Panama Is Spending $300 Million With Lofty Goals for Community-Centric Tourism
Photo Credit: Panama's new sustainability plan aims to prioritize community based tourism Flickr Commons / Marc Veraart
Skift Take
The country's new sustainable tourism master plan could set a precedent for the region if the government puts its money where its mouth is. But is Panama's private sector ready to embrace sharing the tourism pie after a major downturn?
Pre-pandemic, Panama was one of the strongest performing economies in the Latin America and Caribbean region, growing at an average of 4.7 percent annually. But that wasn’t the case for its tourism sector, which remained stagnant in comparison to previous years, even with a 16 percent contribution to the gross domestic product.
That outlook was supposed to change in 2020 with the appointment of a new minister of tourism — a millennial entrepreneur with a background in finance and hospitality but no political ties — and the launch of a first-ever destination marketing organization for Panama, PROMTUR. The pandemic slashed visitor numbers in 2020 by over 70 percent as well as hit deeply on other large sectors. But that didn’t stop the country from playing catch up in boosting its economy and transforming its image — through tourism.
Beyond pushing for the return of visitors, the Panamanian government is in the midst of spending an ambitious $301 million for a sustainable tourism master plan. The goal: rebuild Panama’s visitor economy over five years, from 2020-2025, into one that places communities and the environment at the center of tourism’s future growth and benefits.
“We are a country that says we have a canal, and we've had a booming real estate industry for years and the financial services sector — tourism, it’s the first time that there's a master plan and it's the first time the government, with the cabinet and president, has formally approved a master plan,” said Panama's minister of tourism, Ivan Eskildsen. "So this is the first time that tourism becomes state policy, and we're actually moving forward with a sustainable tourism master plan.”
Nature and culture-based tourism as state policy and targeting conscious travelers for it are a central part of this plan. “Now we know there's an opportunity to attract this demand, to bring in dollars to the country, but at the same time preserving our nature and our culture with involvement of local communities and helping to improve the lives and well being of communities,” Eskildsen told Skift.
As far as sustainability claims go, it sounds basic to declare embracing natural and cultural assets, but Panama’s plan, developed with input from locally established non-governmental organizations as well as international conservation groups, has a regenerative tourism bent. It commits to diversif
