Latin American Hotels Have a Supply and Demand Problem
Photo Credit: Panama City skyline, including a new Trump property. Flickr / Maria Mertens
Skift Take
Building lots of luxury properties can get people excited, even if the number of entrants don't make sense when viewed in aggregate.
Many experts predicted that Latin America would be a popular destination for travelers this year as the World Cup rolled in to Brazil and cast a spotlight on the region, but figures released at TravelMart Latin America last week by hotel market research company STR Global show that what was a kick in the goal for Brazil was something of a shutout for some of its neighbors.
Hotel occupancy in Central America and South America through July was down 1.6 percent over the previous year.
While Rio de Janeiro had both the region's highest occupancy (about 75 percent) and highest average daily rate (about $275) thanks to the global sporting event, a dearth of Brazilian travelers to t
