President Laurentino Cortizo and the general administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen, delivered the order to proceed to start the project of a new network of visitor centers in priority tourist destinations, according to the Tourism Master Plan Sustainable 2020-2025.
Darién Montañez of the Amador Foundation was ordered to proceed during a community work tour in the province of Bocas del Toro.
The contract has a duration of 31 months and includes curatorial services, design, manufacture and installation of interpretive exhibitions and promotional material of the ATP, for a total of B / .1,955,000.00, financed through a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank ( IDB).
The construction of each center will reactivate the local economy and create jobs.
The largest visitor centers will be installed in Bocas del Toro, Boquete, Pedasí and Volcán, and in total the exhibits will be located in more than 40 destinations throughout the country, including Taboga, Cerro Ancón, Santa Catalina, Colón, Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos, among others.
The contractor, the Amador Foundation, is the entity that manages the Biomuseo, the interpretation center that shows how the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama changed the world forever.
The same world-class display standard will be replicated to reveal the relationship between biodiversity and the authentic culture of priority destinations, giving consistency to the tourist experience across the country.
Eskildsen added that “in this way the Sustainable Tourism Master Plan continues to be implemented, creating experiences aimed at the ‘conscious tourist’, helping to increase daily spending and the average length of stay. With this content in different destinations nationwide, we will contribute to fulfill the promise of the Master Plan that indicates that Panama is the place ‘where everything has a history’ ”.
This initiative was approved by the National Tourism Council (CNT) due to the experience and knowledge of the Amador Foundation in facilities, curatorship and interpretation and, later, it was also approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) based in Washington, United States, and endorsed by the Comptroller General of the Republic, on November 15.
Víctor Cucalón Imbert, executive director of the Biomuseo, assured that “everything will be enclosed in a circuit, because the history of the Panamanian isthmus is interconnected, which could motivate the conscious traveler to extend their stay to know the country as a nation and would not focus on a single destination. This project works as a conduit that will help communicate that scientific, cultural, natural and tourist potential of Panama ”.
