Panama launches “Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020”

Panamá, 04th December 2007. The Panamanian Institute of Tourism IPAT confirmed officially the beginning of the “Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020” with the presentation of the Spanish company Tourism & Leisure (EuroPraxis Consulting), a consulting company which has been awarded the contract to develop the 20 year tourism plan.

The new Master Plan will be handled from an own permanent office, which will supervise the implementation and assure continuousness. New laws have been passed to organize the activities and to define the parameters. “With each government you loose knowledge and competency. Therefore the new office will evaluate the Master Plan always with the same involved persons. With all the information we have, we can ensure the success of the “Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020” affirmed the Minister of Tourism of Panama, Rubén Blades.

A follow-up commission for the new “Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020”, built out of public and private organizations like the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the National Environment Authority ANAM, the Ministry of Housing Policy MIVI, the Panamanian Chamber of Tourism CAMTUR, tourism operators and Airlines together with the IPAT, will be integrated in the process with the objective of controlling the compliance of regulations.

The participation of the United Nations World Tourism Organization UNWTO in the designing and structuring of the Tourism Master Plan is significant. At the presentation, the expert Raúl Jaramillo from the UNWTO annotated the dependence of tourism and infrastructure. The connection depends on the networks: transport, airlines, cruisers, et cetera. In addition he explained that major touristic decisions must be taken not only for occasional points but for a whole region. In other words it’s important to be aware of and respond to the strategies of the Caribbean and to work together.

“Not only experts are able to design a good strategy plan. We all know that you have to present the most prestigious and unique material, your unique selling propositions. You have to present your most valuable touristic products and the parts of the country with the highest quality”, said Raúl Jaramillo, expert of the UNWTO.

The touristic development of Panama is headed by international consultants who will cover the areas marketing, infrastructure, sociology, architecture and territorial order.

The first step of the “Sustainable Tourist Development Master Plan of Panama 2007 – 2020” is the review and the revision of the touristic classification of the Panamanian land area. “Tourism works with a pretty fundamental material: territory. If tourists aren’t inspired by the touristic territory, you failed” explained Juan Manuel Ribera, International Director of the Master Plan.

The Minister of Tourism, Rubén Blades, announced that right now they are going about important subjects for Panama City, like the pedestrian area for tourists, the tramcar which will connect the Gehry Museum with the Docks of the costal shipping wherefrom you can travel to Las Perlas, Taboga and Contadora Isle.

With the implementation of this new Master Plan, action and inversion plans for the development of the different touristic products will be designed, statistics of the sector of tourism will be readjusted, a strategy of promotion and international commercialization will be generated and a national long term strategy will be elaborated.

“All the governmental authorities are working together. This is the moment to clear the air by identifying the subjects and pushing them forward”, stated Rubén Blades, Minister of Tourism.

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