Panama seek to promote cultural tourism and ecotourism

This model of tourism management was implemented in our country 20 years ago under the leadership of Dr. Hana Ayala, an expert in landscape ecology, who reiterated that it was inspired by the natural-environmental and cultural potential of the Panamanian isthmus.

In February of this year, Dr. Ayala was in our country and held important meetings with tourism leaders in our country and with the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, who supported the initiative to resume the TCI model (Tourism, Conservation and Research) for Panama, which has been praised and received high marks globally.

During that meeting, the president highlighted that "the conservation and research of our heritage and cultural route as a tourist destination is key to the transformation of the country, since it contributes to social, economic and educational development, and is also one of the actions priority of the action plan ”.

Iván Eskildsen, General Administrator of the ATP, expressed, for his part, that with the relaunch of the TCI, Panama rescues from oblivion this proposal for tourism development that was postponed for 20 years, He stressed that the strategy that he proposed to be carried out in 1998 based on the TCI model it makes even more sense to implement it in 2020, taking into account that travelers and tourists today prefer to travel in a sustainable way (87% of world travelers want to travel in a sustainable way, according to the 2018 Booking.com report).

He highlighted that the TCI represents a great opportunity to reinvent ourselves, placing tourism based on our natural and cultural heritage at the epicenter of the transformation of our tourist destination.

The president of the CNT, Jorge García Icaza, stressed that resuming the TCI is opportune because “what we all need is to prepare ourselves for when the pandemic is controlled, we can have tourism with more force; the country has to be differentiated, because it will compete with other countries that are going to be doing the same, such as: Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, among others. "He stressed that the idea is that Panama has a tourism product that differs from others and facilitates its sale.

The country, he said, has the advantage of having the Smithsonian, which has carried out important studies on the biodiversity of the Panamanian isthmus. "It seems to us a good strategy to mix conservation, research and tourism; in addition, we hope that this will be a differentiator, because all countries have tourism offer, but Panama has abundant biodiversity, information and interesting studies that have been carried out."

Along these lines, he also highlighted that the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism (PMTS) 2020-2025 is another factor that the country has in its favor; TCI will function as the fundamental strategic framework to be included in the PMTS.

With the TCI you will have the opportunity to encourage learning and discovery, curiosity and research to attract visitors and show that the country is more than the Canal, beautiful beaches and architectural treasures in your city.

The TCI project is aligned with the National Government proposal that proposes to improve and develop our tourism products; In addition, the prestige that this model has earned internationally and the trajectory of Dr. Ayala would help give Panama the place it deserves internationally.

This model - approved by Executive Decree No. 327 of November 30, 1998 - was presented in Washington, and applauded by renowned groups such as the Smithsonian and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the World Bank, among others.