I found this article online and also heard this on the radio yesterday. If you have been downtown recently you can "see" the lack of tourists,
http://spanish.china.org.cn/international/txt/2014-05/30/content_32529685.htm
(Translated from Spanish)
Disappearance of tourism affects Dutch West Panama
">The disappearance early last month in the area of Boquete, western Panama , young Dutch Lisanne Froon Kremers and Kris , 22 and 21, respectively, has affected economic activity in this area primarily based on tourism .
"">editor :
">2014-05-30 1:53:28 / agency xinhua
">The disappearance early last month in the area of Boquete, western Panama , young Dutch Lisanne Froon Kremers and Kris , 22 and 21, respectively, has affected economic activity in this area primarily based on tourism .
">According to a report from the Chamber of Tourism of Boquete, released today by the local press, the impact on tourism is mainly due to inaccurate information in social networks and electronic media.
">The newspaper "El Panama America" noted that these versions confuse people abroad and " mistakenly sold as an unsafe Boquete district."
">The president of the Regional Chamber , Jorge Tovar, estimated at 10 percent the damages that have occurred in the area, but said that could not now quantify the economic losses due to what happened .
Tovar said the effect of " bad image " created by the news among tourists can be clearly seen with the reduction of so-called " backpackers " who are travelers who are most vulnerable because they do not make reservations and reach the district ">for recommendations.
He recalled that 75 percent of the economy Boquete is generated from tourism activities and ventured there will therefore affectations if not sold the other side of the district, which includes the security and diversity of activities that people can ">.
">Calculated , as he said , that every backpacker spends an average of $ 150 a day in the community, couches , buying food at supermarkets, transport and handling activities such as hiking and canopy, among others.
He added that the problem goes much further, because in the district ( Boquete ) there are 46 businesses dedicated to hosting tourists, including hotels , inns and cabins, and they are already getting calls from tour operators to cancel reservations , specifically ">because of the news about the demise of the Dutch .
">The Chamber recognized that tourism is low at this time in the area, but generally people are preparing for the months of July and August, when the summer holidays are given and the expected increase in flights coming from Europe.
">He added that there is so much concern about the impact that may have been due to the disappearance of the two girls .
The vice president of the Chamber of Commerce , Industries and Agriculture of Chiriquí province bordering Costa Rica , Ramon Hernandez, considered by his troubling part what is happening , and said urgently ask the media to handle information with the Dutch ">much more restraint.
">Tovar explained soon strategies being considered to try to counter the negative image that the case is giving Boquete.
">This week came from Holland to Panama a team of rescue experts , accompanied by 13 dogs to help search for the youth.
According to some versions known , young disappeared in the mountainous area of Boquete, and apparently they were preparing to begin a tour of an eco-trail with a guide. "">F
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Replies
Walter, why do you say this particular guide is 'beyond reproach'? Have you known this man a very long time?
The article above makes it sound like the girls went on their final hike with a guide. My understanding is that they were unaccompanied, When they failed to appear for a guided excursion the following day, it was discovered that they were missing. This article makes it sound like there is a local guide who would be a person of interest. It also reflects badly on the local guide community. The guides were out there searching for the girls as soon as there was information on where they could have been headed.
Perhaps , it would be useful to get some articles out there profiling the guides, advising that with a guide you can go some amazing places, and a knowledgeable guide can prevent misadventure such as occurred with the girls. It would also be the place to focus on the large response of community,,,, guides, police, community members.
I agree with Walter. I have recently joined this forum as we are moving to Boquete next month, but I have been reading this forum for a while and it is overly negative at times about burglaries and other issues that are often speculative. I think it is okay to talk about security but to speculate that the body of a dead man is a crime without the facts only makes things worse. I am Dutch living in Texas and I can tell you that everyone in Holland knows about the disappearance of the girls, but I have not talked to one person that sees that as a reason not to travel to Boquete. I myself have been much more concerned about the things I read on this blog than what I read on a Dutch website or in a newspaper as they mostly only write about the facts.
Can someone please tell me how to contact Jorge Tovar and/or the "Tourism Chamber of Boquete" ?
I've searched and searched !
Thank you,
Kevin
You might have better luck if you start a new topic, instead of adding on to this old one.
As we enter the rainy season tourism is always down.
If there is a negative effect on tourism it is because of the consistent rumors being spread by the press about the missing women. They make Boquete sound unsafe, it is not.
The women are missing. There is no way at this time to say whether it was by their own devices or something more sinister.
Thousands and thousands of tourists come and go without going missing. In all the time I have been in Boquete a total of three people have gone missing. It is tragic but people go missing everyplace without the international press labeling the location as dangerous.
Boquete is not dangerous unless you do something that puts you in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I have been reading newspapers blogs about this and there is a trend in some Panamanians to blame on the relaxation of Immigration Legislation and criticizing the Crisol de Razas fair.
People says that this type of crime where people disappear is not a common practice in Panama, specially if it involve foreign people. The cases in Panama usually have passional origins or are related with drug business. People are talking, again, about Wild Bill and other foreign wanted people arrested and deported to their country of origin where they will face the law for the crimes they did there.
I don't think it is good because it could rise the xenophobic comments between locals about the influx of foreign people in certain communities.
Roger, sadly many crimes here are committed by extranjeros. I would like to say just Colombians in the drug trade but Ozzie the burglar here in Boquete, Wild Bill in Bocas and many white collar criminals here are imported.
There have been many more people missing from Florida, and Disney is still packed year round.
Lori: you cannot be comparing Boquete with a resident population of around 5,000. with the State of Florida with a resident population of around 19,552,860. Of course there would be many more people missing from Florida. And with Disney's price of admission going up to approx. $100. a day per person, I think you might see some pullback with the current state of the economy. Three people missing is three people too many in this small community.
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