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Zapatillas Cay, Bocas del Toro Tourism as if it really mattered Jaime Figueroa Navarro The title of this newsletter depicts the manner in which events are developing in Panama during this first decade of the new century. Long known as an important business and banking center, Panama’s tourism industry did not mature until recently. Many factors, including the return of the canal and its surrounding areas that were primarily for military use by the U.S. Armed Forces, have had a long-term effect on Panama’s new stardom as a beacon of international tourism. But beyond the emergence of an important tourist strip along the Pacific entry of the Panama Canal, by the Amador Causeway, we also observe the growth of top-notch hotelier industry landmarks in places as far as Pedasi in the Azueros peninsula and as close as Playa Bonita, on the west side of the canal where Intercontinental Hotels has just opened its newest and finest beach resort in the Americas. Panama needs hotels to accommodate its visitors in a distinctive fashion, and we’re living the manifestation of behemoths the like of Trump, the Donald himself, announcing his second largest luxury tower in the world, Panama City’s Trump Ocean Club & Marina, to serve as an unconventional home to the growing number of visitors to the isthmus. Alongside, we also view the emergence of residential tourism to cater to the ever-hungry baby boomers seeking quality living in the universe’s top destination. Reminiscent of torrid tropical afternoon rain showers, projects are springing right and left, to quell the thirst of the wealthiest generation in world history. Flanking Panama City’s burgeoning Balboa Avenue, facing the Pacific Ocean discovered here by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1513, we find under construction, not one but the two tallest residential towers in the world. Ecotourism is an important attraction as well. Panama houses more varieties of bird species than all North America and Europe together. The vast jungles of Darien, the last frontier, yet to be conquered by the Pan American Highway, are complemented by a very important number of national parks such as Coiba, the largest island in the Pacific of the entire Americas. There are also many islands in both Pacific and Caribbean, some of them hosts to the popular Survivor TV Series. “Panama” which in native language means abundance of fish, true to its name, holds more deep sea fishing records than any other corner of the world. Panama prawns, as well as its specialty coffees, are now top in the world. The flora is exuberant with beauty and diversity. The national flower, flor del Espiritú Santo, is a rare variety of orchid whose carpel resembles a flying dove. Add to these varieties, the newest fad: health tourism. Enjoying a cadre of eminent multilingual physicians and a supporting cast of health specialists in all fields, Panama is now home to several world-class private hospitals and clinics, including the new Johns Hopkins affiliate Hospital Punta Pacifica, as well as Cleveland Clinic affiliate Centro Medico Paitilla and Hospital Nacional, with ties to Harvard University School of Medicine, among others. In addition to the significant savings in procedures ranging from outpatient dental work and plastic surgery to the most sophisticated procedures, Panamanian health professionals enjoy an excellent reputation for their work and humane treatment. All in all, Panama has developed more varieties of tourism than other prime destinations. The industry’s expansion comes as no accident given its privileged geographical location free from major natural disasters, close to the main avenues of North America, with the U.S. Dollar as currency and ranked top in safety and quality of living in the area. Panama has well earned its slogan among baby boomers as the place to go to retire to live, not to die. |
