition to enter strongly to invest in Panama with promotional and tourist campaigns," Muñoz said.

In 2018, the platform attracted more than 90,000 guests to Panama and generated more than 5,300 advertisements to promote lodging and tourism locations in the isthmus.

"We want to be partners of the country so that through our platform more tourists can reach Panama. Those who use Airbnb are tourists who are looking for new, authentic and different experiences, so we are not competition for hotels, on the contrary synergies could be made and interesting agreements."

— Carlos Muñoz, General Manager of Public Policies for Central America and the Caribbean

He explained that 67% of the guests of the platform are between 30 and 59 years old and 61% of visitors come from North America. While around 30,000 Panamanians have used the platform on their trips abroad.

The most popular destinations in Panama by Airbnb are Bocas del Toro, Río Hato, Boquete, Chiriquí and Gorgona beach.

Muñoz said that one of the things they want to promote in Panama is to reach agreements with the government in this case with the General Directorate of Revenue to pay taxes and contribute even more to the local economy.

He explained that the platform already has tax agreements in more than 400 jurisdictions and has collected more than $1 billion in taxes applicable worldwide.

Airbnb, has at its base, more than 600 million users around the world and the goal is to reach one billion people by 2025.

"Panama has great tourist potential and on Airbnb we want to be allies to attract more people to know the wonders that the country has."

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.