This article was written by Sherly Díaz
Contadora Island, Pearls of the Panamanian Pacific has the most of tourist developments.
South of the City of Panama there is a group of 200 islands called the Archipelago of Pearls, a site of great touristic potential for the country. In this location, several episodes of the TV program Survivor were filmed and also, it has the only nudist beach in the country.
In the archipelago, the islands of Contadora, Rey, Saboga, Chapera, Viveros, Pedro Gonzalez, and San Jose stand out among others because of their dimension. One of the options to reach the islands is by air. The Civil Aeronautics Authority indicated that from January to August of this year, a total of 27,313 persons travelled to this area, and of this number 27,164 did to Contadora Island, and 149 to San Miguel.
According to the Panamanian Institute of Tourism known as IPAT in the Archipelago of Pearls there are tourist attractions related to nature, ecology and beaches, which allow the practice of aquatic sports, contemplation of nature, scuba diving, or whales and dolphins watching. According to this entity, in IPAT there are five tourist lodging establishments registered; of these, three are family type boarding houses and two are hotels with a total of 418 rooms available, all in the Contadora Island.
Lodging
Isla Contadora possesses the largest tourist development. Grupo Hotelero del Pacifico, S.A. owns the hotel Contadora Resort with 354 rooms operating under the all inclusive concept. There are several options to reach this place. One is by air and it takes approximately 18 minutes from the Marcos A.
Gelabert airport or by boat which takes approximately 1 hour and half. This hotel group says about 70% of its foreign clientele comes from Colombia, Venezuela, France and Spain and recently are doing promotional campaigns in Canada and Finland, and the rest of the clientele, or 30%, is from local market. Orlando Chaparro Gonzalez, general manager of Grupo Hotelero del Pacifico, S.A. commented that the frequency of flights to Contadora is daily. There are two flights in the morning and two in the afternoon and the commercial passenger service is provided by Air Panama and Aeroperlas. Eduardo Stagg, general manager of Air Panama airline who provides service to Contadora Islands, Del Rey, and San Jose indicated that its rates range from US $30.50 to US $45.00 one way.
Depending on the season, the movement of passengers varies between 2,000 and 3,000 and is done by his company and his competitor Aeroperlas . However, Grupo Hotelero del Pacifico also transports clients to the islands by sea in four boats, two of them with a capacity of 50 passengers and the other two for 40. Besides, they also have a pleasure yacht for 20 passengers.
This group owns the company National Tour, an association that owns said boats which leave from Amador yacht club to Contadora. The price by sea is of US $50.00 per person. During the high season, from November till April, the hotel rate is US $111.00 for a single room and up to US $137 for a double, while during the low season it ranges from US 96.00 for a single to US $119.00 for a double room. The hotel has two swimming pools, tennis courts, four restaurants and bars, and customer services for fishing, diving or touring the islands.
 Contadora is not the only attractive location for the development of tourist projects since in the Viveros Island there is an ambitious project underway whose investment is of approximately US $100 million. Roderick Garcia, marketing manager of Grupo Viveros, S.A. explained that this project will have an airport with international characteristics, a marina, a golf course, and three five stars hotels with a total of approximately 600 rooms. Also, 600 residences for people in the high standard of living will be constructed. Its developers believe the time of construction for the infrastructure will be finished in 5 years that is by 2012.
Limitations
Chaparro Gonzalez mentioned that unfortunately there is a limitation which is the airport of Contadora since its landing strip is too short and can only accommodate airplanes with a capacity of 20 passengers. Because of this, most of the people travel by sea and that is why they have included their own boats.
In actuality, the Archipelago of Pearls counts with “a regular commercial passenger air service to Contadora Island and the airport of San Miguel, but presently it is closed due to repairs”, emphasized Gregorio Montecer, adviser to the director of said institution.
The Civil Aeronautics Authority is presently renovating the airport of San Miguel in Isla del Rey in the Archipelago of Pearls. The project consists of refinishing the landing strip and airplane turning platforms in order to have a landing strip with a length of 600 meters and 10 meters wide of reinforced concrete. This landing strip is vital for the people of San Miguel since it will serve as a point of entry for the tourist development that is being planned for the Isla del Rey.
This airport is managed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority and the investment is of US $281,000. Presently, 42% of the works have been completed, and it is expected it will resume operations by January 2008. The authority mentioned that in the Archipelago of Pearls there are other airports in Contadora, Casaya, Viveros, Punta Coco, Isla San Jose, and San Miguel.
For All your Panama Travel, Panama Living or Panama Real Estate needs, contact Douglas M. Choy at ThinkPanama.com. He will be happy to provide any guidance and information you may need.
U.S. Direct: 407 641-5747 - Panama: +507 260-4000
U.S. Direct: 407 641-5747 - Panama: +507 260-4000
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