Panama recently had the pleasure of hosting a delegation representing 25 companies from Bavaria, Germany. The delegation, headed by the manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Bavaria, represents companies from a variety of business sectors: logistics and air transportation, real estate, construction of factories and machinery, engineering and technology, the automobile industry, and others. The state of Bavaria is known for its economic strength and ranks among the strongest in the European Union.

The delegation originally set out to visit Mexico to explore possible business ventures; however the economic growth and potential of Panama attracted their interest.

Besides exploring business opportunities the group was also able to visit the Miraflores Locks where they received a presentation of the Panama Canal and its expansion project.

Expovivienda Summer 2008 kicked off April 17th at the Atlapa Convention Center. Expovivienda is a housing expo organized by the Panamanian Camera of the Construction (Capac).

The fair has no cover charge and due to last year’s turnout, the organizers decided to extend the expo an extra day this year.

There are close to 250 projects represented and 14 banks. Many of the projects are targeted to the local market and designed to take advantage of the preferential interest rates offered by the banks, subsidized by the government. This year there are also hopes that the maximum price allowed to qualify for the preferential interest rates will soon be changed. Currently dwellings costing US$62,500 or less qualify and the law is being reviewed to elevate the maximum to US$80,000. Lobbyists claim that because of rising real estate prices, the current maximum doesn’t give the middle class many options.

The last day of the expo is Sunday t

he 20th. For those you think there are no deals left in Panama, this is the expo to find out for sure

If you’re one of the people who found it hard to make hotel reservations in Panama, maybe this will shed some light on the situation.

The Global Ranking Index (GRI), a report produced annually by Deloitte, recently released statistics for 2007. The report states that across Central and South America, the revenue per available room increased 19.4% to US$74 in 2007 – which meant it is the world’s fastest growing region in terms of “revenue per available room” growth. Panama City, with occupancy rates of 84.7%, has become the first Latin American city to make it onto the occupancy GRI, the second highest occupancy of any city in the world. The city also achieved the strongest “revenue per available room” growth in Central and South America – up 37.9% to US$121.

So far this year occupancy rates have maintained strong. The rate of tourists entering the country increased 11.6% for the first two months of this year, in comparison to the same period last year, according to the Panamanian Institute of Tourism (IPAT).

In 2007 Ipat launched a multimillion dollar advertising campaign, which they hope will show results over the next five years. This year IPAT is projecting 1.4 million people will visit Panama and lets not forget that Royal Caribbean will start using Panama as a home port starting December 2008.

International Hoteliers are taking note and several hotels are currently under construction, it’s expected that another 7,000 rooms will be added to the current pool by 2010.

Real estate development promoters are being fined at an increasing rate, largely due a change in legislation and the high volume of projects on the board. According to the office of Public Works and Municipal Construction there was an increase of 54.8% in fines to real estate promoters.

These promoters can no longer promote developments that haven't received proper approval, which was a common practice before the Dept. of Works began applying a new law cracking down on the activity. Panama's way of monitoring truth in advertising from the real estate perspective.

Fines totaling US$109,275 were collected during January and February of 2008, up from US$70,550 collected during the same period in 2007. However, the fines collected in 2008 only represent 9.6% of the US$1,175,000 collected for construction permits. So far, 656 construction permit applications have received approvals to date.