Panama Directs Tourism to the Interior for Development

Domingo De Obaldía, a director of Panama's National Tourism Chamber, stated that the sector requires bringing national and international tourists to the country's interior, where he confirmed that infrastructure investments are being made. He noted that this sector has seen an increase through the direction set by President Mulino, who considers tourism a pillar for attracting investment to Panama and creating jobs. "We need this to extend beyond the Bridge of the Americas," he insisted. "To give you an example, Chiriquí is booming; I believe Copa is going to enter with its fourth flight, which has given enormous growth to the entire province," said De Obaldía. However, on the other hand, is Bocas del Toro, a province that "receives a lot of tourists" but has scarce air frequency. "To Bocas, you can get there by land, but it takes a long time, and when people plan their trip, if it takes more than six hours by road, you prefer to take a plane and save that time," he concluded. "As a country, we have been going to international fairs with specific things," he pointed out. For De Obaldía, the international promotion is important, which in his view, under the administration of José Raúl Mulino, is being done "systematically and well, because they always changed the rules of the game, but this one said tourism is important," he expressed. He highlighted the importance of improving flight frequencies to the country's interior, among the points he mentioned was the recovery of the airport in Chitré "so that people can arrive there and leave by car to areas like Pedasí." He added that from that organization they are working to improve customer service, recognizing that "we are very blunt, but we are trying to improve it." In this sense, he highlighted that they are training their staff, among the initiatives they have is an English program that is managed through that organization with a local company.