パナマ運河の太平洋口に新クルーズ船ターミナル 観光客増に期待

【パナマ市ＡＦＰ＝時事】中米パナマで２６日、新たなクルーズ船ターミナルが開業した。パナマ運河の入り口に位置し、観光客増につながると期待されている。（写真はパナマ市に新設されたクルーズ船ターミナル）
　新ターミナルは同時に２隻の停泊が可能で、パナマの太平洋岸に初めて建設された。
　ラウレンティノ・コルティソ大統領によれば、建設費用は２億ドル（約３００億円）超。中国港湾工程（ＣＨＥＣ）率いるコンソーシアム（企業連合）が建設を請け負った。
　コルティソ氏は開業式典で、「新たな観光ルートの開拓につながり、わが国への訪問客も増えるだろう」と期待を表明した。
　パナマ観光局の担当者によれば、昨年の同国にクルーズ船で入国した外国人旅客数は約３２万人と、前年から倍増した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/03/27-17:56）

Panama on Tuesday inaugurated a new cruise ship terminal at the mouth of the drought-hit Panama Canal, hoping to attract more tourists to the Central American nation.
The facility in Panama City was built by a consortium led by China Harbor Engineering Company with an investment of more than $200 million, according to President Laurentino Cortizo.
The cruise terminal will generate new tourist routes... attracting more visitors to our country, Cortizo said at an opening ceremony.
The terminal, which will be able to receive two cruise ships at a time, is the first on Panama's Pacific coast.
Another operates in the Caribbean city of Colon.
Panama received nearly 320,000 visitors on cruise ships in 2023, double the previous year, according to Denise Guillen of the Panama Tourism Authority.
The growth is exponential, she said.
The opening comes as authorities confront record-low water levels that have limited the number of ships able to transit through the Panama Canal, which usually handles about six percent of global maritime trade.
Canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez said last week he hoped that traffic would return to normal by next February.